By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 29 April 2014:
A firm of Danish architects is to build the new headquarters for the Central Bank of . . .[restrict]Libya in Tripoli’s Gurji district.
Henning Larsen beat off competition from 22 other international and local designers to win the contract for the 50,000-square-metre headquarters. The project will bring together CBL offices that have been scattered around the capital, since the bank’s iconic headquarters building on the coastal side of the Medina , has long been unable to house all departments.
No cost has been revealed, nor a start date given. A plan published in 2008 to build a new Italian-designed CBL bank HQ on the-then Green, now Martyrs’ Square was costed at €98 million.
Henning Larsen, in announcing their success, have emphasised the environmental and low-energy credentials of their design which involves offices built around a slightly-angled atrium.
The architects explained: “By using and re-interpreting specifics of the Libyan nature and culture the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Libya will be a symbol of the new Libya, both for the local as well as the global community.
“We believe that the Central Bank of Libya must project an image of authority, solidity and security. At the same time, the Central Bank of Libya plays a crucial role in Libya’s economic growth, and as such, it should project a forward thinking, dynamic attitude, that grasps opportunities.”
Besides bringing together all the CBL’s currently scattered departments and staff, the building will also contain an education centre, a restaurant and an hotel. [/restrict]
