Branding an architecture practice through a digital experience.
Allies and Morrison is an international practice of architects and urbanists based in London. With a growing team and strong convictions on contemporary architecture, they contacted us to work on a total rebranding and create a digital platform that better reflected their heritage and their future aspirations.
As a substitute to the usual logo on the top left of the homepage, you’ll find a search bar that invites you to explore their immense hub of knowledge. Internally, this search serves as a database so employees can easily find specific projects or initiatives. Externally, it allows you to type in any word, material, location, process or team member and discover all of the content linked to your search.
The classic navigation tabs have been replaced by highlighting preoccupations that are important to Allies and Morrison as well as the possibility to directly access their drawings and models which are at the very core of their craft.
While other studios may want to emphasize the beauty of the finished product, A&M is more concerned with the context of the location whether that’s from a historical, ecological or societal perspective. This is why we created the portfolio section as a space for extensive case studies that take you through the whole process and story of each project they’ve worked on.
Stepping away from the classic portfolio website other architecture studios often use allowed us to brand Allies & Morrison through a digital experience using their values and beliefs as the main elements for their new identity.
An extensive strategy phase led us to the idea of using the website as a platform that deeply reflected the very essence of Allies and Morrison's practice, which is how we came to decide it would also become the primary medium to express and define their new brand personality. As opposed to many starchitect bureaus, A&M are all about empathy and fostering communities through context-driven projects, it’s about the project itself and the impact it has on the wider area. This is why we deemed that traditional brand codes (like the logo) were not as important for them and decided to push their philosophy forward instead.