From Brand to Architecture

University of Cincinnati May 16, 2003 I, Bradley Joseph Beck , hereby submit as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture in the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning It is entitled : From Brand to Architecture Approved by: Michael Mcinturf Barry Stedman From Brand to Architecture A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfi llment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture In the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning 2003 by Bradley J. Beck Bachelor of Science in Architecture, University of Cincinnati, 2001 Michael Mcinturf Barry Stedman ABSTRACT :: Society has been slowly replacing all product importance with brand equity; this has caused a shift in thinking from the quality of a good to lifestyle assimilation. The effect on architecture is evident in the promotion of ‘signature architects’ who have branded themselves and their style, creating a market for those clients who wish to look at architecture as a product of brand bolstering. Whole communities have lost a sense of their own identity, lacking any real vernacular and hoping that an architect can repeat ‘the Bilbao effect’ to invigorate them. In order to restore an authenticity to this culture that defi nes itself by the designer label, architects can create buildings which not only are more honest in their detailing but allow a community to create for themselves an identity. This adds a fl avor of the vernacular that has been lost and lets the architecture and the people determine identity, not the architect. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :: This thesis is dedicated to my family, who have kept me grounded even though I have been away from them for too long. It is also dedicated to all of my friends, without which I would’ve gone insane long ago, or at least done something stupid like drop out of architecture. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS :: Abstract.............................................................. i Acknowledgements............................................. ii Table of Contents............................................... 1 Introduction........................................................ 2 Authenticity......................................................... 6 Branding............................................................. 10 Of the People..................................................... 16 Branded Architecture........................................ 20 Brand Identity.................................................... 22 Authentic Building............................................. 28 Testing the Thesis............................................. 30 Cessation.................................................... 36 Bibliography......................................................... 38 Image Credits................................................... 40 Appendix A - Project......................................... 42 1 INTRODUCTION :: Gabriel Brothers Inc.1 is a clothing store that deals brand loyalty is something that David Lewis and in off price merchandise. Designer brand names Darren Bridger talk about in their book The Soul of can be found throughout the store, for up to 70 the New Consumer: Authenticity -- What we buy and percent off of the retail price. The catch? Slightly Why in the New Economy. Lewis and Bridger state Imperfect. This means that there are small holes, “New Consumers are attracted by authenticity not stains, mis-stitchings, and any number of other just because it seems to offer superior quality, but defects that have caused the companies to keep because ownership of the authentic helps bridge a them from going to major retail stores. With these perceived gulf between their real and ideal selves.”3 defects the products cost much less, but what In a quest to reach authenticity for themselves, is important remains -- the brand name. Plato’s these “new consumers” tend to buy things which Closet2 is another off price retailer, costs reduced they perceive to be authentic. What is meant by because the goods are “gently used.” Teenagers authenticity is discussed later in the chapter of that take their brand name clothes that are still well kept name, but the fact remains that the new consumer to this store, and get a small amount of money for seeks out authentic products. 1 http://www.gabrielbrothers.com 2 http://www.platoscloset.com them. The store then sells these clothes back to 3 David Lewis & Darren Bridger. The Soul of the New other teenagers at prices up to 50 percent off retail How have these brand names reached their status Consumer: Authenticity(Naperville, Ill.; Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2000), 43. value. Again, the item may be in worse condition of authenticity? Brands have historically begun by than a new one, but the brand name is still on building equity through product quality, and then the clothes, and this transcends the quality of the utilizing that equity to bolster the brand name. This product. timeline of products will be discussed in the chapter entitled “Branding,” which will expose the steps The success of these and other stores like them that not only the product, but advertising, take to are part of a growing realization that certain brands reach that authenticity. It will be seen how abusing have reached the status of being a lifestyle, and this timeline can lead to consumers sensing a lack no longer need a quality product. Their equity is of authenticity with a company. This has exposed in the experience and recognition of wearing their the consumer to a mistrust, led these consumers to name. The products are not knockoffs or “designer scrutinize every brand, and left those brands who imposters,” but actual pieces of the brand, and are merely a lifestyle quite empty. obviously the craftsmanship is secondary if society is willing to purchase their not so perfect goods. This As the authenticity of products and brands is 2 questioned, society creates a counterculture The authenticity of his work and the communities in to combat the top-down confi guration of the which he places these replicas can be compromised corporations setting them up. Hipsters counter by this phenomenon. the companies by using what they create and altering the meaning of it slightly, essentially co- How can we begin to deal with this loss of opting it for themselves. However, companies have authenticity in architecture? Repetition of building ways of dealing with this problem, as you’ll see in has created a homogenized landscape that does chapter three. The means that these companies not differentiate between place. What once use have effectively reduced counterculture to a was the main difference between communities fad, and turned the vernacular into a mass culture (the vernacular) has since been usurped and left phenomenon. In the “melting pot” known as the residents without representation. Architects can U.S.A, the vernacular is eerily the same across help to remedy the situation through design, but the country. This chapter speaks of this and how more importantly by offering a space in which a individuality has disappeared in America, removing neighborhood can contribute a part of themselves to the community identity from buildings. help create a community identity. Following this discussion is “Branded Architecture,” In order to test this hypothesis, a project will be a dialogue which highlights the current state of explored in a neighborhood known as Little Italy, architecture in the beginning of the 21st century, in Cleveland, Ohio. The community is rich in their and the success of the “signature architect.” A Italian customs and heritage, yet quite American connection is made between the branding mindset in their architecture. The project takes on an edge that multinational corporations have embedded of the community that is in disrepair, and attempts in our society, and how that has led to the to create a solid buffer with a community winery interpretation of architecture as a brand and building supplanting several abandoned buildings. The as product. Frank Gehry is the prime example of program includes space for residents to make an architect whose work is incredible, yet is thought their own wine, two spaces to taste the wine of of by the public as reproducible and fashionable. the community and cater events, and a vineyard This relationship between Gehry and his signature which will be a venue for the users to create their style has pushed his clients to ask him to repeat the collective persona. effects of his architecture in cities all over the globe. 3 4 “The astronomical growth in the wealth and cultural infl uence of multinational corporations over the last fi fteen years can arguably be traced back to a single, seemingly innocuous idea developed by management theorists in the mid-1980’s: that successful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products.” -Naomi Klein, No Logo “Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don’t need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they really don’t need.” -Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club “As for authenticity, design is a deliberate making, and insofar as we forget the designer we shall fi nd ourselves confused about the authentic versus the fake - since all the stuff we are concerned about, including what we now take as nature, is a product of human design. We make those sacred

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