How can a bank stimulate the local community? A land development bank typically purchases land around New York to lease for profit. What if it leases its internal organs to the local community instead?
The Boulevard Bank takes after a busy street lined by small businesses that rotates into itself and rises vertically. An orthogonal, ten-by-twenty structural grid system—organized around a central void—supports the setup by limiting shear forces. A spiraling interior ramp provides upward circulation from the basement level, up five storeys, to the roof garden, while a parallel exterior ramp allows for downward circulation. Between the two ramps, inserted into the grid system are rooms of varying sizes that the bank leases as temporary spaces for community events like art shows, yard sales, and small business operations. The bank aims to stimulate interpersonal communication by creating a diverse, ad-hock marketplace of ideas and events that simultaneously serve as an attraction and a venue for local cultural and business endeavors.
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