Emily Smith challenged us to develop a corporated identity for a place that is actually not supposed to be corporated. We have been asked to work on the case of the Tempelhofer feld, an abandoned airport that has been turned in the biggest park of Berlin. Beginning from scratch, we had the possibility to work on a specific part of the park such as a sport department, a signage system or even a gift shop.

We felt more interested and challenged by actually trying to rethink the whole identity as well as the use of this unique place.

research on-site:

We first raised questions that definitely helped us to understand what we were facing:

.Which kind of feelings do we get in the park?

.What are the key observations ?

.How the park is used by the people ?

.What kind of infrastructure already exist ?

.How people would perceive a “rebranding” of the park?

Also having discussions with Berliners from different ages and social background, about their perception on the past and the future of the park was a benefit in the creation of an identity that would suit the most.

In this project, the idea was to create an identity that would help people feeling that they belong to an organization where they are in charge of it’s development. This brought us to think beyond a pure graphic design strategy.
The project gathered also urban planing, social studies and a whole identity system that would not make people feeling “controlled”.

We focused on building an identity that would include the park as a whole but would also be flexible to suit to different fields/activities in the park. Users of the park get the feeling to belong to a whole but also to a certain community of persons that share the same interest.

Meeting points:

What was the most needed for the park and the people was actually a place where they could meet, discuss, exchange, rest or even repair their sports equipments if needed.

The meeting points are places in the park where people are able to do that. Different meeting points for different field of actions is the starting point for the growth of the communities. Those meeting point are made of upcycling materials and are flexible.
Communities are in charge and responsible for it’s use and development, based on share and trust, like it is functioning since years in the shared garden section of the park.

Centralize & Involve Communities In the Park Activities

Tempelhofer Feld is a unique place that gives a gigantic breath to it’s citizens. A place for people, that should be made by the people. It gathers a wide range of activities, from sports to culture, nature to wellness, meditation to political discussion. And yet, nothing seems to work together. We need, through the help of an adapted design system, to bring back a sense of community, while preserving the authenticity of the space. We want to get people involved in the future of the park. They should be actors in it’s development.

THF Nation process (pdf)