The Dick Stanley Request began with an email I received on March 1, 2015, at 7:01 PM. The sender, Mr. Dick Stanley, had mistaken me—Jamie Diamond, a female artist—for Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase. In his message, he explained that he had been a loyal Chase customer in Columbus, Ohio, since 1996 but had recently relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was frustrated to find no local Chase branches. “I know how busy you must be,” he wrote, “but if you find the time, please let me know.”
Intrigued by the sincerity of the request, I travelled to Albuquerque to explore potential sites of development and for over a year collaborated with six prominent architects to design site-specific conceptual branches of the future. Collapsing the roles of artist, architect, and CEO, the project continues my ongoing investigation into constructed identities, the performance of power, and the fragile boundary between truth and fiction.
Following the catastrophic failures of the banking system in 1929, public faith was all but lost. In an attempt to regain that trust, the system engaged with a new progressive architectural iconography to project its aesthetic and material transformation to the public. Confidence was re-established using a new open, efficient architectural reality that embraced new nontraditional vocabularies. Now, amidst the fall out of the Great Recession and the dawn of the great Crypto Metaversal revolution, banking is once again in a state of transition. What role, if any, does the bank branch still play? Are we imagining a new architectural model for the future of finance—or simply building monuments to obsolescence?
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Inspired by memory, this bank - a virtual resurrection of the demolished 1960 Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters - is populated by spirits of Albuquerque’s indigenous animals who play the role of guides in an interactive bank experience.This transactional environment is a collage of random access memories; of traditional banking transactions, environments both man made and natural, sounds mundane and musical, and signifiers deeply rooted in our subconscious.
Inspired by memory, this bank - a virtual resurrection of the demolished 1960 Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters - is populated by spirits of Albuquerque’s indigenous animals who play the role of guides in an interactive bank experience.This transactional environment is a collage of random access memories; of traditional banking transactions, environments both man made and natural, sounds mundane and musical, and signifiers deeply rooted in our subconscious.
Inspired by memory, this bank - a virtual resurrection of the demolished 1960 Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters - is populated by spirits of Albuquerque’s indigenous animals who play the role of guides in an interactive bank experience.This transactional environment is a collage of random access memories; of traditional banking transactions, environments both man made and natural, sounds mundane and musical, and signifiers deeply rooted in our subconscious.
Inspired by memory, this bank - a virtual resurrection of the demolished 1960 Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters - is populated by spirits of Albuquerque’s indigenous animals who play the role of guides in an interactive bank experience.This transactional environment is a collage of random access memories; of traditional banking transactions, environments both man made and natural, sounds mundane and musical, and signifiers deeply rooted in our subconscious.
Inspired by memory, this bank - a virtual resurrection of the demolished 1960 Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters - is populated by spirits of Albuquerque’s indigenous animals who play the role of guides in an interactive bank experience.This transactional environment is a collage of random access memories; of traditional banking transactions, environments both man made and natural, sounds mundane and musical, and signifiers deeply rooted in our subconscious.
Existing in a future where large institutional players are no longer essential for people to operate financially, this bank is inaccessible and empty. Perched on a concrete slab-on-grade, four laminated glass walls support a cross-laminated timber roof which, in turn, supports a four-sided LED screen hiding solar panels which generate all of the required power. The sign is emblazoned with a modified JP Morgan Chase bank logo to evoke its evolution to the cryptosphere.
This project is set in the gradient of change from the physical to the virtual, from the present to the present +, Set on an impeccable landscape, barely touching the earth, capable of still housing people, but as time passes from day to night, the structure becomes solely information. Binary language and code that represents the future of what we used to call a “Bank”.
This project is set in the gradient of change from the physical to the virtual, from the present to the present +, Set on an impeccable landscape, barely touching the earth, capable of still housing people, but as time passes from day to night, the structure becomes solely information. Binary language and code that represents the future of what we used to call a “Bank”.
This project is set in the gradient of change from the physical to the virtual, from the present to the present +, Set on an impeccable landscape, barely touching the earth, capable of still housing people, but as time passes from day to night, the structure becomes solely information. Binary language and code that represents the future of what we used to call a “Bank”.
This project is set in the gradient of change from the physical to the virtual, from the present to the present +, Set on an impeccable landscape, barely touching the earth, capable of still housing people, but as time passes from day to night, the structure becomes solely information. Binary language and code that represents the future of what we used to call a “Bank”.
This project is set in the gradient of change from the physical to the virtual, from the present to the present +, Set on an impeccable landscape, barely touching the earth, capable of still housing people, but as time passes from day to night, the structure becomes solely information. Binary language and code that represents the future of what we used to call a “Bank”.
Across the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond visible light, a series of frequencies exchange currencies and transactions as measurable and immeasurable packets of energy. An inverted stone pyramid carved into the earth mediates energy flows and frames the sky and landscape. As a magnetic forum of trade, this bank flickers between the visible and invisible realms as a physical and palpable space.
Across the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond visible light, a series of frequencies exchange currencies and transactions as measurable and immeasurable packets of energy. An inverted stone pyramid carved into the earth mediates energy flows and frames the sky and landscape. As a magnetic forum of trade, this bank flickers between the visible and invisible realms as a physical and palpable space.
Across the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond visible light, a series of frequencies exchange currencies and transactions as measurable and immeasurable packets of energy. An inverted stone pyramid carved into the earth mediates energy flows and frames the sky and landscape. As a magnetic forum of trade, this bank flickers between the visible and invisible realms as a physical and palpable space.
Across the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond visible light, a series of frequencies exchange currencies and transactions as measurable and immeasurable packets of energy. An inverted stone pyramid carved into the earth mediates energy flows and frames the sky and landscape. As a magnetic forum of trade, this bank flickers between the visible and invisible realms as a physical and palpable space.
Across the electromagnetic spectrum, beyond visible light, a series of frequencies exchange currencies and transactions as measurable and immeasurable packets of energy. An inverted stone pyramid carved into the earth mediates energy flows and frames the sky and landscape. As a magnetic forum of trade, this bank flickers between the visible and invisible realms as a physical and palpable space.
A theoretical architectural structure inspired by Chase’s iconic octagon logo explores the future notion of a bank existing between the duality of the physical realm and the virtual. The bank itself becomes the physical + metaphysical embodiment of the corporation’s identity in its purest form.
A theoretical architectural structure inspired by Chase’s iconic octagon logo explores the future notion of a bank existing between the duality of the physical realm and the virtual. The bank itself becomes the physical + metaphysical embodiment of the corporation’s identity in its purest form.
A theoretical architectural structure inspired by Chase’s iconic octagon logo explores the future notion of a bank existing between the duality of the physical realm and the virtual. The bank itself becomes the physical + metaphysical embodiment of the corporation’s identity in its purest form.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.
This bank is set in a future where the intrinsic value of gold has declined so much that it can serve as a building material. Its roof, a play on historic bank vaults, encases a concourse of servers hosting clients’ blockchain data. Inside, a smaller vault of stacked 400 troy ounce gold bars, corbelled like bricks, encloses a private sanctum where clients can fund, transfer, and mine their crypto accounts.