De agências bancárias a centros culturais: o caráter simbólico da arquitetura

Abstract

The research addresses the theme of banking architecture and its conversions over time, especially its new uses as cultural centers. Bank branches are spaces for negotiations and financial transactions, also functioning as places for social relationship. These spaces have been adapting, considering the permanent prevalence of temporal movements, such as technological growth and expansion. Large bank branches, or their headquarters buildings, are buildings that represent the power of financial institutions, participants in the stories of the cities where they are located. Currently, there is less presence of the public on its premises, a permanent trend, with customers taking advantage of the virtual services offered. In this scenario, the question is: what is the underlying logic in the process of converting bank branches into cultural centers? It is hypothesized that banking architecture, imposing and implanted in privileged locations, whose use is re-signified, will be identified as a symbol of the institutions to which it correlates, perpetuating its power and trajectory. The general objective is to understand the process of converting bank branches into cultural centers, and the logic that applies to these conversions, considering, in particular, the symbolic character present in the maintenance of banking architecture and its importance for society. To achieve the objectives, the methodology adopted was a literature review on banking architecture and cultural centers, from its beginnings to contemporaneity. A study of exemplary cases was carried out, taking as empirical object three Brazilian banking agencies, belonging banking institutions representing the Brazilian economy – Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal, Banco Santander – justified by having cultural centers implanted in their old agencies. It is expected that the research will contribute to the understanding of the process of converting bank branches into cultural centers, highlighting the preservation of the institutional banking image, evidencing the historical relevance of banking architecture as well as its symbolic load.