Standard Bank Rosebank

The new campus for Standard Bank is excellently located in terms of both access and visibility, occupying a distinctive city block on the corner of the Rosebank CBD box, at the highest geographical point of the area. Close to the M1, Gautrain, and BRT routes, the site is easily reached from Johannesburg and Sandton CBDs. The design responds to the contextual site specifics, whilst addressing the bank’s requirement for an identifiable and productive working environment.

Orthogonal planning places the central building axis at the mid-block line, and a generous public piazza occupies the northern half of the site. The scheme establishes a bold edge to the south of the site, where two large footprint buildings of nine and eleven floors all over five superbasement levels, stand east and west of a central multi-volume atrium extending the flow of the public piazza into the building.

At upper levels, the buildings step back to create sculpted u-shaped forms modulating the facade and operating around subsidiary side atria. Together the expansively glazed atria create a transparency into the heart of the bank. Primary vertical circulation is by means of escalators which enable informal interaction and animate the volume of the atrium both inside and out. A restaurant and meeting centre at ground floor, together with multiple pause areas and meeting spaces lining the atrium upper levels, add to the interior and piazza activity.

Aesthetic language and material choice is made to be clean and modern, reflecting the client’s philosophy of being an internationally referential afrocentric organisation. An orientation-responding double facade together with crisp stone cladding dominates the palette, and the significant landscaping of the piazza creates the perfect foreground to the project. The north-south orientation is ideal for passive sustainable design principles, and the project is registered for a Green Star rating.