Orion Federal Credit Union - Poplar Avenue

Memphis, TN, USA

Photo © Hank Mardukas Photography

Architects: archimania

Location: 821 Poplar Avenue, 38105 Memphis, TN, USA
Year: 2016

A Credit Union had a history of building individual relationships between its staff and its members, and between its brand and the larger community. The Credit Union wanted to establish a presence on a small corner lot (formerly housing a gas station) within the Memphis Medical District.

The design strategy uses bands of material that stretch across the site, creating spaces for pedestrians and vehicles and weaving surrounding context to exterior and interior spaces. The building massing is comprised of two interior volumes linked to two covered exterior spaces. The volumes, one glazed open banking hall, and one more closed support structure, slide past each other along the site's bands. The open glazed volume is positioned closer to the corner, addressing the corner and welcoming pedestrians. The closed volume slides away from the street, creating a pocket park between the parking area and the covered building entry. The closed volume's canopy creates a space for drive-through banking. An undulating zinc panel system traces the outlines of the interior and exterior building volumes, and touches down once at the corner of the open banking hall. Brick forms support the curtain and create a variety of interaction spaces from inside to out.

The linking of materials and spaces to the landscape and the landscape to the context creates a larger impact for a smaller building, and a connection between an institution and the community it serves.