SHANGHAI COMMERCIAL BANK KENNEDY TOWN BRANCH
Shanghai Commercial Bank was founded 111 years ago in Shanghai and has been based in Hong Kong for more than 75 years. The Kennedy Town flagship branch must live up to the bank's storied history and enhance the bank's evolving services in the contemporary and changing world including fintech, smart digitized systems, ESG, GSB, AI, etc. We were challenged to establish a new presence built on collective history, a new identity built on reputable brand legacy, and a new design built on a solid foundation.
Upon entering the branch on Catchick Street, patrons would notice a welcoming "open entrance" drawing one's attention to the interior volume with a featured staircase in front, articulated teller counters on the side, and a friendly customer service area nearby. We carefully considered the scale of each functional area for the hustling-and-bustling day-to-day operations and the choice of fit-out materials that patrons could see and touch. One may discover fresh interpretations in fit-out and millwork details such as the column cladding, the customed designed furniture, the pattern and accents, the juxtaposition of materials, and the balance of architectural and decorative lighting. The overall aim was to enhance the customers' comfort and experience.
The featured staircase would bring the patrons to an elevated and hospitable experience on the first floor. By applying marble stone for the treads and risers and exemplifying verticality with the wood slat guardrails, the staircase symbolized growth that was built on a solid foundation; a similar theme of growth and progress could also be found in the floral-patterned reveals on the structural columns and the directional perforation of the semi-private metal screening.
The premium level on the first floor was conceived with the VIPs and high-net-worth clientele in mind, offering them a comfortable trading area and private meeting and customer service rooms. The lounge and seating areas were intended for serenity and quietness where the patrons could make important investment and financial decisions. This premium floor also features a state-of-the-art and the first automatic safe deposit system in a bank in Hong Kong with more than 1,600 safe deposit boxes where patrons would appreciate the most protected and secured storage of their valuables and collectables.
In tune with the bank's responsible and environmental mandates, the majority of materials were carefully considered; including terrazzo for the structural column cladding - a synthetic and composite material that recycled marble chips, stone aggregates, and cement without the use of resins which resulted in a lower carbon footprint in the base material; quartz stone for the ground floor flooring - an artificial and green material that achieved the highest GreenGuard Gold Certificate and ISO14001 Standards. The majority of the wood paneling and millwork were finished with New Age Veneers that carried the Global GreenTag Certification. For the back-of-house areas, we used flooring materials including the EcoSoft backed nylon carpet tiles that recycled up to 168,050 PET bottles for this Project, and 100% recyclable vinyl flooring that could be reused as raw material and was GreenCircle certified.
The Shanghai Commercial Bank's Kennedy Town Branch not only attempted to realize the bank's commercial, social, and sustainable mission, also to tie the bank's past, the present, and the future with an aspiration for continuous growth and versatility.
