Winning Architect to Design New Central Bank Building

Published: Friday May 11th, 2018

Sand Dollar

WINNING DESIGN FOR NEW CENTRAL BANK OF THE BAHAMAS:-

ARCHITEKTON DESIGN STUDIO BAHAMAS LTD., JASON LORANDOS 

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us as we complete the first step in the realization of a new facility for the Central Bank of The Bahamas (the Bank). The Urban Planning and Architectural Design Competition involved the participation of 11 architectural firms competing to conceptualize a reimagined city of Nassau and a concept for a new Bank building. We thank all of our competitors for their efforts. There was a lot of work that took place behind the scenes to organize and ultimately judge this competition. To this end, I wish to acknowledge the members of the Steering Committee: 

• John Rolle, Governor of the Central Bank,
• Derek Rolle, Deputy Governor,
• Ian Fernander, Administration Manager,
• Charles Zonicle, Acting Director, Department of Physical Planning
• Timothy Johnson, Sr. Architect, Ministry of Works
• Kim Outten-Stubbs, Deputy Director, the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation,
• Alicia Oxley, Snr. Historic Preservation Architect, the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation, and
• Ed Fields, of the Nassau Downtown Partnership

I wish also to thank members of the Central Bank staff who supported this phase of the project: Darlene Deveaux, Paula Bain, Tammara Thomas and Kevin Demeritte.

Thanks too to staff members who provided insightful inputs, especially to: Allison Middleton, Chris Barr, Kenyetta Dean-Pugh, Kevin Armbrister, Meaghan Peet, Melony Munnings and Vanya Dean. …and from Graphite Engineering, Ishmael Pinder; and myself, Sonia Brown.

We also acknowledge and thank our judges, who studied, and carefully examined the submissions, interviewed finalists, and extensively deliberated, Mr. Antonius Roberts (Bahamas), Professor Andres Mignucci (Puerto Rico), Mrs. Valaria Pintard-Flax (University of The Bahamas), Dr. Nicolette Bethel (University of The Bahamas), and the Central Bank of The Bahamas. We could not have had a successful competition if architects had not expended much time and effort to review the competition requirements, conducted extensive research, and prepared design boards and briefs to demonstrate their various styles and perspectives.

We thank you for the time spent and talent on display. I will call off the names of participating firms, lead Architect(s) and competition numbers and ask the representatives of the various firms to identify themselves. Note that the website has been updated to add the company names. We plan to keep this posted for some time, as a way of celebrating the competitors and perhaps introducing to the public some new talent.

ARCHITECTS

1. Architekton Design Studio Bahamas Ltd. Jason Lorandos – 40798
2. Architectural Design Ideas Ltd., Dirk Saunders – 44452
3. AR-COP Limited, Doug Smith – 47852
4. The Architectural Studio, Michael Moss – 50356
5. Axum Architecture Ltd., Leslie Johnson – 61320
6. Diamond Consultant Group & HKS Architects Inc., Sean Farrington – 61730
7. The Architects Incorporated, Freeport, Donald Dean – 67473
8. TDG Architects Ltd., Marcus Laing – 80117
9. Lawrence Chisholm & Associates, Ltd., Andy Chisholm – 85475
10. Winston Jones & Associates Architects Ltd., Winston Jones – 89647
11. Patrick Rahming & Associates, Patrick Rahming – 96562

I wish to once again acknowledge that there was significant amount of creativity on display, but at the end of the day, an ultimate winner must be selected. The process considered the judge’s scoring, further review, and process reviews by the Bank.

The People’s Choice Competition winner is: Diamond Consultant Group & HKS Architects Inc., Sean Farrington
–61730

Coming in third place in the overall competition AR-COP Limited, Doug Smith – 47852

Second place goes to Diamond Consultant Group & HKS Architects Inc., Sean Farrington – 61730

To describe the winning submission, I borrow from the judge’s comments.

“The project, described as a sculptural object by its Architect, would represent an iconic image for the new Central Bank.”

“Boldness and audacity in terms of the design, and a deep thoughtfulness about the urban environment and the public spaces as well.”

And the overall winner of the Urban Planning and Architectural Design Competition is:

ARCHITEKTON DESIGN STUDIO BAHAMAS LTD., JASON LORANDOS

This process tends to be fluid but we fully intend to keep the public abreast of our progress, so look forward to updates later in the year.

May 11, 2018 

More Information: http://www.nassaureimagined.com