Banking Commission of the WAMU Headquarters
2025 • Abidjan • Office Building • 8,795m2 • 9 levels
The Banking Commission is a body of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) created with the aim of "contributing to ensure uniform and more effective supervision of banking activity and integration of the banking space in the WAMU".
As part of the growth in its workforce due to the foreseeable increase in the number of institutions under its control, an extension of the Banking Commission headquarters was commissioned by BCEAO, the body responsible for ensuring its operation and Secretariat. Located in the Plateau district, this project is essentially a vertical extension of the existing building.
Concept & Design
The overall volumetry was strongly inspired by structural elements that address the project's extension constraints. The challenge was to straddle the existing building by adding an upper extension of 4 floor levels exclusively dedicated to office space.
Therefore, it was necessary to:
- Design a structure allowing the upper levels to be positioned without load-bearing elements on the existing building.
- Seek harmony between the existing structure and the one to be deployed.
This main concept of a balanced system was iterated and refined until reaching the current version of the project, which presents itself as a tower wrapped in a large metallic plate and topped by an architectural cap providing shade to the entire structure.
Project images
