Fimbank’s new global head office in St Julian’s.

Bencini & Associates were commissioned by the developers as architects and structural engineers for the Pendergardens and The Exchange sites at St Julian’s in 2006.

Given the scale of the project, the initial phase of the design involved the preparation of a comprehensive master plan for both sites, followed by detailed designs for the individual phases of the project.

The Exchange, a projected financial and business centre, is designed to provide 24,000 square metres of high-end office space in elegant towers rising from and besides the scheduled Mercury House, supplemented by another 12,000 square metres of commercial floor space at the lower levels onto around 4,800 square metres of public open space and piazzas at street levels.

From the outset, it was agreed that the design of Fimbank’s Mercury Tower would reflect the global mission and prestige of the Fimbank brand.

Whereas the outline permit represented a conceptual interpretation of the locations, forms, volumes and heights of the proposed buildings at The Exchange, Fimbank’s brief demanded the transition from the general outline concept stage to a fully-fletched, detailed design representing the bank’s particular requirements and specifications.

From day 1, this job demanded the highest levels of design and detailing, with use of the latest materials and technologies representative of a major international project of this nature.

This was, after all, a major bank setting up its global office at The Exchange, and therefore an opportunity for the studio to create a unique design for what is, in effect, the anchor client at the new business and financial centre.

With experience in various other major commercial projects and mixed developments in Malta and the Middle East, the team grasped this challenge, and our in-house team of architects, structural and civil engineers, and urban and landscape designers, working closely together and in synergy with the various stakeholders, transformed the architectural plans and designs of this major project into a fully co-ordinated building, creating a holistically integrated finished product.

The design development of the Fimbank project proceeded hand in hand with the concept development for the remainder of The Exchange project.

Throughout, while integrating an overall general architectural design in a holistic manner, it was also essential to ensure that all other building services and requirements such as parking, landscaping, public open spaces and other amenities would be carefully integrated over the whole project.

The Exchange master plan ensures synergy between the Mercury Tower and the rest of the development, including the public open spaces, and provides transparent visual links from St Andrews Road to St George’s Road and Elias Zammit Street. These open spaces are designed in such a way so as to also make this place an important urban centre in a pedestrian-friendly manner, with access for all.

The Exchange is designed to provide 24,000 square metres of high-end office space in elegant towers

This will make The Exchange a thriving meeting place for tenants and visitors, as well as shoppers at the commercial spaces and restaurants at street level, casual passers-by, and tourists alike.

Mercury Tower is located at the northwest corner of The Exchange, with access from Elias Zammit Street and the new street being formed as part of the project, connecting St Andrews Road with Elias Zammit Street. This new street will provide pedestrian access and taxi drop-off points to The Exchange Towers, the Fimbank building as well as the covered internal atrium.

The latter will converge the landing area of The Exchange towers, Fimbank, shops and other commercial spaces and will, in turn, connect at the lower level with the large pedestrian mall situated at the same level of St George’s Street.

Mercury Tower, now completed, has been designed to exude a confident, modern architectural statement that suggests the strong protection and inner abundance of a financial institution of integrity. Studied in all the minute details, the façade and the external areas bring together a group of materials, finishes, textures and functions which translate the owners’ desire for the building to represent the bank’s corporate identity.

The surface car park at street level has been carefully designed and landscaped, softening the visual intrusion of passing vehicles. It provides a relaxed transition from the busy Elias Zammit Street to the sheltered privacy of the bank premises. Lighting is discreet in the car park but powerful on the building.

The Fimbank logo has been boldly integrated into the façade cladding, extending vertically over the main entrance to the bank, defining the importance of the building; the backing façade cladding has been purposely designed using a system of purpose-made aluminium composite panels supported by concealed fixings with a ventilated façade behind.

The fire escape to the left of this vertical feature wall has also been purposely designed to create an additional feature, out of what would generally be considered a more mundane building element.

This was achieved by screening the fire-escape stair structure behind a translucent lattice of purposely designed structural steel and horizontal terracotta baguettes between, with an architectural play on the solids and voids of this screen wall. Another similar vertical aluminium composite panel element is located at the west façade, close to the entrance to the atrium that will be formed between the Fimbank building and The Exchange towers.

The north façade on Elias Zammit Street is partly treated with a large wall panel of terracotta cladding, with apparently random fenestration, representing the uncoordinated streetscapes in Malta, arising from multiplicity of ownership and also intended to purposely bring in an element of contrast and play into the design. Nevertheless, the terracotta panel is rigidly disciplined in its modular construction, and at the perimeter, in order to blend with the rest of the façade geometry.

The building is alternatively banded, with every floor, or every double floor, on the different façades, giving the whole external appearance of the Fimbank premises a dynamically vibrant modern outlook, accentuated by the materials employed and the quality of the detailing.

Fimbank’s new global head office at St Julian’s, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Friday is the first part of The Exchange project to be developed and commissioned.

This article has been prepared by Edward Bencini, partner at Bencini & Associates, Architects and Civil Engineers, responsible for Pender Place and The Exchange project in St Julian’s.