AJMAN BANK

Area: 10,000 sq.ft

Location: Ajman

Scope: Design and build

Introduction

Ajman Bank, established in 2007, was the first Islamic bank incorporated in the Emirate and has branches and ATMs across the UAE.

Discover | Design | Deliver

 

Brief: A dedicated new floorspace for its Admin, HR, and Marketing teams at its headquarters. After our spatial consultation, the Marketing team was moved out of the floor. The bank had a clear vision: modern design, open spaces, transparent and fresh in feel, privacy, and confidentiality for heads of departments. The space needed to support a holistic, contemporary, and full-fledged HR and admin practice with multipurpose halls, training rooms, meeting rooms, breakout spaces, a café lounge, and informal seating.

We knew we had to substantially redesign, provide consultation and enhance the employee experience and journey as the bank had initial designs from another firm. The challenge was to remain true to the bank’s goals and strategy for the two departments.

The Concept: Revolved around space transparency, maximizing employee performance and wellness with colors, lighting, acoustics, and greenery taking center stage. The color palette featured natural, neutral colors – whites and greys. Pops of red, inspired by the bank’s brand identity, wove through space’s circulation path.

The open ceiling became an interesting feature – painted in an eye-catching white to help smoothen the usual industrial vibe and attract maximum natural light. 

The employee journey: As soon as you step out from the elevator, you’re warmly welcomed into its heart: a lounge/café that doubles up as a collaboration space with an eclectic mix of seats. A multi-purpose training room, a large meeting room that can be partitioned into two smaller ones, and departmental workstations branch off the core.

The journey continues through the corridors – these are not just passages, but they bring people together in collaborative spaces, focus rooms, phone booths, and privacy pods that have been created along the path.

Admin and HR offices radiate a feeling of transparency and openness with full height glass and minimal, stylish signage and frosting.  Workstations have clean, minimalist lines accentuated in white to attract more light, and feature extensive biophilia atop storage spaces and partitions.

Tucked away is a fun-vibe clubhouse that doubles up as a theatre-style space with writing boards, a large TV, and poufs for informal gatherings, brainstorming, and training sessions.

A wet pantry, well-designed washrooms, IT services, HVAC, MEP, firefighting equipment, and fire alarms completed the space design and build.

Flooring: A mix of materials and textures that are fit for purpose, including epoxy with screeding, carpets with a stylish red stripe, and porcelain tiles.

Furniture, fittings, and fixtures: Bespoke furniture with plenty of custom storage, doors, seats, poufs, and cushions covered in smooth, colorful fabric.

Lighting: Maximum natural light, Fenomastic paint on ceilings, energy-efficient LED lighting, decorative pendant lighting.

In short, we designed and built a warm, welcoming employee experience with interesting opportunities to create, collaborate and engage as a team and a close-knit community of professionals.