Branded Architecture

Abstract

The American Marketing Association defines BRAND as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” In the luxury goods market, the brand exists as a tool for companies’ disposal which holds a “symbolic dimension and emotional value.” Christian Marquart added that “brands serve the culturing of markets, culturing of technologies and, last but not least, the ‘aestheticising’ of everyday life. Brands support individuals in the ability of expression and distinction.” Since the 1980’s, an era which marked the beginnings of a more democratized fashion industry, it has become necessary for each luxury ‘brand’ to secure a unique place for itself relative to others within its marketplace in order to survive. “Typical tactics to achieve [differentiation include] cross-branding, the extension of brand territory or partnerships with other important players in the luxury world such as celebrities, activists, and artists,” because, “without an aesthetical, culturally anchored, and therefore also emotionally charged concept, brands cannot be designed and stage-managed effectively.” I am interested in exploring cross-branding as a method of differentiation and self-fashioning for high-fashion companies, as it is carried out with architects who are representatives and agents within the profession of architecture. These professionals are pulled to participate in the highly public and market-driven creative systems of high-fashion, both as designers who can do ‘commercial’ work and who treat building as mediums for personal artistic expression.