Architects of Svigals+Partners Advocate for Stronger Communities in Multimedia Campaign
Reaching out to clients and friends via thematically united email, custom fold-out paper mailer and animated short, the architecture, art and interiors firm communicates one of its core principles and emphasizes its vision of a world of “prosperous compassionate communities.”
Innovators in architecture Svigals + Partners has announced the release of the latest in an annual series of multimedia campaigns promoting the firm’s vision and culture to its community of clients, colleagues and friends. The latest campaign, entitled Together!, utilizes an original stop-motion animated short film and a thematically relevant custom fold-out paper mailer to express the firm’s core principles of collaboration, community and creativity.
Co-created by designer Randall Hoyt and architect and firm founder Barry Svigals, the mixed-media greeting is intended to communicate a message that the entire Svigals+Partners team believe to be essential for 2017, that “Our hope rests on the strength of Community.” The series of multimedia campaigns is the outgrowth of long-standing collaborations with an interdisciplinary team of believers in the firm’s mission and vision.
“Understanding community is essential in the creation of meaningful architecture,” says Svigals, “which is why we have chosen for the past several years to reach out people within our various circles, and share with them a fun, positive message based on our mission and vision.”
Recipients first encounter the message through an email containing a thematic message and a link to view the animated short online. (https://vimeo.com/200027224) In the film, paper cutouts depict people reaching out to one another across cityscapes and suburban and rural scenes with a red ribbon. The people—first just two, then more and more—and the scenery are joined as a community, and the film is punctuated by a single word: “Together!” Recipients also receive a custom fold-out greeting through the mail that depicts the animated paper community from the film.
In previous years, Svigals + Partners have engaged in similar multimedia campaigns including last year’s “Prosperous Compassionate Communities” and 2015’s “Make + Play,” each with the goal of taking part in creating positive change in the world. The “Together!” campaign for 2017 differed from previous ones with its focus on simplicity in the artistic design, but more importantly by starting with a question articulated by Svigals that the creative team posed to one other, and to which the multimedia greeting serves as a response: “There are times when what we do is as important as what we are. What is our call to action?”
In support of the message of “Together!”, which expresses the firm’s unifying dedication to compassionate and courageous responsibility, each member of the firm hand- folded the custom paper mailers—threading each ribbon, tying thoughtful bows, and stuffing each envelope—something typically outsourced in years prior. This personal level of action requiring time away from projects related to the firm’s billable work further reiterates the importance of community coming together in times of change.
“The combination of the animated visuals and the tactile sensation of the paper greeting help the message come to life in the imagination of the recipient,” says Svigals. “We hope that this message of togetherness can inspire others to engage both within their own communities and outward into others to break down perceived boundaries.”
Since its founding, Svigals+Partners has rigorously applied its core principles to the practice of architecture, approaching clients as collaborators and developing the design of each structure and space to be meaningful to the community it will serve. The practice achieved a culmination last year in the widely praised design of the Sandy Hook School for Newtown, CT.
The mixed-media greeting goes out to the firm’s community at the same time as Svigals+Partners is expanding its own boundaries: the firm recently merged with frequent collaborator Lynn Brotman Interior Design, a move which will make interior design a seamlessly integrated aspect of the firm’s offerings and ensure that completed projects communicate each client’s vision, culture and values.
About Svigals + Partners
Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Svigals+Partners is a full-service architecture, art and planning firm dedicated to building sustainable communities that uplift and inspire people. The firm is known for its success in the design and construction of educational facilities, community projects, research and science buildings and corporate workplaces since its inception in 1983. Known for their original and imaginative integration of planning, design, and artwork in the service of broad client goals, the firm is committed to creating meaningful change in the world. Svigals + Partners offers a complete range of architectural services from master planning, site selection and feasibility studies through design and construction. In the firm’s portfolio are major laboratory projects as well as 30 years of new and renovated private and university research buildings. For more information, visit www.svigals.com.
