Attik brands Foster and Partners’ ‘erotic gherkin’

Attik has created a raft of branded elements for architect Foster and Partners’ ‘erotic gherkin’ building in the City of London, which will house the headquarters of the insurer Swiss Re.

The branding project, launched this week and believed to be worth a six-figure fee, involves an identity, website, signage, print material and a marketing show suite.

The work will be used primarily to market the building to potential tenants, according to Swiss Re new building director Sara Fox. ‘We are not seeking to promote our own space. The brief was to create a soup-to-nuts marketing package aimed at attracting tenants,’ she adds.

Attik co-founder and creative director Simon Needham says, ‘Our objective was to carry through [Foster’s] design philosophy of merging elegance and innovation. The identity is almost iconic in form, but effectively highlights the unusual lines of the building.’

Needham says ecological and environmental concerns are uppermost in the architectural design and this has been reflected in the branding.

Bennett Interior Design is to create office interiors for Swiss Re and Foster and Partners is designing the entrance lobby, as well as corporate hospitality suites for the top floor (DW 2 August 2001).

Swiss Re initially plans to occupy about half the building’s 40 floors, with the remainder – around 23 000m2 – being available for lease by other tenants.

Bennett Interior Design will prepare the leasable floors to ‘shell and core’ standards and individual tenants will be responsible for commissioning their own specific design requirements, says Fox.

Attik was appointed following a four-way pitch in October last year.