Title: Asian Brand Strategy: How Asia Builds Strong Brands
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Author: Martin Roll
On the world map, Asia is the largest continent. In global markets however, Asian brands have a big gap to close.
In 2004, Interbrand and Business Week conducted a study to measure the financial value of worldwide brands. It revealed that only four of the top brands originated from Asia. Out of the four, Samsung from Korea stood out as an ambitious brand of rapid growth while Japan dominated the foremost Asian brands with Sony, Honda and Toyota.
Like many international onlookers, author and brand guru Martin Roll believes that Asian business today holds a wealth of potential. Given the sheer size and volume, Asia is expected to build many more prominent brands that can seize higher financial value from better price premiums and deeper customer loyalty.
Asian Brand Strategy is targeted at Asian business leaders and Western observers. Roll embarks on an in-depth analysis into the Asian brand leadership and looks into its lag behind its counterparts from the West. His search takes him deep into the heart of branding and its role in a business strategy.
The traditional Asian trading mindset and business approach have discouraged brand investment. Branding is misunderstood as merely a pretty face of a logo. Before Asian companies maximize the tool, they need to understand that marketing is an investment that drives shareholder value rather than just an expensive exercise.
All is not lost. “Asia is a region where branding as a strategic discipline is work in progress,” said Roll, founder and CEO of VentureRepublic, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in branding.
Asian Brand Strategy discusses the stumbling blocks and frameworks primed for brand building and brand alignment. No textbook is complete without models and charts and they punctuate throughout the 254-page book. The brand management model outlines the establishment, management and evaluation of strong brands in six steps. Most notably, the touch-point process illustrates the importance of managing interactions to shape and sharpen the brand experience and with the example of an airline company, Roll explains further how the system can be developed and implemented.
Corporate management can use the brand equity model to benchmark objectives and performances, of both its brand and competitors’. After all, know yourself and your enemy to win a hundred battles. Who is to argue with Sun Tzu and his formidable Art of War?
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Author: Martin Roll
On the world map, Asia is the largest continent. In global markets however, Asian brands have a big gap to close.
In 2004, Interbrand and Business Week conducted a study to measure the financial value of worldwide brands. It revealed that only four of the top brands originated from Asia. Out of the four, Samsung from Korea stood out as an ambitious brand of rapid growth while Japan dominated the foremost Asian brands with Sony, Honda and Toyota.
Like many international onlookers, author and brand guru Martin Roll believes that Asian business today holds a wealth of potential. Given the sheer size and volume, Asia is expected to build many more prominent brands that can seize higher financial value from better price premiums and deeper customer loyalty.
Asian Brand Strategy is targeted at Asian business leaders and Western observers. Roll embarks on an in-depth analysis into the Asian brand leadership and looks into its lag behind its counterparts from the West. His search takes him deep into the heart of branding and its role in a business strategy.
The traditional Asian trading mindset and business approach have discouraged brand investment. Branding is misunderstood as merely a pretty face of a logo. Before Asian companies maximize the tool, they need to understand that marketing is an investment that drives shareholder value rather than just an expensive exercise.
All is not lost. “Asia is a region where branding as a strategic discipline is work in progress,” said Roll, founder and CEO of VentureRepublic, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in branding.
Asian Brand Strategy discusses the stumbling blocks and frameworks primed for brand building and brand alignment. No textbook is complete without models and charts and they punctuate throughout the 254-page book. The brand management model outlines the establishment, management and evaluation of strong brands in six steps. Most notably, the touch-point process illustrates the importance of managing interactions to shape and sharpen the brand experience and with the example of an airline company, Roll explains further how the system can be developed and implemented.
Corporate management can use the brand equity model to benchmark objectives and performances, of both its brand and competitors’. After all, know yourself and your enemy to win a hundred battles. Who is to argue with Sun Tzu and his formidable Art of War?
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Singapore Design Festival 2007: ArchiFest
TAXI visits Singapore, Singapore (November 2007)
Singapore ArchiFest strives to promote the importance of architecture and urban design, which are playing an increasingly important role in the global competition among cities.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or go straight to Designtaxi.com.
TAXI visits Singapore, Singapore (November 2007)
Singapore ArchiFest strives to promote the importance of architecture and urban design, which are playing an increasingly important role in the global competition among cities.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or go straight to Designtaxi.com.
NEWS: Red Dot Award Ceremony 2007
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
Recognized worldwide as a mark of undisputed seal of quality, the “red dot design award” is considered a privileged membership of the best in the worlds of design and business.
The start of a creative journey begins with the idea. TAXI Design Network's Event Coverage crew joined in red dot’s celebration of the budding first step at the red dot Museum at Singapore on 30 December 2007.
...........................................................................
Christmas came early for Prof. Dr. Peter Zec and the newly minted design award recipients this year.
The president-founder of red dot GmbH & Co. KG and International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) Senator (he completed his presidency term in October) was part of the 15-member jury that conferred the prestigious President’s Design Award and barely three days after the ceremony, he was at red dot Museum to present the esteemed “red dot award: design concept” in person.
Ranking among the largest and most renowned in the international design competition circuit, the international “red dot design award” was conceived in Germany in 1955. The only competition that maintains a museum to showcase its winners, it comprises “red dot: product design”, the “red dot: communication design” and the “red dot: design concept”, which is organized in Singapore.
But even Santa Claus gets presents. “red dot: design concept” received enthusiastic response this year, with entries surging from last year’s 478 entries to 884 entries this year. There is a 25% jump in number of participating companies and entries came from more countries as compared to last year — an indication of a truly international platform.
“When we started this competition way back in 2005, one of the primary motivations is to link talented designers and emerging design companies to the industry,” explained Ken Koo, President of red dot Singapore.
“red dot: design concept” bridges the gulf by serving as a springboard for new ideas neither available in the market nor produced for sale yet. Talented designers from all corners of the world can compete with their peers on an international level. As the award does not have separate categories for students and professionals, this presents new blood the rare opportunity to compete directly with veterans and even design teams.
Said Prof. Dr. Zec “This makes the competition extraordinary. Industry professionals may do a better job of presenting and executing their ideas, because of their professional background and the facilities they get.
“But the jury sees a great deal of innovation coming from young designers and students too.”
