Ajman | United Arab Emirates
FAB | Ajman Mall Branch
Client
First Abu Dhabi Bank
Date
November 2024
Services
Interior Design
AJMAN | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
FIRST ABU DHABI BANK
CLIENT
FIRST ABU DHABI BANK
DATE
NOVEMBER 2024
SERVICES
INTERIOR DESIGN
The Brief
First Abu Dhabi Bank came to Ten Eight with a clear direction: to design a new breed of bank branch — digital-first, experience-led, and built around the customer rather than the transaction. The brief carried two equally important imperatives. First, to place digital content at the very heart of the spatial experience — not as a functional overlay, but as the defining atmosphere of the branch.Second, to meet the UAE’s newly amended legislation for People of Determination in full — embedding hearing loops, height-adjustable furniture, tactile floor guidance, and a comprehensive suite of accessibility provisions throughout. The Ajman City Centre branch is the fifth FAB branch Ten Eight has delivered under this digital concept — and with each iteration, the model has been refined and elevated further.
The Approach
We designed around a single guiding principle: experience over information. Too many bank branches treat their digital screens as marketing billboards. We wanted something different — something that would slow people down, hold their attention, and make the time spent waiting feel worthwhile. The result is bespoke digital artwork of genuine ambition — deep cosmic imagery in FAB’s blues and golds that wraps the ATM wall from floor to ceiling, spilling across the entrance and drawing customers in from the mall concourse.
The Approach
The human elements were designed with equal care. Warm light oak veneer surfaces the teller counter, where numbered cylindrical pendant lights — soft and sculptural — hang above each position, giving the service zone an almost hospitality-like quality. All POD requirements were integrated from the outset rather than retrofitted: hearing loops in consultation rooms, height-adjustable teller positions and furniture, and tactile floor guidance paths throughout.
The Outcome
The Ajman City Centre branch is the digital banking concept at its most resolved — a 1,400 square foot environment that punches far above its footprint, delivering genuine spectacle at the entrance and genuine warmth within. It is a branch that entertains as much as it serves, and one that has set a new standard for what FAB’s digital estate can be. Five branches in. The concept keeps getting stronger.
