If someone asked you to visualize the architecture colours of most banks, what would pop into your mind? Conservative hues and neutrals? Well, after spotting Japan’s Sugamo Shinkin Bank, I may never look at a financial building the same way again! Designed in Shimura by Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design, the exterior of the building is a feat of twelve beautifully stacked rainbow-hued layers. The vibrant colours were arranged from warm to cool so the blue hues on top of the building would seamlessly disappear into the sky. The interior features furniture to match the exterior hues as well as white open space and three cylindrical skylights that fill the building with natural light and warmth. At night and according to weather or season, the building is lightly illuminated. The glowing layers not only make the bank visible but create a colourful warmth on the urban landscape. Sugamo Shinkin Bank is a gorgeous work of art that proves banking or governmental buildings need not be neutral to be official. (p.s. the final picture is of colour swatches for the exterior layers. What a dream it would be to sit in on a planning meeting like that!)

(via design boom; images via emmanuelle moureaux architecture + design)