The “red dot design award” has long been lauded to be a sneak preview of tomorrow’s possibilities. “What we see from the competition reflects what goes on in the world. After the tsunami, we had a lot of submissions relating to the catastrophe,” said Koo.
“This year, we have seen quite a few green concepts like Solarcell and United_Bottles.”
Koo lets on that among the extensive list of adjudication criterion, the jury placed more emphasis on the degree of innovation and production viability. “It is a balance between how innovative the ideas are and its credibility, which in turn forms the balance between individual designers and markets.”
One of the six-member jury panel for 2007 is German design heavyweight Werner Aisslinger, celebrated for his modular structures. A familiar name in eminent museums around the world, his works are on display in MoMA and the Centre Georges Pompidou among many others. “In a time where virtually everything is possible on a technical level, creativity is an increasingly important asset. Design is not only shape and form and colors, it is also the concept behind,” he said.
“This ability to conceptualize a design is the future power of the design world.”
Another juror is Song Kee Hong, co-founder and design director of DesignExchange, one of the largest design agencies in Singapore. He has received almost 20 design awards and one of which is none other than the red dot design award itself.
Both of them were present at the ceremony that took place the red dot Museum in Singapore to hand out the awards. Out of 123 winning concepts from 26 countries, designers of 85 winning concepts traveled from places as far as Iran and Slovenia to receive their honors on a catwalk, which seems to have become a signature feature of red dot award ceremonies.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
Recognized worldwide as a mark of undisputed seal of quality, the “red dot design award” is considered a privileged membership of the best in the worlds of design and business.
The start of a creative journey begins with the idea. TAXI Design Network's Event Coverage crew joined in red dot’s celebration of the budding first step at the red dot Museum at Singapore on 30 December 2007.
...........................................................................
Christmas came early for Prof. Dr. Peter Zec and the newly minted design award recipients this year.
The president-founder of red dot GmbH & Co. KG and International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) Senator (he completed his presidency term in October) was part of the 15-member jury that conferred the prestigious President’s Design Award and barely three days after the ceremony, he was at red dot Museum to present the esteemed “red dot award: design concept” in person.
Ranking among the largest and most renowned in the international design competition circuit, the international “red dot design award” was conceived in Germany in 1955. The only competition that maintains a museum to showcase its winners, it comprises “red dot: product design”, the “red dot: communication design” and the “red dot: design concept”, which is organized in Singapore.
But even Santa Claus gets presents. “red dot: design concept” received enthusiastic response this year, with entries surging from last year’s 478 entries to 884 entries this year. There is a 25% jump in number of participating companies and entries came from more countries as compared to last year — an indication of a truly international platform.
“When we started this competition way back in 2005, one of the primary motivations is to link talented designers and emerging design companies to the industry,” explained Ken Koo, President of red dot Singapore.
“red dot: design concept” bridges the gulf by serving as a springboard for new ideas neither available in the market nor produced for sale yet. Talented designers from all corners of the world can compete with their peers on an international level. As the award does not have separate categories for students and professionals, this presents new blood the rare opportunity to compete directly with veterans and even design teams.
Said Prof. Dr. Zec “This makes the competition extraordinary. Industry professionals may do a better job of presenting and executing their ideas, because of their professional background and the facilities they get.
“But the jury sees a great deal of innovation coming from young designers and students too.”
The “red dot design award” has long been lauded to be a sneak preview of tomorrow’s possibilities. “What we see from the competition reflects what goes on in the world. After the tsunami, we had a lot of submissions relating to the catastrophe,” said Koo.
“This year, we have seen quite a few green concepts like Solarcell and United_Bottles.”
Koo lets on that among the extensive list of adjudication criterion, the jury placed more emphasis on the degree of innovation and production viability. “It is a balance between how innovative the ideas are and its credibility, which in turn forms the balance between individual designers and markets.”
One of the six-member jury panel for 2007 is German design heavyweight Werner Aisslinger, celebrated for his modular structures. A familiar name in eminent museums around the world, his works are on display in MoMA and the Centre Georges Pompidou among many others. “In a time where virtually everything is possible on a technical level, creativity is an increasingly important asset. Design is not only shape and form and colors, it is also the concept behind,” he said.
“This ability to conceptualize a design is the future power of the design world.”
Another juror is Song Kee Hong, co-founder and design director of DesignExchange, one of the largest design agencies in Singapore. He has received almost 20 design awards and one of which is none other than the red dot design award itself.
Both of them were present at the ceremony that took place the red dot Museum in Singapore to hand out the awards. Out of 123 winning concepts from 26 countries, designers of 85 winning concepts traveled from places as far as Iran and Slovenia to receive their honors on a catwalk, which seems to have become a signature feature of red dot award ceremonies.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Out Is The New In
I bought a Tamagotchi last week. Yes, the virtual pet that swept the world… way back in the 90s.
Needless to say, rearing a Tamagotchi is a test in the survival of the fittest, or should I say, an endurance test. The acquisition looks puny next to its more sophisticated portable hand-held cousins, the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.
Strangers’ questioning eyes speak volumes of how strange it is play pixel-based mini games when virtual characters today come alive with intense colors in full-blown action.
But I am not alone. The Tamagotchi is backed by strong online communities and marketers determined to milk the pop culture phenomenon to the very last pixel. The second Nintendo DS Tamagotchi title has already hit the shelves, with a Nintendo Wii version due out very soon. Kids will soon be able to perform their “parenting” skills and call their friends with a fully functional Tamagotchi prepaid mobile phone.
So it would appear that the original virtual pet is growing from strength to strength. Is it any coincidence that old is gold in advertising too?
Out of sight, out of mind?
New Media is dominating water-cooler talk these days.
The World Wide Web is wider. Online traffic is faster. Advertisers are taking a shine to the idea of sending their messages through new channels like blogs, Youtube, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking tools. A legion of real-world brands — Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Sony BMG, Nissan, American Apparel, public relations firm Text 100 and ad agencies themselves Leo Burnett and BBH — have already set up shop in virtual wonder world Second Life, lured by the huge payoffs it promises for investors.
High versatility, low cost and vast reach are the main attractions. Messages can effortlessly reach individuals, specific groups or the world without breaking the bank. Innovative integrated campaigns have proven their effectiveness is a force to be reckoned with. Advertisers are smitten to manipulate New Media and capture mindshare in exciting, creative ways.
