Project Overview
Frost was briefed to deliver branding and environmental graphics for Rio Tinto’s Brisbane Regional Centre. The core idea was to bring the many diverse business units together as one, encouraging collaboration between staff.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Design director: Ray Parslow
Designers: Sarah Estens, Natasha Bartoshefski, Bianca Chang, Rose Gates
Design Managers: Annabel Stevens, Edward Cotton
Creative Director: Vince Frost
Base building architects: Hassell
Interior design: Geyer
Project Management: Paragon Project Management
Construction: Laing O'Rourke
Signage contractor: A Sign Design
Project Brief
To deliver branding and environmental graphics for Rio Tinto’s Brisbane Regional Centre. The core idea was to bring the many diverse business units together as one, encouraging greater collaboration between staff.
The scope of the project included identification and wayfinding signage, meeting room identification, major place-making features and product displays.
Project Innovation / Need
The rich visual language of the mining sector inspired our approach to this project.
Our inspiration was the connection of employees to Rio Tinto’s core business. Lift lobby graphics featuring topographic mapping patterns were taken from Rio Tinto’s mine sites. The topography goes from macro to micro as you move higher through the building with the upper most topography in each zone being the most detailed with line work abstractly capturing the expanse of the landscape.
Wayfinding signage explores the notion of the landscape, expressing contours with a sign panel that undulates out of the wall – with the highest point containing the directional information. Stencil cut level numbers capture the markings that appear at mining sites or on mining trucks. Signs are banded using a palette of materials and colours from corten to copper, expressing the banding of the earth in an open-cut mine.
Design Challenge
The design challenge was to find a graphic language and imagery that was relevant to the varied users of the building. The imagery had to be spectacular and uplifting, the signage had to be functional and connected to the interiors, the placemaking features had to enrich the space and connect to the key values of the business.
Sustainability
Firstly, we used a local signage company to produce the signage and graphics for us in Brisbane. We also considered the longevity of the graphics when designing for the room signage- vinyl graphics are used on the meeting rooms that may need to be re-named or updated frequently. For the wayfinding signage we chose materials that will withstand the lifespan of the building, requiring little maintenance or replacement (such as sheet metals). For elements such as the “international timeline wall” we specified LED’s to make the place-making feature as energy efficient as possible. Using several graphic devices, we also encouraged the use of the stairs to improve the health of staff members and reduce the load on the building’s lift system. The high level of integration of the signage with the building’s architecture has also been purposeful in terms of sustainability. We also encouraged changes to the behavior of staff by labeling the kitchen bins with names and pictograms to inspire them use the various recycling bins available.
Graphic Design - Environmental
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