INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN COMPETITION – I. PRIZE
Architects from Great Britain, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Switzerland and Hungary were invited to the international design competition. The new headquarters of Zimbabwe’s largest commercial bank in the capital, Harare, can be realized based on KÖZTI’s winning design. Due to the peculiarities of the Zimbabwean climate, the location was an exotic challenge, as even the sun shines there from the opposite direction, from the north. During the search for an architectural response, the central question was how to incorporate the rich local traditions and sustainable materials into the design of a westernized office building open to the global market. Traditional local burnt clay bricks were placed on the façade as shading elements to give the building a homogeneous appearance and transmit strength, trust and stability. The multifunctional building also houses a bank branch for customer relations, conference rooms that can be joined, as well as a restaurant and café. At the centre of the facility there is an atrium, which is the green lung of the building. The covered, ventilated courtyard makes the office building user friendly.
Year of design: 2023 Lead architects: TIMA Zoltán, BORBÉLY András, CSÍZY László Area: 42 000 m2