People like Allein Moore beg to differ though. There might be enough online distractions to keep people indoors but to the organizer of Singapore Outdoor Advertising Award (SOAA), out-of-home advertising is still king. It is one of the fastest developing media in Asia Pacific and SOAA has awarded enough outstanding creative executions to know. Mediaweek seems to agree with him: In 2006, brand marketers opted to invest more money in outdoor at the expense of other conventional media. A recent report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., “Outdoor Advertising: A Global Strategic Business Report”, predicts that the world market for outdoor advertising is projected to reach $30.4 billon by 2010. Major and mature markets such as Europe, the United States and Japan will slow down, but emerging markets like the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa are expected to help drive the trend.
In the face of an industry shake-up over New Media, the time-tested outdoors is still an influential force and a trusted source in the Digital Age.
Huge posters and billboards afford the canvas for optical illusions and other visual effects. Ogilvy & Mather Santiago’s clever depiction of a hole in a wall suggests that the building is made entirely out of white Lego bricks.
For New Zealand Book Council’s “Discover A New World” campaign, Colenso BBDO Auckland extolled the virtues of reading by transforming walls into portal-like pages, flipped the bottom edge to give passer-bys a sneak peek into the myriad of places books can bring them.
Larger-than-life hockey stars used the cityscape of Toronto as an outdoor training ground in TAXI Toronto’s execution. Vancouver Canucks’ Markus Naslund hangs over a building’s ledge to execute crunches and trains for strength by getting pulled around Vancouver Harbour by a real resistance band connected to a tugboat, while fellow NHL player, Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, does his leg lifts hanging from a building’s ledge and on a crane erected alongside a major motorway.
Leo Burnett Chicago is no stranger to headturning billboards either. The world-renowned agency turned McDonald’s favorite, the chocolate milkshake, upside down and turned billboard advertising on its head with the sundial billboard where McDonald’s golden arches cast a shadow on different breakfast item each hour until it reaches noon, when the shadow of the famous arches appear right on the center of a burger to indicate lunchtime.
Jung von Matt situated a life-size MINI cut-out with an open door at the exit of a train station. The line of leaving passengers made the MINI look much bigger than its name implies.
São Paulo might have banned billboards in September this year, but neither the law nor space scarcity is going to deter advertisers. Billboard advertising, which is the largest mode of outdoor advertising, is expected to increase by $2.85 billion from 2007 to 2010. It is a mighty form of advertising whose roots date back to the earliest civilizations. Before traditional media — newspapers, radio and television — brought commercial messages to consumers at home, people would only receive messages when they set foot outdoors.
Spot The Ad
But forget about mammoth billboards adorned with a witty slogan and distinctive visuals. Driven by sophisticated technology and a fresh creative outburst, the face of outdoor advertising is changing. Could ambient media be the new name for an age-old medium?
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
I bought a Tamagotchi last week. Yes, the virtual pet that swept the world… way back in the 90s.
Needless to say, rearing a Tamagotchi is a test in the survival of the fittest, or should I say, an endurance test. The acquisition looks puny next to its more sophisticated portable hand-held cousins, the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.
Strangers’ questioning eyes speak volumes of how strange it is play pixel-based mini games when virtual characters today come alive with intense colors in full-blown action.
But I am not alone. The Tamagotchi is backed by strong online communities and marketers determined to milk the pop culture phenomenon to the very last pixel. The second Nintendo DS Tamagotchi title has already hit the shelves, with a Nintendo Wii version due out very soon. Kids will soon be able to perform their “parenting” skills and call their friends with a fully functional Tamagotchi prepaid mobile phone.
So it would appear that the original virtual pet is growing from strength to strength. Is it any coincidence that old is gold in advertising too?
Out of sight, out of mind?
New Media is dominating water-cooler talk these days.
The World Wide Web is wider. Online traffic is faster. Advertisers are taking a shine to the idea of sending their messages through new channels like blogs, Youtube, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking tools. A legion of real-world brands — Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Sony BMG, Nissan, American Apparel, public relations firm Text 100 and ad agencies themselves Leo Burnett and BBH — have already set up shop in virtual wonder world Second Life, lured by the huge payoffs it promises for investors.
High versatility, low cost and vast reach are the main attractions. Messages can effortlessly reach individuals, specific groups or the world without breaking the bank. Innovative integrated campaigns have proven their effectiveness is a force to be reckoned with. Advertisers are smitten to manipulate New Media and capture mindshare in exciting, creative ways.
People like Allein Moore beg to differ though. There might be enough online distractions to keep people indoors but to the organizer of Singapore Outdoor Advertising Award (SOAA), out-of-home advertising is still king. It is one of the fastest developing media in Asia Pacific and SOAA has awarded enough outstanding creative executions to know. Mediaweek seems to agree with him: In 2006, brand marketers opted to invest more money in outdoor at the expense of other conventional media. A recent report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., “Outdoor Advertising: A Global Strategic Business Report”, predicts that the world market for outdoor advertising is projected to reach $30.4 billon by 2010. Major and mature markets such as Europe, the United States and Japan will slow down, but emerging markets like the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa are expected to help drive the trend.
In the face of an industry shake-up over New Media, the time-tested outdoors is still an influential force and a trusted source in the Digital Age.
Huge posters and billboards afford the canvas for optical illusions and other visual effects. Ogilvy & Mather Santiago’s clever depiction of a hole in a wall suggests that the building is made entirely out of white Lego bricks.
For New Zealand Book Council’s “Discover A New World” campaign, Colenso BBDO Auckland extolled the virtues of reading by transforming walls into portal-like pages, flipped the bottom edge to give passer-bys a sneak peek into the myriad of places books can bring them.
Larger-than-life hockey stars used the cityscape of Toronto as an outdoor training ground in TAXI Toronto’s execution. Vancouver Canucks’ Markus Naslund hangs over a building’s ledge to execute crunches and trains for strength by getting pulled around Vancouver Harbour by a real resistance band connected to a tugboat, while fellow NHL player, Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, does his leg lifts hanging from a building’s ledge and on a crane erected alongside a major motorway.
