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, the direct 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 specialised 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
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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. “Creating an entire chain of bank branches from scratch across the country, using an entirely innovative concept, acquiring locations as we go and radically reorganising the office of the Facility Management is a challenge that few would have accepted – affirms Ludovico Aloi – “All the contractors, our partners, my collaborators from New Architects and the people that ING DIRECT has dedicated to this initiative have given all of themselves which has given us a result of elevated quality, that meets the commercial objectives of the client and that, we believe, will have resonance in the panorama of design and international retail banking.” Visibilis – Creative Consultancy, Daniela Artuso daniela@visibilis.it, mobile +39 349 7019682
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Silvia Colombo, Head of PR & Communication 0255226645, 348 1506213 – silviacolombo@ingdirect.it Sara Cassina, PR & Communication Specialist 0255226761, 348 0061711, sara.cassina@ingdirect.it Elisa Pavan, PR & Communication Specialist 0255226563, 345 7271290, elisa.pavan@ingdirect.it
Newtone, a design and architectural firm, is dedicated to the planning and realisation of innovative space concepts by which the philosophy of brands is interpreted and communicated, in collaboration with marketing and retail managers. It has successfully specialised in the designing of the retail bank concept, developing a synergetic union between architecture, design and communication in order to best portray the fundamental values of the brand. Marco Michele Rossi, designer and Creative Director of Newtone, was born in Varese in 1964. After graduating in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano, he quickly orientated himself towards product and interior design at Gianfranco Frattini’s studio. The experience lead to a fourteen-year long collaboration with Matteo Thun, during which time he conceived and established many chains of stores for international clients, also collaborating on the design of a number of designer-hotels. He then assumed the role of Creative Director at Crea International, and Professor at The European Institute of Design in Milan. In 2010 he founded Newtone. New Architects, an engineering and architectural firm, designs and carries out the construction of subsidiary networks, retail stores and corporate buildings. It is specialised in the ‘rollout’ concept joining forces with technical offices and facility managers, and retail and product managers. New Architects has branches in over 800 locations across Italy for banks and retail businesses, with investments of over 100 million euro. Ludovico Aloi, architect and Managing Director of New Architects, was born in Milan in 1961. After graduating in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano, he collaborated with the studio Aloi-Morosati until 1989, leading architectural and planning projects. He then went on to designing public buildings with the Studio Rossettini di Padova, and with the architect Milena Navone he collaborated on the design of private edifices. At the same time he was preparing and promoting the “Contest of ideas Cadorna-Bovisa” and its subsequent exhibition at the Triennale of Milan, as well as doing research for the Joint Research Centre of Ispra (Institute of Advanced Materials) on the Environmental Assessment of Buildings for the energy Certification of edifices. From 1998 onwards, many professional contacts were made resulting in the studios A+ Architetti Associati, A&Q Associates, and finally, New Architects – a new engineering company, founded in 2011, the fruit of labour of years of collaboration, business partners and networking throughout the country. It is dedicated to the design of rollout concept stores.
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Little text boxes: 1) Essentiality, authenticity, innovation, welcome. 2) The pumpkin as a brand: welcoming and friendly sales locations. 3) Brand strategy and Space Concept Design in symbiosis with engineering and rollout. 4) Excitement and technology merge to assure security. 5) Usability Design, user-friendly. 6) Dynamic and delicate architecture. 7) ING DIRECT Italia: Reinforcing the visibility of the brand in the country. 8) Inspiration and philosophy of design. 9) New Architects: The trust. 10) For further information: PR and Press contact for Newtone and Newarchitects 11) For further information: PR and Press contact for ING DIRECT Italia 12) Newtone: Creative Director Marco Michele Rossi 13) Engineering and Architecture: New Architects 14) New Architects: Ludovico Aloi
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