Artistic Director: Rolf Sachs
Architects: D. Jüngling and A. Hagman
Interior Design: Virginia Maissen Interior Studio
Rolf Sachs was invited to redesign the Graubünder Kantonalbank (GKB) Headquarters in Chur.
Fostering human interaction and creativity was at the heart of his vision. The design of a series of private meeting spaces and spaces to congregate was lead by their character and purpose.
The new monumental entrance hall was envisaged as a dynamic hub, animated by an interactive digital strip and grounded by the towering presence of a 7-metre-high blocktower made from local wood. The tower acts both as a welcome desk and a private meeting space.
A series of unusual meeting cells populate the large entrance hall, each exuding personality and singularity. A glass cube evoking a foggy walk through the woods creates a discrete place for conversation. A series of steel boxes in yellow, red and blue offer a series of stimulating meeting rooms. The library cube, full with books touching on Grisons and Swiss themes, radiates with knowledge and competence. A large wooden cube divided into two rooms creates a familiar and inviting place for discussion.
A the end of the large hall, ‘the innovation lab’, envisaged as a flexible and creative meeting space is intended to invite freedom of thought and innovation.
Discrete interventions to the old Arts and Crafts counterhall bring the elegant space into the 21st Century. The solidity and heritage of GKB is evoked but the configuration of the space and the presence of a café transform it into a welcoming space.