Soyak Kristalkule (Finansbank Headquarters), Istanbul

The client for the base building is Soyak Construction & Trading; Finansbank, the client for the interiors, also commissioned them from the firm, which was responsible for the architecture, envelope and interiors. The associate architect is HAS Architects of Istanbul. Construction began in 2011 and ended in 2014; the tower then ranked among the best skyscrapers completed that year in the Emporis awards (seventh place). The complex is LEED Silver certified and in 2016 received the International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre.

Acquired in 2016 by the QNB Group, Finansbank was renamed QNB Finansbank in October of that year and then, in October 2024, QNB Türkiye.

The complex occupies a site at the heart of Istanbul's new business district and engages two very different urban settings. Facing the business district and its cluster of high-rises, the 35-storey glass tower, about 170 m high, anchors the east end of the site; it is made up of asymmetrical sloping surfaces, and its prismatic form enlivens the city's skyline. Its upper levels hold a sky garden and an event space; at street level, a generous entry plaza fronts it on one side.

At the other end, a long stone-clad base carries a twelve-storey office block whose travertine curtain wall and punched windows take up the scale and materials of the low-rise neighbourhood next door. The base ties the two volumes together; its roof is planted and its length is punctuated by public spaces, indoors and out, that bring in daylight. The whole has 90,000 m2 of gross area, with a three-level office complex and its linear garden, a multi-use auditorium, a restaurant, a cafeteria, meeting rooms, shops and parking for 1,100 cars on five levels.

Offices; QNB Türkiye bank, formerly Finansbank, has its address in the Kristal Kule building.

An office complex seen from the outside, from the streets of Esentepe; a generous entry plaza lies in front of the tower.