Leo Burnett Chicago is no stranger to headturning billboards either. The world-renowned agency turned McDonald’s favorite, the chocolate milkshake, upside down and turned billboard advertising on its head with the sundial billboard where McDonald’s golden arches cast a shadow on different breakfast item each hour until it reaches noon, when the shadow of the famous arches appear right on the center of a burger to indicate lunchtime.
Jung von Matt situated a life-size MINI cut-out with an open door at the exit of a train station. The line of leaving passengers made the MINI look much bigger than its name implies.
São Paulo might have banned billboards in September this year, but neither the law nor space scarcity is going to deter advertisers. Billboard advertising, which is the largest mode of outdoor advertising, is expected to increase by $2.85 billion from 2007 to 2010. It is a mighty form of advertising whose roots date back to the earliest civilizations. Before traditional media — newspapers, radio and television — brought commercial messages to consumers at home, people would only receive messages when they set foot outdoors.
Spot The Ad
But forget about mammoth billboards adorned with a witty slogan and distinctive visuals. Driven by sophisticated technology and a fresh creative outburst, the face of outdoor advertising is changing. Could ambient media be the new name for an age-old medium?
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Singapore Design Festival 2007: Utterubbish
TAXI visits Singapore, Singapore (November 2007)
Utterubbish is a unique design experience that presents ideas, works and exhibits by 30 leading international and local designers and creators unified in their exploration on how design can create value for individuals, society and the world, whether Social, Cultural, Emotional, Functional, Economic, Commercial or Intellectual.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or go straight to Designtaxi.com.
NEWS: President's Design Award 2007
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
TAXI Design Network's Event Coverage crew attended The President’s Design Award, held at Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall on 27 November 2007.
Into its second year, the distinguished honor acknowledges local design talents and their iconic works that have made a mark in the international design scene.
............................................................................
The President’s Design Award got phunk’d this year.
Alongside Singapore’s top design luminaries, visual maverick :phunk studio held court at the prestigious ceremony, where eminent achievements across seven disciplines were duly recognized with the President’s Design Award, Singapore’s highest accolade accorded to designs and designers whose contributions have made a great impact on the art, design, cultural and urban landscape of Singapore.
The Award comprises two categories: Designers of the Year recognizes individuals based on body of works and contribution while Design of the Year is awarded to specific design projects.
An international jury of four specialist panels covers the different disciplines under the vast design umbrella. The 15 members include Mrs. Cheong-Chua Koon Hean, CEO of Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore); Mr. Toyo Ito, founder of Toyo Ito & Associates (Japan), Architects; Mr. Arnold Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory (San Francisco/Singapore); Prof. Peter Zec, president of International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), red dot GmbH & Co. KG and Design Zentrum and professor for Business Communications, University of Applied Sciences Berlin (Germany); Mr. Don Ryun Chang, president-elect of International Council of Graphic Design Association (ICOGRADA) and department chair of Visual Communications Design in Hongik University (Korea) as well as Mr. Simon Waterfall, president of D&AD (UK).
This year, 14 acclaimed individuals and designs (seven from each category) encompassing Architecture & Urban Design; Exhibition Design; Fashion Design; Interior Design; Landscape Design; Product & Industrial Design and Visual Communication received the award this year. Only nine recipients were honored last year.
Director of DesignSingapore Council Dr. Milton Tan sees this as a shining testament of Singapore’s design fraternity’s impact on global design. He believes that its strategic position will catapult Singapore into a key international design capital that will nurture an innovative, yet culturally diverse, design community with distinctive design perspectives. “Singapore has a good design base, this coupled with growing design awareness offers opportunities for collaboration with international partners.”
If the President’s Design Award is a declaration of the significance Singapore design has on the global arena, the mark of excellence also makes a statement of the city’s growing recognition of the influence and values of design that presents an edge for business and national competitiveness, like Philips Singapore Learning Centre, one of the winners of Design of the Year.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
TAXI Design Network's Event Coverage crew attended The President’s Design Award, held at Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall on 27 November 2007.
Into its second year, the distinguished honor acknowledges local design talents and their iconic works that have made a mark in the international design scene.
............................................................................
The President’s Design Award got phunk’d this year.
Alongside Singapore’s top design luminaries, visual maverick :phunk studio held court at the prestigious ceremony, where eminent achievements across seven disciplines were duly recognized with the President’s Design Award, Singapore’s highest accolade accorded to designs and designers whose contributions have made a great impact on the art, design, cultural and urban landscape of Singapore.
The Award comprises two categories: Designers of the Year recognizes individuals based on body of works and contribution while Design of the Year is awarded to specific design projects.
An international jury of four specialist panels covers the different disciplines under the vast design umbrella. The 15 members include Mrs. Cheong-Chua Koon Hean, CEO of Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore); Mr. Toyo Ito, founder of Toyo Ito & Associates (Japan), Architects; Mr. Arnold Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory (San Francisco/Singapore); Prof. Peter Zec, president of International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), red dot GmbH & Co. KG and Design Zentrum and professor for Business Communications, University of Applied Sciences Berlin (Germany); Mr. Don Ryun Chang, president-elect of International Council of Graphic Design Association (ICOGRADA) and department chair of Visual Communications Design in Hongik University (Korea) as well as Mr. Simon Waterfall, president of D&AD (UK).
This year, 14 acclaimed individuals and designs (seven from each category) encompassing Architecture & Urban Design; Exhibition Design; Fashion Design; Interior Design; Landscape Design; Product & Industrial Design and Visual Communication received the award this year. Only nine recipients were honored last year.
Director of DesignSingapore Council Dr. Milton Tan sees this as a shining testament of Singapore’s design fraternity’s impact on global design. He believes that its strategic position will catapult Singapore into a key international design capital that will nurture an innovative, yet culturally diverse, design community with distinctive design perspectives. “Singapore has a good design base, this coupled with growing design awareness offers opportunities for collaboration with international partners.”
If the President’s Design Award is a declaration of the significance Singapore design has on the global arena, the mark of excellence also makes a statement of the city’s growing recognition of the influence and values of design that presents an edge for business and national competitiveness, like Philips Singapore Learning Centre, one of the winners of Design of the Year.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Title: Inspiration = Ideas: A Creativity Sourcebook for Graphic Designers
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Editors: Petrula Vrontikis
Whimsical illustrations. Breathtaking photos. Meaningful poems. Inspiring quotations.
