Silicon Valley Bank – Portland

For more than 30 years, Silicon Valley Bank has made “next” happen now.  Founded to launch entrepreneurs towards success, SVB combines sound financial advice and stability with vibrant new ideas for their innovative clients.  FENNIE+MEHL made those ideals visible and palpable in SVB’s new downtown Portland office housed inside a 110-year-old manufacturing building.

This is not a bank that looks – or feels – like a bank.  This is deliberative.  SVB wants their technology clients to feel as if this office is their office, inspiring excitement, trust and collaboration. 

F+M honored the historical building while giving it new life by sandblasting and revealing the brick and wood structures that had been painted over and hidden.  A two-story reclaimed wood wall greets visitors as they enter the open first floor with a modern neon chevron, a nod to SVB’s forward motion ethos (and part of its logo). F+M designed this floor to be client-focused, large and open enough to host client gatherings within the entry space and adjacent brick and neon café and dining area, while keeping the upstairs office spaces more secure and private.  SVB calls it a “game changer” to have an asset that already 50 clients and investors have requested to use.

Nods to SVB branding are everywhere, including a commissioned painting from a local artist of the Willamette River in SVB’s colors that starts in the hallway outside of the office and flows inside. 

The renovation of this 1902 building feels fresh and authentically Portland yet totally Silicon Valley Bank.

The energy and natural feel that make us all love Portland surrounds us in this office. It’s made for innovation.

Bruce Helberg, Senior Market Manager

Photography: Jeremy Bitterman