Individual, branded shapes hang suspended in atrium at 84.51 and create words when aligned. Designed by White Design Studio

84.51º SUSPENDED SCULPTURE | ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN

SCULPTURE, BRANDED EXPERIENCE, CONCEPT DESIGN, PRODUCTION DESIGN
CINCINNATI, OHIO

 

The Brand Experience asked us to design and fabricate a branded experience for 84.51º. We were to design a suite of branded features and environments that simplifies what 84.51º does. Our solution was to design a series of features that build off each other. Starting in the street level lobby, then up the elevators and finally when arriving at the 9th-floor sky lobby. Through interactive animations, murals and a large suspended sculpture, we designed a system that successfully told the customer’s story.

 

Gensler’s design of 84:51° headquarters is raw and stark. This offered us a great canvas for environmental design. The street level lobby was the perfect location to introduce the iconic “digital dust.” The dust is twofold. It represents the incredible amount of data 84.51º collects and introduces the design language we used throughout the space. The sky lobby on the 9th floor opens out on three-story canyons that cut through the lower floors. The canyons were a perfect setting for our hanging focal feature. At first glance, the suspended sculpture depicts the pieces of data as chaos. Upon closer inspection, two words emerge from the chaos at designated locations. 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°.

Custom designed sculpture hangs from sky lobby at 84.51º as part of branded experience package. Bits of data represented by brand shapes and icons form the word "LOYALTY" when viewed at the correct angle.

Detail of many hanging pieces that make up the custom designed sculpture for 84.51º.

Custom designed sculpture as part of environmental graphic design package for 84.51º. Sculpture reads "CUSTOMER 1ST" when viewed from correct angle.

The design of the sculpture at first appears abstract. This represents the vast amount of data that 84.51º collects. But, two distinct locations, representing 84.51º’s insight, reveal two words. LOYALTY is revealed at the 9th-floor location and CUSTOMER 1ST from the 8th-floor.

Branded sculpture designed for 84.51º environmental graphic design package.

Two men and a woman sit under custom designed hanging sculpture in 84.51º atrium.

Detail of branded shapes and icons used to design pieces of hanging sculpture at 84.51º.

Concept design and rendering of sculpture designed for 84.51º.

The concept of the art installation was the easy part. Design development required building a design and fabrication dream team. The first task was to document the “as built” space. Berding Surveying provided 3D scanning of the environment, to ensure our hanging points for each piece were exact.

Process and production detail for design of the 84.51º suspended sculpture.

BaserMatter provided the computational geometric design to solve for the 2 viewing locations. First, designing a custom algorithm to arrange the individual pieces in space. Then, from the final design, detailed cut lists, wire length, and locations were created for fabrication.

Concept design and computer rendering needed to design 84.51º sculpture.

Computer layout of all the labeled pieces needed for production in designing the 84.51º custom sculpture.

Man in construction gear installs pieces for the 84.51º suspended sculpture. Each piece corresponded with a specific location for the final design to work.

Vulkane fabricated the hanging struts and all of the individual hanging brand pieces. Using several techniques–CNC cutting, pointing and printing, and cutting individual support wires–Vulkane installed the piece over the two-story space.

 

Final tweaking allowed us to dial in the two views.

Detail of production process. Sculpture pieces being painted.

Orange pieces for the sculpture lay out drying and tagged.

Man on lift installs pieces for the custom suspended sculpture at 84.51º

Man on a lift installs the custom sculpture designed for 84.51º. Man is surrounded by purple and orange pieces hanging by wire.

Branded environment for 84.51º including custom sculpture designed for their Sky Lobby.

The result is both a meaningful and fun representation of 84.51º’s business model. The suspended sculpture is a useful tool to explain how 84:51 enhances customer experiences through data collection, analytics and insight.

Two 2019 CDA23 awards won by White Design Studio for Experiential Graphic Design projects

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

White Design Studio is a multidisciplinary design firm located in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. We specialize in the design, production, and installation of integrated branding solutions. Our solutions orchestrate corporate identity, marketing, storytelling, environmental, photography, video, print and interactive elements. At White Design Studio, we believe the best way to communicate your brand’s story is through branded environments and experiences. We work with manufacturers, service providers, non-profits, architects and developers, agencies, distributors, governments and municipalities, and museums. First, we identify the work that a campaign, space, or interactive needs to do. We can then model a vision of what success looks like, and design to meet that vision. We are passionate about helping clients communicate their value through well-crafted storytelling, a consistent 2D, 3D, and digital design approach and expert production techniques.
Strategy: White Design Studio is your strategically-focused design source. Our marketing communications are custom-tailored to meet our customers’ objectives. Our creative solutions take many forms, but all are designed for maximum effectiveness. Each solution delivers key brand messaging to a wide variety of audiences.
Branded Experience: Sometimes called Environmental Graphic Design or Experiential Graphic Design, White Design Studio designs and creates strategic, compelling and memorable experiences. Our solutions deliver key messaging, branded specifically for each target audience. Workplace, Corporate Briefing Centers, Showrooms and Lobbies, Museum Displays and Exhibits, Retail Showrooms and Store Design are all great examples of White Design’s sweet spot of design, fabrication and installation capabilities.
Corporate Sculptures: At White Design Studio we design art with a purpose. Our interior and exterior, custom-designed art installations and sculptures help create iconic symbols for Communities, Municipalities, Non-Profits and Corporations. These commissioned artworks embody the essence of a group by distilling their core brand messaging into a creative and unique 3D feature. Whether it’s interior or exterior sculptures, hanging mobiles in an atrium, a monumental courtyard centerpiece, or other public art installations Peter and his team collaborate with artisans to create one-of-kind expressions that tell your story in a memorable way.
White Design Studio operates most efficiently in the design sweet-spot between environments, identity, and communications. Comfortable stretching any direction, we are at ease designing for one element. But, we are at our best when we can combine each element to develop a fully integrated brand and messaging system. We collaborate with industry-leading professionals on large-scale projects, but can also comfortably operate as your single-source design partner. We partner with Developers, Architects, Engineers, Facility Managers, Creative Directors, Marketing Departments Advertising Agencies and other Design Studios.