If you’re thinking that a muse is a thing of beauty and wonder, you can’t go any more wrong than that. Always provocative, and not often pretty. Sometimes, even messy like Britney. Such is the catalyst that shapes the world we live in. It gives the jaded and weary senses a mind-blowing jolt and an enlightening shake-up, showing the way with a fresh, purposeful voice.
Author-designer-educator Petrula Vrontikis attempts to make sense of something so intangible, yet so powerful. She raids through treasure chests of 19 globally acclaimed designers and throws up questions that she, through a glimpse into the minds of these geniuses, answers clearly and succinctly.
Are designers creative hunter-gatherers? Is there a method of inspiration? Or is it random?
Then again, it’s not so much of what they have in their chests. Rather, what gave it potential to be a stimulus? How does one differentiate between a rock and an unpolished gem? What did Stefan Sagmeister see in the girl doing her math homework in the subway? How does fear motivate Saul Bass? What in Wolfgang Weingart’s childhood inspires him? How does Aporva Baxi derive his ideas from nanotechnology? What does wild dancing do to Maxey Andress? What did Vrontikis herself discover in chance meetings? (Yes Marion, stimulants don’t only come in vials and syringes.)
“I don’t know,” replied Primo Angeli. So brutally honest and unpretentious. And maybe other design leaders agree with him. Perhaps it’s just something that clicks so naturally, you don’t think about it until you’re asked. Milton Glaser sheds a little more light: “It comes from the most unlikely places. Usually when I pay attention to something I haven’t paid before.”
Denise Gonzales Crisp doesn’t even believe in the notion of inspiration. “Sometimes I have them, sometimes I don’t; but they always seem to appear just when I need them.
“I think we’re always looking for answers, for systems that we can return to again and again with assurance that these systems will generate consistently good work; however, these very systems can become rules, and rules can often hinder inspiration.”
Is that what is trying to communicate with this irony of a “sourcebook”? Flip through this giant scrapbook and pick a page from any one of the 224 pages at random. Inspiration = Ideas feeds and indulges your voyeuristic pleasures as you connects the dots between seemingly broken links. Vrontikis invites you to change your mind and look with new eyes at the wall in New Orleans. Or the Chinese candy packaging. Or the lime containers. Or the Gaudi rooftop sculptures. Find the Edie Sedgwick for your Andy Warhol.
Perhaps, as Vrontikis felt, “they are seeds looking for the right soil to germinate in”. I don’t have green fingers to know much about seeds and the right soil, but as a writer who also designs, I couldn’t agree with her more. Either it’s just not the right time, or the right project to justify (or that is befitting of) a particular inspiration.
And maybe Margo Chase agrees with me. “He’s [The Buddha] an image that I’ve saved for years in the hope of finding an application for his smug expression.”
19 is not a perfect number. It tempts you into asking: Why not round it off to 20? Maybe muses alone aren’t perfect either; after all, it takes two hands to clap.
And no one deserves a greater applause than Vrontikis. It’s striking how an award-winning principal-creative director, one of the most highly regarded design practitioner of the times with a career spanning over 20 years, still possesses a ingenuous curiosity echoing that of one who’s just been introduced to the design industry.
Her modesty humbles me.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Editors: Petrula Vrontikis
Whimsical illustrations. Breathtaking photos. Meaningful poems. Inspiring quotations.
If you’re thinking that a muse is a thing of beauty and wonder, you can’t go any more wrong than that. Always provocative, and not often pretty. Sometimes, even messy like Britney. Such is the catalyst that shapes the world we live in. It gives the jaded and weary senses a mind-blowing jolt and an enlightening shake-up, showing the way with a fresh, purposeful voice.
Author-designer-educator Petrula Vrontikis attempts to make sense of something so intangible, yet so powerful. She raids through treasure chests of 19 globally acclaimed designers and throws up questions that she, through a glimpse into the minds of these geniuses, answers clearly and succinctly.
Are designers creative hunter-gatherers? Is there a method of inspiration? Or is it random?
Then again, it’s not so much of what they have in their chests. Rather, what gave it potential to be a stimulus? How does one differentiate between a rock and an unpolished gem? What did Stefan Sagmeister see in the girl doing her math homework in the subway? How does fear motivate Saul Bass? What in Wolfgang Weingart’s childhood inspires him? How does Aporva Baxi derive his ideas from nanotechnology? What does wild dancing do to Maxey Andress? What did Vrontikis herself discover in chance meetings? (Yes Marion, stimulants don’t only come in vials and syringes.)
“I don’t know,” replied Primo Angeli. So brutally honest and unpretentious. And maybe other design leaders agree with him. Perhaps it’s just something that clicks so naturally, you don’t think about it until you’re asked. Milton Glaser sheds a little more light: “It comes from the most unlikely places. Usually when I pay attention to something I haven’t paid before.”
Denise Gonzales Crisp doesn’t even believe in the notion of inspiration. “Sometimes I have them, sometimes I don’t; but they always seem to appear just when I need them.
“I think we’re always looking for answers, for systems that we can return to again and again with assurance that these systems will generate consistently good work; however, these very systems can become rules, and rules can often hinder inspiration.”
Is that what is trying to communicate with this irony of a “sourcebook”? Flip through this giant scrapbook and pick a page from any one of the 224 pages at random. Inspiration = Ideas feeds and indulges your voyeuristic pleasures as you connects the dots between seemingly broken links. Vrontikis invites you to change your mind and look with new eyes at the wall in New Orleans. Or the Chinese candy packaging. Or the lime containers. Or the Gaudi rooftop sculptures. Find the Edie Sedgwick for your Andy Warhol.
Perhaps, as Vrontikis felt, “they are seeds looking for the right soil to germinate in”. I don’t have green fingers to know much about seeds and the right soil, but as a writer who also designs, I couldn’t agree with her more. Either it’s just not the right time, or the right project to justify (or that is befitting of) a particular inspiration.
And maybe Margo Chase agrees with me. “He’s [The Buddha] an image that I’ve saved for years in the hope of finding an application for his smug expression.”
19 is not a perfect number. It tempts you into asking: Why not round it off to 20? Maybe muses alone aren’t perfect either; after all, it takes two hands to clap.
