New Architects Srl & NewTone / Italy

DESIGN IN A PUMPKIN FOR ING DIRECT ITALIA

A new and exciting bank shop, the synergetic fruit of labour of Newtone and New Architects, enriching the panorama of retail banking. The physical space is one of the key elements that translate and communicate a brand’s values. A shape, an elegant element, a wooden sound box, visually recognizable as a pumpkin that simultaneously becomes the walls by which the public are welcomed, communicating the iconic, sculptural and distinctive element of the brand. Essentiality and authenticity in a custom-made space. It is inviting and curvaceous, creating a warm ambient that is chromatically pleasing to the eye. The relationship between man and space, and the emotional value it contains, is the ingredient of great success in a place where confidence and trust and are to be established. Ten already exist throughout the country and their numbers will continue to increase in 2012. They are the retail sites designed and created turnkey by NewTone and New Architects for ING Direct, thedirect bank for Gruppo ING, active via internet, telephone and mobile banking, that have decided to put themselves on the national map, offering more access to their clients in friendly and inviting stores. The branches of ING Direct are much more similar to a concept store as opposed to the classic bank branch, innovative not only for its visual asset, but also for the functionality and experience it provides their clients. The two firms, NewTone and New Architects, one specialising in brand strategy and space concept design, and the other in engineering and rollout stores, were selected by ING Direct last year. The architectural concept, created by Marco Michele Rossi, Creative Director of NewTone, produces a striking feature for the brand and its “pumpkin”. The innovation of the brand consists of the opening of more branches in Italy to involve new target clients, attracted by the absolute accessibility and reassurance of the space. Excitement and technology merge to assure a sense of security and separation from the complexities of everyday life, a sense of protection and support offered with professionalism by the staff. Trust and reliability win over new customers in a branded space, working as a connotation of the brand profile itself, capable of communicating it and conveying its values and character. Visual, tactile and olfactory suggestions create emotional responses that express the natural and spontaneous use of the space, the integration of ergonomic shapes with friendly technology facilitates the dialogue between the client and the bank, completely autonomously or with the assistance of an agent with specialized experience, specifically trained to provide explanations and advice on the product and services. Bright and radiant colours touched by natural light contribute to creating a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere, transmitting messages of attention, care and respect, sincerity and transparency, concentrated on eliminating any form of barrier and censorship between the company’s personnel and the client, seated side by side on the all-important settees. The theme of functional design is clear as soon as the structure is accessed, entered by simple glass doors, instead of revolving ones. The issue of security is tackled by a system of cameras that monitor the inner and outer areas, and with the elimination of traditional cash machines, replaced by automatic ones. With these, clients will be able to withdraw and lodge cash and cheques, consulting their accounts without the limitations of the circuit ATM machine. A scanner is present in every station for the potential need of documents without having to print hardcopies, with exception to contracts requiring signatures. The branches are paperless: numerous iPads connected to the Internet will be provided in all waiting areas in order to ensure the space is user-friendly and interactive. The dynamic yet delicate internal architecture is characterised by clear surfaces and basic linear furniture, the banking service areas denominated by orange and blue colours, placed against a neutral oak base, used also for the woodwork details and parquet floor, that wrap around the interior shell of the store, creating the ‘pumpkin’ effect, the fulcrum of visual communication. With this little artifice the pumpkin logo for the brand is transformed into an iconic and figurative place, guarding the imaginative and dream-like values that only a young business, flexible and innovative, could possess. “With the branches –  ING DIRECT affirms – ING DIRECT plans to strengthen the visibility of its mark on the nation and offer clients more accessibility when needed and face-to-face consultations. As we have learned from the experience of other European countries, customer channels are becoming automated and developing quickly, working on the functionality and typical advantages of online models like self service, efficiency, low cost and quality of interaction, crucial characteristics of the distribution models of the future. Online banking at the same time is benefiting and actually growing further thanks to the physical presence of innovative structures such as these.” The inspiration for ING DIRECT’s bank shop stems from early childhood memories of mine, the smell of antique wood and beeswax from the sound hole of a contrabass in a lutist friend’s shop, inspiring a technologically efficient banking institute to evolve into a concept store with an osmotic relationship with its surroundings, originally intended as an online service offered to young and dynamic clients.The flagship store, created for ING DIRECT fortifies this by having a friendly relationship with its clients, translating to us a strong sense of the structure’s permeability, where different views and paths flow in and out”. Michele Rossi, Newtone.

Project partners:

» SAET Impianti Speciali

» TM STYLE S.R.L.

» Underline Spa