
84.51º SUSPENDED SCULPTURE | ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN
Hanging, mobile sculpture enhances new Gensler-designed headquarters in downtown Cincinnati.
The Brand Experience commissioned us to design and fabricate a suite of branding features to help their client, 84.51º, educate different audiences on what they do and why it matters. Our solution was to design a series of features that build off each other as visitors flow through the building. First, in the street level lobby, then up the elevators and finally when arriving at the 9th-floor sky lobby. Through interactive pieces, murals and a large suspended sculpture, we designed a system that successfully embodies the client’s goal of using complex data to reveal important customer patterns for stronger relationships.
Gensler’s design of 84:51° headquarters is raw and stark, offering us a great canvas for environmental design. The street level lobby was the perfect location to introduce viewers to the iconic “digital dust.” This digital dust symbolizes the incredible amount of shopping data 84:51° collects on their client’s customers through loyalty shopping cards. The sky lobby on the 9th floor opens out on three-story canyons that cut through the lower floors—a perfect setting for our hanging focal feature. At first glance, the suspended sculpture depicts the pieces of data as chaos. However, upon closer inspection, two words can clearly be read from designated locations in the space. These words, “Customer 1st” and “Loyalty”, are the two tenants of 84.51º’s insight. This fun and memorable sculpture helps visitors, customers, vendors and employees alike, understand the why, how and what of 84:51°.
The main feature of the new building is a two-story suspended sculpture composed of over 300 brand-colored, shopping icons. At first glance, the hanging art installation appears as abstract pieces of data representing the vast amount of data that 84.51º collects through their loyalty programs. But, two distinct locations–which represent 84.51º’s insight–reveal two messages: LOYALTY from the 9th-floor location, and CUSTOMER 1ST from the 8th-floor.
Winner of the 2019 Cincinnati Design Awards. The CDA program recognizes the best in design projects produced by Cincinnati-area architects, interior and landscape designers, community planners, and experiential graphic designers. See the full story on our blog here