banks of nigeria

Bank of Industry – Abuja

 

 

1960help is very proud to register yet another design contest winning project. Right from the very first issue, in which we published the Abuja Gate winning project by Ehrlich Architects of Culver City, California to-gether with Triad Associates of Nigeria, we stressed on design contest as a means to involve more architects and consequently confront the nations architectural ideas.

The Bank of Industry design contest was won by SHELTER DESIGNS PARTNERSHIP in a competition set by the bank in 2004. The concept was conceived and developed by Seun Oduwole, now a Director at brown inQ. The concept he said –“was inspired by the shape and dynamism of the eye, visibility and vertical connectivity were integral to the idea.”
The master plan design included two towers to represent two eyes, a services podium to house the building services and parking required for the building. The first ‘eye’, which achieved practical completion on November 30th 2010, is 13 stories high and 50m from ground level. The building has a typical floor area of 900 sq.m and a total building area of 10,264 m2. The second ‘eye’ when completed will be 20 stories high and 80m high from ground level. The building will have a typical floor area of 1200 m2 and a total building area of 24,270 m2 Both towers provide 350 parking facilities.
The elliptical shape of the floor plan wraps around a very spacious cen-tral atrium allowing maximum natural daylight to filter through from the atrium and the facade. This has maximised the use of natural light dur-ing work hours. On the same note, although the building is expected to be fully air conditioned at all times, the design team paid particular at-tention to natural ventilation. A passive/stack system which allows for opening windows on the façade and atrium side allows the hot air in the building to rise through the atrium and expel at the top through a series of mechanically opening vents. As a result, adequate pas-sive/cross ventilation is guaranteed in the event of a power outage, which is quite frequent in the country. The adoption of these mixed mode systems reduce the overall energy consumption of the building. In the case of Nigeria, where every given activity, to operate fully, has to count on generators\burning diesel, this translates to safeguarding environmental pollution. The idea of integrating nature’s advantages (natural light and ventilation) as opposed to intensive mechanical op-tions is top of the list of the global march to save the planet. Apart from guaranteeing bearable working conditions in the case of power failure, Abuja’s Bank of Industry can be classified as a successful green archi-tecture, an agenda passionately pursued by the Bank as evidenced by their partnership with UNDP to further sustainability and environmental awareness through green initiatives in Nigeria.
The concept evolved as part of a strong desire to provide an efficient, environmentally friendly, comfortable and well-designed working envi-ronment. The design allows for creative space planning and due to the two natural light sources avoids the detailed floor plan from having the ‘deep space’ issue – whereby some unfortunate employees remain in a dark cave for the duration of their working day. It is notable that the ‘range, depth and quality of the internal finishes, reflects the corporate identity and integrity of the organisation and meets the client’s re-quirements’.
On the outside edge of the building, there are concrete floor fins and aluminium screens. The concrete fins serve as sunshades. The aluminium screens act as eyelashes protecting the glass and the building from the harsh winds and dust in Abuja. The gap between the screens and the windows also create an air vortex, which helps to ‘feed’ fresh air into the office when the windows are opened. The aluminium screens are the first of its kind to be used as a solar shading device on any building in Nigeria.
The colours of the building have been thoughtfully selected: the gold is in respect to the gold industrial wheels in the BOI logo and the brown is to allow the building to blend with the Abuja landscape and to reduce exterior maintenance costs. The stone in the core areas is an homage to the rocky terrain of Abuja.
Every floor is populated internally with garden spaces in the second tower, and planting is used both vertically and horizontally, as well as providing visual interest, these aid with the CO2 extraction from the of-fice floors which is 20 floors high and offers net letable area of over 24,000 m2 . with a building efficiency of over 80%. There is so much to this building including rainwater harvesting, solar panels and inverter battery systems, eco-system architecture to reduce waste production and reduce the impact of the building on the environment. It meets all international statutory and sustainability standards. The second tower will be clad in its entirety with solar panels, coupled with the solar panels over the car parking area in an effort to produce a up to 60% of the total load requirements of the building and reduce dependency on continuous diesel power generation. The aim of the bank and the ar-chitects is for this to be the first LEED certified building in Nigeria.

‘The eyes are the windows to the soul’, a conduit for knowledge and the power of sight is a strong metaphor that represents the Bank’s objective as an institution with the foresight and vision to nurture, es-tablish and propel the industrial and manufacturing sectors of the ‘great nation of Nigeria”.

Everyone who has been a part of this project should be very proud in-deed.

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