And no one deserves a greater applause than Vrontikis. It’s striking how an award-winning principal-creative director, one of the most highly regarded design practitioner of the times with a career spanning over 20 years, still possesses a ingenuous curiosity echoing that of one who’s just been introduced to the design industry.
Her modesty humbles me.
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Ad Seminar 2007
A man on a mission to stoke the flames of creative fervor, moderator Calvin Soh, this year’s chairman for the Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA), fuelled anticipation for Ad Seminar 2007 with a thought-provoking anecdote that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
A student won a prized internship with Fallon Minneapolis. Unfortunately, she can’t work beyond 6pm. Neither could she accept fishing and barbeque invitations by friendly colleagues. “Don’t be that student,” cautioned Soh. “The future of Singapore lies outside Singapore. To think like them [international consumers], know them, relate to them, you can’t do that if your world is Ang Mo Kio.”
While there weren’t any underwear thrown to welcome the advertising practitioners he proclaimed, “the rock stars of the industry”, Soh urged the audience — comprising largely of young creatives and students — to leap at the opportunity to show these top guns their portfolios and fight over the microphone for Q&A session.
His anxiety was unfounded. Or his pep talk resonated with students. Either way, it was as much an eye-opener for the moderator and speakers as it was for the students — the enthusiastic audience turned the expectations of students being docile, passive and shy right on it head. Fat chance they were going to let the opportunity of getting answers straight from the horses’ mouth slip through their hands — they lapped up every moment of each insightful presentation and refused to let Kevin Flatt, Paul Grubb, Kitti Chaiyaporn, Laurence Thomson, John So and Ted Royer off easy, shooting so many questions that the session had to be adjourned at Harry’s Bar.
Not that the panel of six speakers minded. They looked like they were having a ball sharing their expertise and experiences.
First in the line-up of globally recognized names was TribalDDB Chicago’s Kevin Flatt, whose breakthrough conception for the BMW Films campaign won the first Cannes Titanium Lion and became a full-blown cross-platform advertising phenomenon while at the same time, reinforced BMW as the automobile manufacturer that is always ahead of its time. Hailed as an unprecedented advertising strategy, The Hire — a series of eight short online films produced in 2001 — captured more 100 million filmviews since its debut and is a prime example of media convergence.
Truly a massive fast-paced project that pushed boundaries as it showcased the high performance abilities of BMW automobiles, key producers included David Fincher, Ridley and Tony Scott and prominent directors who lent a hand included Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Woo, Joe Carnahan, Ang Lee, John Frankenheimer, Wong Kar Wai and Guy Ritchie.
Flatt chronicled 12 lessons he learnt from the acclaimed ad campaign, the success of which he credited to failure — if his initial proposals weren’t rejected, the world wouldn’t have seen such a revolution. In his presentation “How to Improve Your Chances by Taking Risks”, he reiterated Soh’s belief in consumer understanding. BMW embarked on this non-traditional approach because of their knowledge that their customers research their buys online before purchase.
While good isn’t good enough, always keep it simple. “If you can’t sell something from the top floor, you haven’t got it figured out.”
And stay innocent. “The best creators are those who don’t know too much. They have the innocence to believe they could pull it off.”
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
A man on a mission to stoke the flames of creative fervor, moderator Calvin Soh, this year’s chairman for the Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA), fuelled anticipation for Ad Seminar 2007 with a thought-provoking anecdote that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
A student won a prized internship with Fallon Minneapolis. Unfortunately, she can’t work beyond 6pm. Neither could she accept fishing and barbeque invitations by friendly colleagues. “Don’t be that student,” cautioned Soh. “The future of Singapore lies outside Singapore. To think like them [international consumers], know them, relate to them, you can’t do that if your world is Ang Mo Kio.”
While there weren’t any underwear thrown to welcome the advertising practitioners he proclaimed, “the rock stars of the industry”, Soh urged the audience — comprising largely of young creatives and students — to leap at the opportunity to show these top guns their portfolios and fight over the microphone for Q&A session.
His anxiety was unfounded. Or his pep talk resonated with students. Either way, it was as much an eye-opener for the moderator and speakers as it was for the students — the enthusiastic audience turned the expectations of students being docile, passive and shy right on it head. Fat chance they were going to let the opportunity of getting answers straight from the horses’ mouth slip through their hands — they lapped up every moment of each insightful presentation and refused to let Kevin Flatt, Paul Grubb, Kitti Chaiyaporn, Laurence Thomson, John So and Ted Royer off easy, shooting so many questions that the session had to be adjourned at Harry’s Bar.
Not that the panel of six speakers minded. They looked like they were having a ball sharing their expertise and experiences.
First in the line-up of globally recognized names was TribalDDB Chicago’s Kevin Flatt, whose breakthrough conception for the BMW Films campaign won the first Cannes Titanium Lion and became a full-blown cross-platform advertising phenomenon while at the same time, reinforced BMW as the automobile manufacturer that is always ahead of its time. Hailed as an unprecedented advertising strategy, The Hire — a series of eight short online films produced in 2001 — captured more 100 million filmviews since its debut and is a prime example of media convergence.
Truly a massive fast-paced project that pushed boundaries as it showcased the high performance abilities of BMW automobiles, key producers included David Fincher, Ridley and Tony Scott and prominent directors who lent a hand included Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Woo, Joe Carnahan, Ang Lee, John Frankenheimer, Wong Kar Wai and Guy Ritchie.
Flatt chronicled 12 lessons he learnt from the acclaimed ad campaign, the success of which he credited to failure — if his initial proposals weren’t rejected, the world wouldn’t have seen such a revolution. In his presentation “How to Improve Your Chances by Taking Risks”, he reiterated Soh’s belief in consumer understanding. BMW embarked on this non-traditional approach because of their knowledge that their customers research their buys online before purchase.
While good isn’t good enough, always keep it simple. “If you can’t sell something from the top floor, you haven’t got it figured out.”
And stay innocent. “The best creators are those who don’t know too much. They have the innocence to believe they could pull it off.”
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
NEWS: Miss Sixty & Energie Fall/Winter 2007
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
Miss Sixty & Energie Fall/Winter Collection 2007 was held at Paragon, Singapore, on 12 October 2007. TAXI Design Network attended the catwalk sashay of the very stylish Fall/Winter collection.
............................................................................
