Designers join forces for RIBA

Pentagram and print design group Atelier Works are to collaborate on the rebranding of the Royal Institute of British Architects. RIBA’s new identity is due to launch in the first half of 2001.

Pentagram partner John Rushworth will recreate the principal marque, while Quentin Newark at Atelier Works will look at all other branded applications.

The rebranding initiative has come from RIBA president, Marco Goldschmied of Richard Rogers Partnership, who was elected to the post in July 1999.

According to RIBA director of communications Roula Konzotis, Goldschmied felt the institute’s corporate branding needed “a more fundamental examination” than the internal re-design originally mooted. The decision follows a review by The Fourth Room, which has developed a core strategy and will continue to act as a consultant.

“RIBA is a venerable institution, but it understands there is a need to tidy up elements of its identity,” says Newark.

“There are elements of RIBA that remain quite old-fashioned, so I don’t think we’ll go in with designer stubble and our shirts hanging out, saying ‘Let’s paint everything mustard!’ We shall be putting forward arguments and proposals they can understand and trust,” adds Newark.

Atelier Works has not previously worked with RIBA, though it created the Architecture Week identity for the Arts Council. It has also worked with architects such as Lord Rogers, Lord Foster and David Chipperfield.