Bankinter headquarters

At the end of the 1960s, Rafael Moneo gained work experience with the legend of Spanish architecture, Sáenz de Oíza. Moneo also spent a short time in Utzon's studio after school, from which he took away a sense of measured Northern rationalism that he considers a suitable means, but not the goal of his creation. After becoming independent, a unique opportunity arose for Moneo in the early 1970s to design a new headquarters for the financial institution Bankinter on the prominent Madrid boulevard, Paseo de la Castellana. The site for the high-rise building is located in the garden behind the residence of the Marquises of Santa Cruz de Mudela. Moneo's brick design corresponds with the rough facades of the Neo-Renaissance palace by Álvarez Capra. The nine-story building tries to adapt its mass in order not to overshadow the surrounding buildings while simultaneously offering an above-standard environment and views for offices and meeting rooms inside. While the flat slab facing the historical villa maintains a dignified dialogue, the sharp corner directed towards Marqués de Riscal street creates a certain tension alongside the open base. The lifted mass helps to shield the main entrance from unfavorable weather. The regular grid reinforces the significance of the institution while avoiding typological pathos or a predetermined relationship between meaning and form. In 2013, Rafael Moneo returned to Bankinter to add an emergency stairway to the rear. On the north-south axis of Paseo de la Castellana, which crosses the center of Madrid, four other Moneo realizations can be found.

Bankinter, again
Describing the feelings from a visit to Bankinter is not easy, as the building enjoys considerable interest from experts, and one might think that everything has already been said about it. Nevertheless, it remains an enticing task, as this building is an inexhaustible source of insights, and it is never possible to say everything: it always seems that something has been omitted. At this moment, we will focus on a review of the existing observations. The discussion concentrated on the advantages of Rafael Moneo's design, with a particular emphasis on his thoughtful connection of elements that are inextricably linked to the site. Some critics point to local constraints, the original buildings, and their interconnections. In this building, they reference various names such as Aalto and Sullivan, Aburto and Asís Cabrero; there are also allusions to Venturi or moderated Northern rationalism, which avoids organic irregularity. As a result, certain expressionist elements can be traced.
One can see historical references to both Spanish and foreign examples. The object is also an example of a timeless approach and what could be outdatedly called an "open text". The texture of the outer shell points to the craftsmanship of Otto Wagner; the influence of Fullaonda manifests in the elemental composition and firm anchoring, also reminiscent of Behrens' design for the Weissenhof housing estate. The expressionistically impressive entrance, which strongly contrasts with the historical bank building, further highlights the granite base. However, this composed entrance does not lead the design towards Carro's and Chirico's surrealist scenarios, but continually maintains clarity and a clear scale.
Ruiz Cabrero points to Moneo's use of thematic and compositional means in rational architecture, which he considers a resource, not a goal; a means available for solving problems specified outside of architecture. In this building, the rejection of the building program as a generator of the resulting form is evident. Moneo, who explicitly pointed out the crisis of typology in modern architecture, again rejects the direct reduction of compositional processes, avoiding typological pathos in compositional solutions, and the direct imposition of a predetermined relational model on meaning and image. On the other hand, the project, with its fondness for matter-of-factness, requires objects whose interrelations imply solutions and go further while maintaining a latent, irreducible assignment in their composition that prevents them from directly providing the resulting form. This world of shapes establishes a complex relationship with the place, from which we sense the emanation of a mysterious dimension, a certain ambiguity, and stimuli previously mentioned.
One of the essential features of this project is the main facade facing the boulevard Paseo de la Castellana, which can be perceived as an appropriate response to this busy urban artery, lined with distinctive power symbols of banking corporations. Although this is also the case here, Bankinter distinguishes itself by its respect for the remnants of urban history. This respect for history creates a new vitality infused into the already existing building, without losing sight of the passage of time, which is indicated by a clear differentiation of chronological layers and established by the polarity between the original building and its new extension. However, we must not forget that the Castellana boulevard is often subject to impressive architectural gestures that emerged only after the erasure of previous buildings related to the history of this boulevard. Moneo, on the other hand, is pleased to preserve the original building and the identity of the place facing the Castellana boulevard. The recessed facade from the urban street enhances the effect of the historical building. The selection of materials also played an equally important role. In addition to strengthening the identity of the building, the rough masonry was significant for preserving the polarity between the two buildings.