PITZHANGER MANOR – UNITING THE PAST & THE PRESENT
The Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust approached us to help define their brand and digital strategy, design their visual identity and design and develop their website towards the end of a four year conservation project to restore Sir John Soane’s magnificent country house to its original glory. We began the journey by helping define Pitzhanger's purpose and creating a blueprint for its future.Sir John was one of the foremost architects of the Regency era, rising to the top of his profession and becoming professor of architecture of the Royal Academy. One of his most famous works was the Bank of England and in 1800 he purchased Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing as his country retreat, demolishing and then rebuilding it to his own design.
Following the conservation project Pitzhanger was launched to the public as an homage to the brilliance of Soane and for the display of contemporary visual art, architecture and design, uniting the past and the present and inspiring future generations. Our logotype is set in Bodoni – a modern Neo-Classical serif and the era Soane specialised in – the 'chiselled verticals' of the letters reminiscent of the columns on the building's façade. The colour palette was inspired by the colour of original wallpapers that were discovered, in-tact, during the restoration process.
For the design of the website, we were guided by Pitzhanger's purpose, to inspire and enrich the lives of their communities through creativity, debate, education and participation. The site strategy reflected the complex sum of parts that comprise Pitzhanger - manor house and grounds, contemporary art gallery, shop, restaurant and cafe and had to enable communities to connect with and enjoy the creations of one of Britain's most extra-ordinary architects. The content driven site allows Pitzhanger to unify the past and present through historical content while the events, exhibitions and the site UX and design itself are there to inspire future generations.
We also shot three films set in the grounds of Pitzhanger and Walpole Park for use on the Home Page at varying times of the day.
The future
Since its launch in May 2019, artists that have exhibited solo shows in the Gallery include Anish Kapoor and Es Devlin OBE while visitor numbers have far exceeded the expectations of the Trust and the site continues to build momentum.
