July 10, 2007
by: Rachel Schauer

Event: BRANDISM: ARCHITECTURE/IDENTITY/COMMUNITY
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.27.07
Speakers: Keller Easterling — Associate Professor of Architecture, Yale School of Architecture; Martha Kohen — Professor & Director, School of Architecture & College of Design, Construction, and Planning, University of Florida; Mary McLeod — Professor of Architecture, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Elsie Maio — Brand Strategist & President, Maio and Company; Michel Mein — Executive Creative Director, The 7th Art; Marvin Meltzer, AIA — Meltzer/Mandl Architects.
Moderator: Anna Klingman, Assoc. AIA — principal, KL!NGMANN Architecture Brand Development
Organizer: Anna Klingmann; AIANY

Dubai’s Internet City

Dubai’s Internet City — branding at an urban scale.

Courtesy Dubai Internet City

Branding can be dismissed as laboring over logos and aesthetics — visual representations that are easily recognizable and symbolic. These days, however, it has come to mean a total identity package; a name is attached to an entire lifestyle, not just a single product. In this way, architecture may be a powerful instrument in orchestrating the experiential aspects of brands. The question, then, is what this involvement with branding could mean for our urban environments.

A city like Dubai seems to be the quintessential example of branding at the urban scale. With names like Internet City, Healthcare City, Humanitarian City, and Knowledge Village, these smaller entities each maintain their own logo, slogan, architectural icons, and even web presence, but together form a “Dubai Land.” Yet, built without an existing population or history, one must wonder what depth there is to these cities and their pre-established identities.

Arguably, excesses of free land and lax economic zoning make Dubai more of an exception than a rule as an urban branding strategy. This congregate of cities is more accurately reflected in special-interest communities in America, rather than major metropolitan areas. In actuality, a city like NYC could even be said to represent urbanism that resists this type of branding because, as is commonly noted, the grid takes prominence over the buildings. While the fickleness of style and taste plays itself out, the city is able to retain its cohesive urban identity.

Though branding has and will play an important role in the business of architecture, architects put the field at risk when they position themselves at the disposal of marketing trends. The consumerism that comes with branding may reveal itself in the form of short-term dollar signs for developers and landlords, but it could be at the cost of long-term urban design. Branding breeds homogeneity, and designers should not compromise their individuality for the latest fashion. As participants in a discipline that inherently must look toward the future to accommodate the needs of people and their communities, architects should set the trends, not follow them.

Rachel Schauer is concentrating her studies on architecture and communications at New York University Gallatin School. She also is e-OCULUS’ graphic designer.

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