BrandCulture has recently completed an installation design at Commbank Place at Darling Harbour that has roots influenced by the Swiss artist Falice Varini. The key messaging for Commonwealth Bank was to welcome the customer into their new branch and to display one of the most recognisable and trusted brandmarks in the Country to their clientele, a reminder of why they choose to bank with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. BrandCulture was asked to work on a zigzag feature wall within the space that could display information to people both leaving and entering… Longtime fans of Varini’s work, BrandCulture set about to integrate the Commonwealth Bank messaging and branding into the environment.
The following is a excerpt from Varini’s site…“My field of action is architectural space and everything that constitutes such space. These spaces are and remain the original media for my painting. I work “on site” each time in a different space and my work develops itself in relation to the spaces I encounter. I generally roam through the space noting its architecture, materials, history and function.”
BrandCulture looked closely at how the customers would move through the space, making use of the traffic workflow and spaces… Personal banking areas equipped with iPads, telephones and printers are located along the main feature wall. If more assistance is needed the teller location at the back of the office does away with security screens and a more personable experience with relaxed tables and offices. Turning to exit the space, an automatic foreign exchange converter and coin counter sit opposite the feature wall. These locations create a natural viewpoint for the feature wall, part of an “inevitable route” within the space, a perfect opportunity to view the installation.
Varini goes on to say “From these spatial data and in reference to the last piece I produced, I designate a specific vantage point for viewing from which my intervention takes shape. The vantage point is carefully chosen: it is generally situated at my eye level and located preferably along an inevitable route, for instance an aperture between one room and another, a landing… I do not, however, make a rule out of this, for all spaces do not systematically possess an evident line.It is often an arbitrary choice. The vantage point will function as a reading point, that is to say, as a potential starting point to approaching painting and space.The painted form achieves its coherence when the viewer stands at the vantage point.”
Entering or exiting the space gives the viewer multiple viewpoints of the branding, the messaging and the images that focus on the inter-dependant relationship between the bank and their clients. The imagery of these moments represent the customer and also the development of our communities right across Australia by capturing local imagery to the branch. Whilst the Entry and Teller points highlight these assets, the real experience is had moving through the space and seeing the movement and construction of the logo, the development of the typography and the visual moments featured along the wall.
Lastly, Varini deals with the changing view points… “When he* moves out of it, the work meets with space generating infinite vantage points on the form. It is not therefore through this original vantage point that I see the work achieved; it takes place in the set of vantage points the viewer can have on it. If I establish a particular relation to architectural features that influence the installation shape, my work still preserves its independence whatever architectural spaces I encounter. I start from an actual situation to construct my painting. Reality is never altered, erased or modified, it interests and seduces me in all its complexity. I work “here and now”. Felice Varini
To view the Commonwealth Bank Darling Walk Branch, please click here.
This work has also been published at the Desktop Magazine’s and AGDA Website
