Innovative communications: a façade carries the meaning behind it

We recently commented on candy as a communications medium. m&ms being edible confectionery carrying a customizable message it’s ideal for bearing valentine’s day sentiments and surely one of the few situations in which eating one’s words is a virtue.

OFD came across another innovative communications medium. Incorporated into the top of a building façade at 214 Van Ness Avenue are a series of large domes that run from left to right. Equality and Independence is what they spell, but it is through Braille not letters that they communicate the core mission of the inhabitants and the visitors they serve.




































Lighthouse is an organization for the blind and visually impaired. The name implies a unmistakable presence, in this situation drawing visitors towards it rather than warding them away, which it does in a maritime setting.

The architects Jay and Joel Hendler felt that the building had to live up to the expectations embodied in the Lighthouse idea itself. Their solution was to incorporate it in to the facade itself. They created a design that is as visually iconic as it is symbolic of the organization’s mission and purpose. Now when people think of the company there is a distinctive image that is conjured up in their mind to associate with the institute.

A clever - and distinct - element of visual identity and another example of an innovative communications medium on the streets of San Francisco.

Impressionism not delivered by bricks and mortar

One of the simple joys of a new city is the newness of everything. Happening upon unanticipated sights and vistas. The endless surprises that engage the senses in unexpected ways.

And so it was with walking past the Renoir Hotel on McAllister street. The name itself evokes so much color and richness, the essence of this artist's creations. Whatever the interior might offer to delight a visitor's senses the outside was in stark, drab contrast to the promise implied by its name.













Renoir's works - like others in his genre - were an other-worldy landscape of vibrant color and textures. Like a technicolor dream. It is perhaps asking too much for bricks and mortar to capture and express the wonderful mood embodied by impressionism. Unless of course, Cirque du Soleil went into the hotel business. This brand has a ethereal, colorful essence to their peformances. No doubt through their mastery of form, playfulness and light they could create a facade - and guest interaction with staff inside - that could live up to the promise of an impressionistic name.