― Branded Environments: Higher Education
Next generation environments that inspire learning and discovery
Introduction ― 4 Selected Projects ― 8
Front Cover: Watt Family Innovation Center, Clemson University, South Carolina
Left: Lory Student Center and Theater, Colorado State University, Colorado
― Branded Environments: Higher Education
Shaping meaningful experiences through brand.
A successful branded environment tells a story, and turns spaces into places where people feel engaged, connected, inspired and motivated. When higher education’s institutional brand meets great design, places are born that help shape and support student life and academic achievement—places that connect and inspire our future leaders and innovators.
Branded Environments: Higher Education
Bringing a university’s greatest qualities to life
When we collaborate with students, faculty and staff, we discover the differentiating characteristics, foundational truths, and cultural moments that together capture and reflect a University’s very essence—the qualities that define your school and help shape great experiences.
When we bring these qualities to life, the results are environments that tap emotions, instill pride, engage the mind and inspire learning, discovery, creativity and innovation—environments that in addition to nurturing personal growth, emanate diversity and inclusivity. We’d be delighted to explore the stories that set you apart and turn those into transformative environments.
― Branded Environments: Higher Education
Selected Projects
Northwestern
University,
Patrick
G. and Shirley W. Ryan Fieldhouse and Mark and Kimbra Walter Athletics Center
Evanston, Illinois
Client: Northwestern University
Size: 420,000 gross square feet (39,019 square meters)
Completion Date: 2018
Awards:
Best Custom Solution, PCI Design Awards, 2019
Best Project Award, ENR Midwest, 2018
Strong brand solutions are responsive to the building’s form, remaining subtle when architecture is making a statement or providing expansive Lake Michigan views, but bringing energy and vitality to key spaces that need activation.
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
Brand elements mirror each space’s function—from a sense of vigor in training rooms to a feeling of maturity in academic support areas.
Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Fieldhouse and Mark and Kimbra Walter Athletics Center
Prominently featured in the public entry space, a 3-story LED screen captures the spirit of sport, and dynamically represents the University’s 19 athletics programs.
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
A dynamic brand pattern paired with the iconic ‘N’ logo captures a sense of speed and motion.
Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Fieldhouse and Mark and Kimbra Walter Athletics Center
← Pattern and 3-dimensional texture celebrate All-American student achievement. ↓
The Chicago city grid underscores the connection between the university and its neighbor just to the South, a key differentiator for the school.
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
A thoughtful balance between sophistication and strength, subtlety and boldness, student and athlete.
University of North Texas, University Union
Denton, Texas
Client: University of Noth Texas
Size: 313,000 square feet (29,079 square meters)
Completion Date: 2015
Awards:
Facility Design Award of Excellence, Association of College Unions International (ACUI), 2017 Gold Design Award, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), 2016
Best of Year in Brand and Graphic Design, Interior Design Magazine, 2016
― WHAT IT IS
A powerful transformation of a building into a welcoming beacon of student life, a place that celebrates traditions, values and achievement.
→ WOW! This hanging sculpture comprised of 3D acrylic letters, showcases UNT’s values - and the alignment of ideals between school and student.
University Union
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
Thoughtful UNT stories threaded throughout the space provide moments of discovery and connection to place.
↑
UNT Alumni inspire students and demonstrate the potential of success and global impact.
←
This inspirational quote from UNT’s founding president reflects on UNT’s roots, and what this school was built upon.
→
Embedded in the main corridor floor is UNT’s fight song, a subtle moment of discovery that instills pride.
Clemson University, Watt Family Innovation Center
Clemson, South Carolina
Client: Clemson University
Size: 70,000 square feet (6,503 square meters)
Completion Date: 2016
Sustainability: LEED Silver ® Awards:
Merit Award, Built Project, AIA Georgia Design Awards, 2017
Merit Award, AIA South Atlantic Region Design Awards, 2016 IT Infrastructure and Systems, Campus Technology, Innovators Awards, 2016Technology, 2016
― WHAT IT IS
An environment where collaboration between students, faculty, and leaders from industry and government agencies generates ideas and solves complex problems.
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
The academic center puts collaboration and innovation on display, embracing culture and brand as a way to activate the environment.
→
“Coded” messages become brand pattern and wayfinding cues... can you read it?
University of Oregon, Matthew Knight Arena
Eugene, Oregon
Client: University of Oregon
Size: 405,000 square feet (37,626 square meters)
Completion Date: 2011
Sustainability: LEED Gold ®
Awards:
Honor Award, AIA Kansas City, 2014
Merit Award, Interior Design Best of Year Awards, 2011 Gold Award, IIDA Mid-American Design Awards, 2011
Key messages and spaces capture the pioneering spirit and courageous innovators who made this university possible.
