Banco Sabadell Headquarters – Madrid

Firm
  • Client Banco Sabadell,
  • size 83,420 sqft
  • Year 2016
  • Location Madrid, Spain,
  • Industry Financial / Investments,
  • Aguirre Newman has designed the new headquarters of Banco Sabadell located in MAdrid, Spain.

    With this building, Banco Sabadell has initiated a major project at its headquarters, assuming and integrating changes in habits and customs of work and relationships, which represent an improvement for the entire organization. One of the main goals when developing this project has been the full satisfaction of the employees.

    The interior design of the building focuses on the employees. The employees are the center of the project and will become its protagonists, as the company needs the talents of each individual employee as well as their collective work. The combination in the process of implementation of the technical, physical and emotional dimension has been a key factor in this project.

    The building has 5 floors and a basement, with 7.750m2 of area above ground and 1.150m2 below ground. In the basement there is the parking, with 72 parking spaces, and the technical rooms. The floor of the building is rectangular and has a central core of stairs and elevators. The front and rear facade are covered with glass from floor to ceiling and the sides are masonry walls covered with stone, with windows.

    On the ground floor there is the reception with a waiting area, a cashier and two meeting rooms for 4 to 6 people, for the initial attention of visitors prior to access to upper floors for specific negotiations. On the ground floor there is also an in-service training room for 48 people, a gym, locker rooms, a maintenance room, a first-aid room, a laundry and dry-cleaning services, and an indoor dining café with terrace. In the design of the latter spaces it has been sought to favour both the rest and relax of the employees as well as their communication, for a better interaction among them. On the rear side of the ground floor there is the post-office room, with direct access to the outside for receiving mail and parcels, and the kitchen, storage and changing rooms for the catering company.

    The five office floors have a similar distribution, in order to facilitate orientation to access the different work areas both to employees and visitors. There is a welcoming space opposite the lifts from which you can have a glimpse of the whole plant, through a semi-transparent wood division. On both sides of this space there is a module that includes wardrobes, reprography and letters box. The offices, Rack’s room and meeting rooms are distributed on the rear façade, on either side of the central staircase.

    In the central part of the plant, next to the wardrobes, there are two enclosed spaces in which meeting rooms of different sizes are located.

    In the work areas on each floor tables are distributed so that all employees enjoy natural light and exterior views. These work areas are divided into modules, each containing eight 160x80cm tables. These tables can be grouped in different positions, to give greater flexibility to the use of this space.

    In order to facilitate any modification, the same physical space is assigned to all offices, regardless their occupant’s category. These offices differ only by the type of furniture they have. Thus, when any variation in their use is needed, it is not necessary to make any structural modification, but simply change the furniture.

    To facilitate the meeting and communication for the exchange of knowledge among employees, there are meeting rooms of all sizes with different equipment in all plants. Some of the rooms have movable partitions to allow for variations in use. In the work modules of the open area there are also informal meeting areas.

    We have designed an office where all the spaces are conducive to the development and promotion of different values: communication, dialogue, work, efficiency, effectiveness, commitment, honesty, membership, equipment, proximity, innovation, austerity, sustainability and flexibility.

    Design: Aguirre Newman
    Photography: Jorge Allende