It may be two months away from the season of parties but Miss Sixty and Energie are already all geared up without a minute to lose.
The cobalt blue stage is set for the battle of the sexes. Suspended in mid-air, staircases and mannequins heightened the anticipation for nothing less than a spectacular showdown.
The boys have their toys but the girls found no reason not to flirt with Samsung’s gadgets and gizmos. Mp3 players, mobile phones, cameras and camcorders up the sex quotient.
Shimmer and shine add a sprinkle of stardust on skin-tight silhouettes, a trademark of Miss Sixty’s stylish signature. Tights continue to reign this season but make mine metallic please! Miss Sixty’s Fall/Winter collection serves up a concoction of asymmetrical necklines revealing sensuous shoulders, an unfurled kitten-bow trailing down sexy denim overalls and lush velvet — a highly sophisticated play on line and proportion.
By plugging into cultural influences evocative of coquettish ladylike charm of the 1920s-meets-edgy rocker chick of the 1980s, the exponent of sexy glamour scores effortlessly in an unstoppable momentum gravitated towards magnetic charisma imbued with a touch of luxe.
While Miss Sixty’s girls might be made of sugar and spice and all things nice, Energie’s boys aren’t exactly made of snaps and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails.
Despite the punk-indie mix of plaid and denim, classic trenchcoats and vintage concert T-shirts, tartan shirts and Mod-inspired heraldic cardigans, the boys hardly took a walk on the wild side, looking like they had stepped out of a country club rather than an underground music club, in preppy suspenders and sweaters with caps sitting squarely atop impeccable hair with nary a hint of rebellion.
Perhaps the quiet cool of unflappable neo-sartorial twist got a little lost under the limelight, out-dazzled by the head-turning Miss Sixty. Then again, it might not be a case if stolen thunder but the gentlemen taking a backseat, authentic to punk-indie’s air of classy laissez-faire.
Either way, fashion devotees are the biggest winners of the night, getting a headstart snapping up offerings for a very stylish Fall/Winter this year.
Photos: Bob Shot
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
EVENT COVERAGE
............................................................................
Miss Sixty & Energie Fall/Winter Collection 2007 was held at Paragon, Singapore, on 12 October 2007. TAXI Design Network attended the catwalk sashay of the very stylish Fall/Winter collection.
............................................................................
It may be two months away from the season of parties but Miss Sixty and Energie are already all geared up without a minute to lose.
The cobalt blue stage is set for the battle of the sexes. Suspended in mid-air, staircases and mannequins heightened the anticipation for nothing less than a spectacular showdown.
The boys have their toys but the girls found no reason not to flirt with Samsung’s gadgets and gizmos. Mp3 players, mobile phones, cameras and camcorders up the sex quotient.
Shimmer and shine add a sprinkle of stardust on skin-tight silhouettes, a trademark of Miss Sixty’s stylish signature. Tights continue to reign this season but make mine metallic please! Miss Sixty’s Fall/Winter collection serves up a concoction of asymmetrical necklines revealing sensuous shoulders, an unfurled kitten-bow trailing down sexy denim overalls and lush velvet — a highly sophisticated play on line and proportion.
By plugging into cultural influences evocative of coquettish ladylike charm of the 1920s-meets-edgy rocker chick of the 1980s, the exponent of sexy glamour scores effortlessly in an unstoppable momentum gravitated towards magnetic charisma imbued with a touch of luxe.
While Miss Sixty’s girls might be made of sugar and spice and all things nice, Energie’s boys aren’t exactly made of snaps and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails.
Despite the punk-indie mix of plaid and denim, classic trenchcoats and vintage concert T-shirts, tartan shirts and Mod-inspired heraldic cardigans, the boys hardly took a walk on the wild side, looking like they had stepped out of a country club rather than an underground music club, in preppy suspenders and sweaters with caps sitting squarely atop impeccable hair with nary a hint of rebellion.
Perhaps the quiet cool of unflappable neo-sartorial twist got a little lost under the limelight, out-dazzled by the head-turning Miss Sixty. Then again, it might not be a case if stolen thunder but the gentlemen taking a backseat, authentic to punk-indie’s air of classy laissez-faire.
Either way, fashion devotees are the biggest winners of the night, getting a headstart snapping up offerings for a very stylish Fall/Winter this year.
Photos: Bob Shot
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Travel Album: Design City
Design in Progress: Montreal
Montréal’s skyline plots a biography of the city. Architecture is a living testimony of the city’s development and at the same time, its determination to preserve its magnificent structural inheritance without losing pace with its contemporaries.
For more than a century, Montréal was the industrial centre of Canada. Buildings like factories, warehouses, mills and refineries were widespread. Unlike other modern cities where the iron ball shows no mercy to pave the way for the next chapter of nation progress, Montréal does not subscribe to this school of thought.
Old Montréal, just south-east of downtown, still retains many aged buildings in their original form, like the Notre-Dame Basilica, Hotel de Ville and the Marche Bonsecours, in recognition of their fine legacy of both historic and architectural interest. Architecture that has seen better days and cobbled streets evoking memories of the city’s earliest days as a settlement have been maintained or restored.
Today, 365 years after its founding, Montréal is one of North America’s oldest and best preserved historical cities.
Yet, amidst 18th and 19th century Victorian manors and churches stand modern skyscrapers. Strange bedfellows they make, yet this fascinating fusion, with a resolve coursing through to keep the old while creating the new (as if grand plans for the city’s future would buckle under the weight without a foundation), forms a perceptive metropolis of futurism.
Demonstrations of such handsome hybrids can be found skin-deep in boutique hotels such as Hôtel Godin, a crossbreed of sleek minimalism and cool Art Nouveau, epitomized in cold cement ceilings and a fantastic curving staircase.
In Hôtel Le St James, one of Montréal’s most ornate Victorian buildings, classical music wafts through the air and chandeliers lavish a dignified glow on the Greek columns and Oriental wall blossoms, casting an inquisitive eye on the classic Italian Renaissance moldings and English antique chairs.
Montréal’s first and biggest boutique hotel, the regal Hôtel Place d’Armes, is a mélange of three 19th century buildings whose architecture recalls a time of utmost devotion to craftsmanship and detail, while its interior is a seamless integration of classic urban chic peppered with modern art. Given its esteemed cultural value and exceptional design, the Quebec provincial government officially designated the building as a historic site in 1975.