Matthew Knight Arena
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
Branded signage supports the building as an anchor and visual icon for the university— strengthening the school’s relationship with its community.
Large-scale environmental graphics celebrate university history, students and achievement.
← The strength of the iconic U of O logo greets students and visitors upon arrival.
Northwestern University, Inspiring Grounds, Kellogg School of Management
Evanston, Illinois
Client: Northwestern University
Completion Date: 2017
― WHAT IT IS
A coffee shop designed to align with Kellogg’s purpose: to inspire the next generation of brave leaders.
Inspiring Grounds, Kellogg School of Management
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
The circular logo mark is evocative of a stamp, subtly suggesting the mark students can leave on the world.
A holistic approach to developing a genuine, distinct, and cohesive brand identity.
New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business
New York, New York
Client: New York University
Size: 110,000 square feet (10,219 square meters)
Completion Date: 2009
Sustainability: LEED Silver ®
Awards:
Educational Category Honoree, Interior Design Best of Year Commemorative Book, 2011 Best of Year, Merit, IIDA, 2010
Gold Winner, Environmental Graphics, Creativity International, 2010
― WHAT IT IS
Emphasizing connectedness and transparency, this is a school in the city and of the city—a place that brings student leaders and business leaders together in the heart of NYC.
The vibrancy of the city’s streets serves as a backdrop to the hustle and bustle of student engagement.
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
Three-story brand messaging conveys the school’s values and activates the connecting stair.
The blur of city lights and city traffic capture the dynamic quality of the educational experience at NYU Stern.
Colorado State University, Lory Student Center and Theater
Fort Collins, Colorado
Client: Colorado State University
Size: 230,000 square feet (21,368 square meters)
Completion Date: 2014
Sustainability: LEED Silver ®
Awards:
b.o.b. Forum Design Award for Education and Research, IIDA Georgia, 2016
Facility Design Award of Excellence, Association of College
Unions International (ACUI), 2015
The student center reflects CSU’s roots as a land-grant university, and exhibits how that mission continues to drive their future.
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL
The U.S. University Land Grant Program was established by Abraham Lincoln, and is a pre-cursor to today’s concept of social responsibility.
In addition to the Student Center, Lory Theater serves as a place for university programs and events - and is an important resource for the local community.
The film on glass above recognizes the names of world-renowned performers.
Clockwise from Top Right:
Lory Student Center and Theater
Charles E. Young Research Library
Los Angeles, California
Client: University of California, Los Angeles
Size: 60,000 square feet (5,574 square meters)
Completion Date: 2011
Sustainability: LEED Gold CI ®
Awards:
Design Award, Southern California Development Forum, 2012
Clockwise from Top Right: From templates to icons to navigational tools, the research screen and the library itself make finding what you’re looking for a whole lot easier.
University of Cincinnati, Richard E. Lindner Center and George & Helen Smith Athletics Museum
Cincinnati, Ohio
Client: University of Cincinnati
Size: 23,000 square feet (2,137 square meters)
Completion Date: 2006
Awards:
Interior Architecture Special Recognition, AIA Chicago, 2008
Big “I” International Interior Awards, Contract Magazine, 2008
First Place Award, ASID Illinois Chapter, 2007
― WHAT IT IS An atrium space combining museum, welcome center and archives that doubles as a university recruitment tool.
Analogue and digital displays tell the stories and histories of athletic progress and achievement at UC.
→
A tower of pride, this 5-story trophy case celebrates the possibilities of success... on the field and off.
Real-time video displays that capture both athletic and academic content, from sports events to academic lectures.
Richard E. Lindner Center & George and Helen Smith Athletics Museum
Clockwise from Top Left:
The black and red university colors are used to organize the parallel stories of academic and athletic programs and successes.
Since 1935, we’ve believed that design has the power to make the world a better, more beautiful place.
That’s why clients and community members on nearly every continent partner with us to design healthy, happy places in which to live, learn, work, play, and heal. We’re passionate about human-centered design, and how design can impact our lives through sustainability, resilience, well-being, diversity and inclusion, and mobility. And we’re committed to advancing design through research. As a matter of fact, in 2018, Fast Company named us one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Architecture. Our team of 2,500 professionals provides worldwide interdisciplinary services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, landscape architecture, and more, and includes our partners Portland, Nelson\Nygaard, Genesis Planning, and Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR).
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