zone ’ on the top floor . A large portion of the top floor is dedicated to client activities - auditoria , boardrooms , meeting pods , a coffee lounge , a coffee bar , the canteen / restaurant and the terrace . All with prime views back to the city and out to sea . The idea was that the client arrives at reception and then starts a journey through the building , passing through the triple volume of the atrium via escalators and a glass lift , up to the ‘ client zone ’.
Coupled with this was the need for the energy and movement in the building to be experienced by all . This led to the idea of the large atrium space which houses the circulation routes and allows interaction between the served and service spaces .
Glass plays a major role in the building . The southerly aspect of the two office façades allowed for vast expanses of performance glass , and the northerly aspect of the atrium called for a sophisticated combination of doubled glazed curtain walling with an extensive fitted glass solar screen . Finally the overall driving design factor was the desire to keep it simple and to create an uncluttered , sophisticated elegant building .
Design The building comprises two levels of basement parking with three levels of offices above . The basement accommodates 284 parking bays together with plant and service areas , staff changing facilities and storage .
Clients enter the building on the northwest façade at ground floor , into the main triple volume atrium space , which houses the reception area , several meeting rooms and a large office floor plate . The main office floor is housed on Level 1 , which enables the main department of the bank to be accommodated on a single level in an open plan arrangement , with the top floor beginning reserved mainly for the ‘ client zone ’. This includes
106 Investec