Placemarque

Signs installed at Bruntwood’s latest pioneer building

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New internal and external signage has been installed at Bruntwood’s newly refurbished Bloc building, just off Market Street in Manchester’s city centre.

Having worked with Bruntwood for six years, we recently completed a set of guidelines for both internal and external wayfinding and signage based on the new brand identity developed by Bert Agency. The end product was a concept for a family of signs and a toolkit for how this should be rolled out across the Bruntwood estate.

Bruntwood’s “pioneer” buildings take the Bruntwood wayfinding toolkit one step further, each with its own unique identity. This latest project focused on one particular pioneer building; Bloc (formerly Lowry House).

The building has undergone significant refurbishment: the entrance, ground floor and lower level have been opened up to the public with a wide range of uses including a yoga studio, coffee shop, community space, cinema room and flexible co-workspace.

It’s an example of a shift that we are seeing in the city centre office market: responding to the increased flexibility in working patterns, buildings that were previously solely in private use are being opened up to the public to maximise the value of each space.

Tom Cookson, Placemarque’s 3D Designer, said:

As a pioneer building, we were tasked with taking Bruntwood’s brand toolkit as the starting point but developing it further to create something that is unique to Bloc, whilst still being recognisably Bruntwood.

The project incorporates internal signs that direct visitors to the many varied uses at the ground and lower floors, with an external projecting sign and large internal light box entrance sign.

Together with the new lifestyle and wellbeing spaces on offer, the refurb also incorporates biophilic (green) walls within the entrance space to improve wellbeing.

It’s a dramatic transformation and well worth a visit.

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