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Identity rhymes with diversity
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As easy as it is to make the rhyme, it is much more complex to build identity places for ever-changing contexts, cultures, and uses. The key is the human component and seeking a moment of magic
After training as architects, Peter Ippolito and Gunther Fleitz founded the Ippolito Fleitz Group in Stuttgart. Peter Ippolito says that “After 20 years we’re still curious about what drives people and hungry to do totally new projects in countries we’ve never visited before. Context is one of our main drivers, the curiosity and courage to just get out there, along with a strong focus on the user’s perspective.” In 20 years, and 1600 projects, four more offices have been opened, in Berlin, Zurich, Moscow and Shanghai where more than 130 people work, including product designers, interior designers, architects, brand specialists, graphic designers, textile designers, craft people and artists engaged in corporate, residential, hospitality and workplace projects. They have always described themselves as “identity architects.” “In both private and public projects, we’re aiming for something that resonates with people and creates a sense of relevance for our users. This is at the core of what we do and why we call ourselves identity architects.”
author: Alessandra Bergamini portrait photo: Ippolito Fleitz Group, Jessica Morfis projects photo: Zooey Braun, Philip Kottlorz, Sui Sicong You constantly work on your clients’ identity, but how would you define your firm’s own identity? When we started the company 20 years ago after graduating as architects we made a couple of decisions that are still valid for us today. One was to work as broadly as possible and not specialize. We were curious about the world and we just wanted to go out there and take whatever seemed interesting. We still have that kind of variety and diversity of work today, with projects spanning from the private to the corporate sphere, from very small projects to large and even massive ones, from branding and product design to interior design and architecture. Diversity is really a core value for us, not only in what we do but how we do it. Our second important decision was tied to our belief that the world is too interesting to look at just from the perspective of architects. So, since our very first project 20 years ago we have included different perspectives, be they of artists or graphic designers, and we are still doing this too. Today we employ over 130 designers from all over the world, including product designers, interior designers, architects, brand specialists, graphic designers, textile designers and artisans. It really helps to have a broad view and always aim to understand society as a whole in order to solve something specific. We want to understand how people live, love, work and travel, which allows us to integrate our view. We also made the decision to work internationally and go beyond our own culture. We wanted to be curious about other perspectives and how people of different backgrounds look at a similar problem and offer a totally different answer.
So, is diversity at the core of your design approach? After 20 years and more than 1600 projects, we’re still curious about what drives people and hungry to do totally new projects in countries we’ve never visited before. Context is one of our main drivers, the curiosity and courage to just get out there, along with a strong focus on the user’s perspective. Nothing we do comes from an idea of a particular style, so every project is different because each client or their target group have a different idea about life, love, work, travel, and they deserve a unique answer. Essentially our projects respond to the user’s perspective and take a human-centric approach.
Roman Klis Design office, Herrenberg, Germany
LaVisione restaurant, Denkendorf, Germany
So, the starting point is the client. How do you become identity architects? We develop projects around the client’s identity. We see a project like a journey with our clients. Always on eye level as a strategic partner, not knowing the outcome when we start, but arriving at a solution that not only works well but creates value. Obviously, the solution needs to be functional, operative and beautiful, but in both private and public projects we’re aiming for something that goes beyond that, something that resonates with people and creates a sense of relevance for our users. This is at the core of what we do and why we call ourselves identity architects.
Your work could be described as moments, or a series of moments. Could you explain this? There will always be theories and concepts, which are important, but a moment is something magical, whether it’s about you as a designer knowing you’ve arrived at a solution, or a workplace context where it’s no longer so interesting to create or “mirror” everything that has already been defined by operational processes. What’s interesting is creating something you haven’t planned ahead of time. For example, how can people working in separate teams or departments meet up somewhere and have an idea? Moments are a sort of innovation. That’s what we’re looking for: the kind of magic that happens when you leave the realm of the expected and the planned.
Can dialogue and surprise be considered key moments for both clients and users? Our generation was trained to design objects or spaces as results but I don’t believe in that concept anymore. The workplace and what we have been experiencing in recent years is a good example. There is no successful workplace project without a proper change management process. So, the work of designers is as much about designing processes as it is to design objects and spaces. Having a deep understanding of the socio-economic context and how people act in it, makes our lives as designers much richer. Being process-oriented and dialogue-oriented, shaping processes, is a key part of our job. Creating unexpected moments, which break the barriers of what you expect from a space, disrupts our preconceived expectations and hence creates an opportunity for a strong identity, a memorable and shareable moment, appropriation or a reflection of purpose. It’s always more interesting to engage with someone who is different, who provides a source of friction. With spaces it’s just like that.
Your interiors, including the ceilings, are dense and visually stimulating. Ceilings are somehow a lost surface of modernism. Ceilings have been and still are a fantastic opportunity because you always see them. Even if you have a busy place like a restaurant or a commercial space, the ceiling is always visible. It’s an opportunity to create identity, start a dialogue, lead the client on a journey and, of course, in a classical-architectural sense, support zoning, orientation and layering. Often in modernism the ceiling is reduced to a bearer of functional things like sprinklers, lights and cooling systems. We always try to grasp the opportunity a ceiling offers and take a very integrated approach to building technology. In most of our projects, technology is invisible, unless it helps to make a visual hierarchy work since we usually focus on the effect.
Regarding the design of workspaces and their users, what do you think current and near future development will look like? There are a couple of things we’re looking for right now and, of course, everything has been accelerated by the Covid experience. But none of that is new, it’s just more present. And I think it’s a chance for us,
