This Bank’s Inviting Office Design Plants the Seeds for Growth

Founded in northeastern China in 1997, Harbin Bank has become one of the country’s major financial institutions. Opening an office in Beijing was an important milestone, so Gensler was retained to conceive a suitably distinguished building. “It was a regional bank moving to the capital. The chairman needed the architecture to elegantly reflect its more international stature,” begins Gensler London–based principal and studio director Russell Gilchrist.

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Interior Design celebrates Gensler's 60th anniversary with this special section featuring Q&As and dozens of projects in four of the firm's practice areas including cities, health, workplace, and lifestyle. Check it out today.

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After several iterations, he and the Gensler Beijing team landed on an elliptical glass form that made the chairman’s eyes light up: “He likened it to a bulging wallet,” Gilchrist laughs. The 16-story, 700,000-square-foot structure is also energy-efficient, its double-skin facade helping to moderate interior temperatures by isolating heat and cooling loads.

Led by senior associate and studio director Jessica Shen, the interiors channel the bank’s values of warmth, connection, and trust and forward-thinking ethos. “The spaces should feel inviting and inclusive, encouraging teamwork,” Shen says. In the soaring lobby, lights dot wood-veneered walls, evoking a forest full of fireflies; overhead, abstract lilac motifs in the ceiling and chandeliers reference the city flower of Harbin. The top floors host executive suites appointed with fabric wallcoverings in the brand’s signature orange and arced elements that reference its logo. A sculptural spiral staircase widens as it rises, alluding to expansion.

RUSSELL GILCHRIST; JERRY HUNG; SU CHEN; SINGJOY LIANG; JOE FAN (ARCHITECTURE). DOUG WITTNEBEL; JESSICA SHEN; YUJIANG LU; JOJO ZHU; KOHN LI (INTERIORS).