Shahr Bank Office Building

Banks have always used architecture to communicate. Marble columns once spoke of permanence and security. For Shahr Bank's Kish Island headquarters, we asked: what does a modern financial institution want to say?

The answer was transparency and strength. Openness about operations, solidity in foundations. The facade translates these values directly: a glass curtain wall at the building's core creates literal transparency, allowing the activity of banking to be visible from the street. At the corners, solid aluminum-clad stair towers anchor the composition, their opacity and materiality reading as stability against the reflective glass.

Inside, the workplace design breaks from traditional banking's private offices and closed doors. Open floor plates encourage collaboration. Enclosed functions pull to the core. Breakout spaces and flexible zones acknowledge that modern work happens in motion. At night, LED accent lighting transforms the building into a beacon, a signal that this is a bank reimagined for contemporary business.

I led the facade and interior design as team lead, developing the concept that linked architectural expression to the client's brand values. The glass-and-aluminum dialogue was my response to their brief, a visual language that communicates transparency and strength without being literal or heavy-handed.

The workplace interiors required balancing the institution's need for presence with employees' desire for collaborative, flexible space. I designed the open layouts, specified materials, and integrated the lighting design that gives the building its nighttime identity.

Completed and serving as Shahr Bank's regional headquarters. The building successfully projects the institutional confidence a bank requires while creating the contemporary work environment that attracts talent. Employees report that clients frequently comment on how different it feels from traditional banking spaces. That was exactly the reaction the client wanted.