The city seems to have a penchant of commemorating milestone events with architecture. For Expo 67—highly regarded as a landmark moment and much-feted as a great achievement in Canadian history—architect Moshe Safdie designed a housing complex called Habitat 67.
The concept behind the 1967 project was to integrate the variety and diversity of private homes scattered all over the city within the economics and density of a modern apartment building that defines space by means of modular, interlocking concrete forms. The visionary residential idea was considered groundbreaking for modern habitats and the landmark still has occupants today but the units have ironically become expensive rather than affordable owing to its architectural cachet.
Said Patrick Boyer, a highly acclaimed designer and illustration wizard, of Expo 67’s impact on the city: “Montréal has always been rich in culture and history — not only in art and design — but in every aspects of daily life. It’s a vibrant city with an abundance of activity and relatively low cost of living. All this makes Montreal an ideal environment for artists to live and create. Expo 67 introduced Montreal to the world as a new “It” city and since then, its been considered one of North America’s most creative environments. It’s far from perfect, yet the euro international mix of bohemia, glamour and art gives the city its distinctive charm.”
In 1992, Montréal celebrated its 350th anniversary by commencing construction on two new skyscrapers. One of them is Le 1250 Boulevard René-Lévesque. The other is 1000 de La Gauchetière, also named after its address.
At 673 ft and 51 floors, the spectacular design of Lemay & Associates and Dimakopoulos & Associates architects is not only the tallest building overseeing the city, it is a prime example of postmodern architecture.
What’s also remarkable about the tower is its distinctive triangular copper roof and the four copper-capped rotunda entrances at the tower base corners took inspiration from the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral nearby. Apparently, this is a practice stemming from Place de la Cathédrale, where Montréal’s skyscrapers borrow aspects of their design from the nearest church.
It is a sign of respect perhaps, or a nod to Montréal’s historical background as a centre of Catholicism in North America. The many church steeples that dot the city have led to its nickname “La Ville Aux Cent Clochers” (The City of a Hundred Bell Towers).
Mark Twain was known to have remarked: "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window."
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.
Design in Progress: Montreal
Montréal’s skyline plots a biography of the city. Architecture is a living testimony of the city’s development and at the same time, its determination to preserve its magnificent structural inheritance without losing pace with its contemporaries.
For more than a century, Montréal was the industrial centre of Canada. Buildings like factories, warehouses, mills and refineries were widespread. Unlike other modern cities where the iron ball shows no mercy to pave the way for the next chapter of nation progress, Montréal does not subscribe to this school of thought.
Old Montréal, just south-east of downtown, still retains many aged buildings in their original form, like the Notre-Dame Basilica, Hotel de Ville and the Marche Bonsecours, in recognition of their fine legacy of both historic and architectural interest. Architecture that has seen better days and cobbled streets evoking memories of the city’s earliest days as a settlement have been maintained or restored.
Today, 365 years after its founding, Montréal is one of North America’s oldest and best preserved historical cities.
Yet, amidst 18th and 19th century Victorian manors and churches stand modern skyscrapers. Strange bedfellows they make, yet this fascinating fusion, with a resolve coursing through to keep the old while creating the new (as if grand plans for the city’s future would buckle under the weight without a foundation), forms a perceptive metropolis of futurism.
Demonstrations of such handsome hybrids can be found skin-deep in boutique hotels such as Hôtel Godin, a crossbreed of sleek minimalism and cool Art Nouveau, epitomized in cold cement ceilings and a fantastic curving staircase.
In Hôtel Le St James, one of Montréal’s most ornate Victorian buildings, classical music wafts through the air and chandeliers lavish a dignified glow on the Greek columns and Oriental wall blossoms, casting an inquisitive eye on the classic Italian Renaissance moldings and English antique chairs.
Montréal’s first and biggest boutique hotel, the regal Hôtel Place d’Armes, is a mélange of three 19th century buildings whose architecture recalls a time of utmost devotion to craftsmanship and detail, while its interior is a seamless integration of classic urban chic peppered with modern art. Given its esteemed cultural value and exceptional design, the Quebec provincial government officially designated the building as a historic site in 1975.
The city seems to have a penchant of commemorating milestone events with architecture. For Expo 67—highly regarded as a landmark moment and much-feted as a great achievement in Canadian history—architect Moshe Safdie designed a housing complex called Habitat 67.
The concept behind the 1967 project was to integrate the variety and diversity of private homes scattered all over the city within the economics and density of a modern apartment building that defines space by means of modular, interlocking concrete forms. The visionary residential idea was considered groundbreaking for modern habitats and the landmark still has occupants today but the units have ironically become expensive rather than affordable owing to its architectural cachet.
Said Patrick Boyer, a highly acclaimed designer and illustration wizard, of Expo 67’s impact on the city: “Montréal has always been rich in culture and history — not only in art and design — but in every aspects of daily life. It’s a vibrant city with an abundance of activity and relatively low cost of living. All this makes Montreal an ideal environment for artists to live and create. Expo 67 introduced Montreal to the world as a new “It” city and since then, its been considered one of North America’s most creative environments. It’s far from perfect, yet the euro international mix of bohemia, glamour and art gives the city its distinctive charm.”
In 1992, Montréal celebrated its 350th anniversary by commencing construction on two new skyscrapers. One of them is Le 1250 Boulevard René-Lévesque. The other is 1000 de La Gauchetière, also named after its address.
At 673 ft and 51 floors, the spectacular design of Lemay & Associates and Dimakopoulos & Associates architects is not only the tallest building overseeing the city, it is a prime example of postmodern architecture.
What’s also remarkable about the tower is its distinctive triangular copper roof and the four copper-capped rotunda entrances at the tower base corners took inspiration from the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral nearby. Apparently, this is a practice stemming from Place de la Cathédrale, where Montréal’s skyscrapers borrow aspects of their design from the nearest church.
It is a sign of respect perhaps, or a nod to Montréal’s historical background as a centre of Catholicism in North America. The many church steeples that dot the city have led to its nickname “La Ville Aux Cent Clochers” (The City of a Hundred Bell Towers).
Mark Twain was known to have remarked: "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window."
~ For more details, click on the thumbnails or read the editorial published on Designtaxi.com.