Corporate Architecture: Building a Brand

In the fiercely competitive corporate world, brands are obliged to search for sophisticated marketing strategies in order to outshine their competitors and rise above the rest. The implementation of architecture as a marketing tool in order to “build” a corporate image is a phenomenon that in the twenty-first century has produced exceptional buildings designed by world-famous architects to elevate the status of prestigious firms through their association with iconic structures. Corporate Architecture offers an in-depth analysis of this growing trend, exploring not only the buildings themselves but also the history of each firm and its relation to evolving design concepts.

Drawn from around the world, the projects documented in these pages in brilliant color photographs and in architects’ sketches, plans, and sections, are:

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• Fashion: Prada • Christian Dior • Tod’s • Chanel • Louis Vuitton • Uniqlo • Mikimoto • Herchcovitch • Gucci
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• Banking: Borkener Volksbank • Interbank • Caja de Granada • ING • Nord/LB • FIH • Sampension A/S • VP Bank • ABN Amro • MUFG • J. Van Breda • KfW
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• Telecommunications: Telefónica • Nortel • T-Mobile • Dogan Media Group • KPN • Vodafone • Google
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• Automotive: Bugatti • Mercedes Benz • Renault • Toyota • Ferrari • Volkswagen • Citroën • BMW • Mini
  
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How the fashion, banking, automotive, and telecommunications industries use architecture as a tool of marketing strategy.

Alejandro Bahamón, an architect, photographer, and editor of architecture books, is the author of numerous publications on contemporary architecture, including Sketch Plan Build, The Magic of Tents, Treehouses, Glass Houses, Houses on the Edge, and (with Ana María Álvarez), Light Color Sound. He lives in Barcelona.

Ana Cañizares lives in Barcelona.

Antonio Corcuera lives in Barcelona.