Garanti Bank Regional Headquarters

The Garanti Bank regional headquarters, designed by Istanbul-based Ozer+Tulgan Architects, has been awarded Highly Commended at the International Property Awards and shortlisted in the 2014 World Architecture Festival "Future Projects-Office" category.Located in Kizilay, in the city centre of Ankara, Turkey, the headquarters have been designed as an ecological green building.

The building consists of 15 floors, eight above and seven below the ground. In the basement there are five car park floors (total of 40 cars), a technical floor and a bank branch floor. Above the ground the first two floors belong to the bank branch. Above them there are five office floors and the top floor is the cafeteria serving the whole building.

The main criteria in the design process was sustainability and energy conservation. A double facade system has been designed on the south and east facing sides. Due to the climate of the region the double facade system works very effectively.

In winter the hot air forming in the buffer zone (the area between the interior and exterior facade) will be used to support the building heating system and in summer the hot air in the buffer zone will be evacuated with the help of movable glass louvres. The glass louvres will also be used for solar shading and natural ventilation. The buffer zone is accessible from the work zones and it will be used as a relaxing area for employees. It also helps the sound insulation from outside.

The other environmentally conscious systems in the project are heat pumps, rain water collection and storage system, green roof and photovoltaic panels which provide the electricity for the exterior lighting of the building.

In the work zones precision light sensors will be used. When the light measured from the light sensor is less than required the controller will activate the amount of led lights needed to just reach the required luminance conditions.

The building will have fire escape stairs and will be fully sprinkled. As passive fire protection spray fireproofing will be used on the structural steel and all the technical areas. Mechanical and electrical shafts and fire zones will have a two-hour seperation. For the server rooms a gas-based fire suppression system will be used.