Architecture in advertising, architecture as advertising: the marketing of automobiles through the built environment

 

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As I start on a new journey of discovery, commencing studies in graphic design, I felt compelled to revisit a previous obsession of mine, car showrooms. Specifically the built form of car showrooms, and the messages conveyed to passers-by and potential customers. Graphic design is all about message and visual communication and I was interested to explore this as an architect to see if design DNA could be incorporated in structure, so the building acts as a sign.

What follows is an excerpt from a PhD candidacy proposal I was working on for many years. I want to get it out in the public realm, and possibly I might return to this topic one day...

Abstract

Architecture is a form of communication and is intended to engage individuals; it acts to convey a message to its audience.  A church or mosque might, for example, convey a religious message.  The dome of St. Peter’s is the tallest structure in Rome and symbolic of the influence of religious beliefs within the international Catholic community.  An institutional government building may convey a sense of authority; for example, the Governor’s residence in one of many former British colonies sought to influence the local populace and instigate societal and cultural change, to be a civilising or authoritarian influence.  Commercial architecture also aims to convey a message that is aimed squarely at consumers, for instance Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building in New York used post modern references to classicism to imply stability and longevity.

Architecture is often used in advertising to assist in embellishing a seductive commercial narrative.  Architecture may also be used as advertising.

The architectural typology through which these themes will be explored is the automobile showroom.  The automobile showroom is a distinct architectural model; however, given the nature of showrooms recently constructed, it would appear that architects often miss opportunities to reinforce marketing messages.  The automobile showroom is often a simple glass-walled box surrounded by a large parking lot, with the showroom saying very little about the manufacturer or the automobiles they produce.  As such the showrooms could be interchangeable between manufacturers with little more than a change in signage.

The central research question of this Thesis is to determine how architects can impart the image and identity of an automobile manufacturer and the automobiles they produce into the architecture of an automobile showroom.  With image and identity imparted the building can then act as a sign and convey a marketing message.  In other words, this Thesis will explore the synergy between the product and its packaging and how architecture can reinforce brand.

This Thesis focuses on an area of architectural design research that has received little attention from academics in Australia and internationally.  The key outcome will be an increased understanding of commercial roadside architecture generally and the research will inform ideas of design and meaning within the everyday built environment.

 

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Objectives

1)    To understand the key design characteristics and manner in which automobiles and automobile showrooms have evolved over time;

2)    To gain specific knowledge of the automobile showroom as an architectural typology and devise a naming system for categorizing and understanding the various types;

3)    To understand how the design DnA of a product can be extracted; 

4)    To understand how buildings, particularly automobile showrooms, can act as signs and deliver marketing messages to advertise vehicles; and,

5)    To propose a hypothetical automobile showroom design for a vehicle manufacturer derived from the research findings.

 

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 Background

This Thesis will explore the nature of automobile showrooms as a means to understanding the role of image and identity in architecture.  The broad themes of architectural language, form and the representation of function in architecture will be explored through a critical review of theoretical research and fieldwork.

This Thesis is concerned with meaning and identity in architecture and how buildings through the use of form can act as signs and convey messages. 

Architecture has long been an instrument of engagement, put to use by the Church and State.  In more recent times architecture has evolved as a device to facilitate a Corporation’s identity.  Architecture has become an important tool, used in the marketing of products and services and in the creation of image and identity, in other words, brand.  As Jackle & Sculle (1994, p.140) state, “Architecture in any society is fluid, constantly changing.  This is especially true of commercial architecture, where buildings are part of continuing advertising campaigns to establish marketing territories”.  Jackle & Sculle (1994, p.23) conclude that a new aesthetic has been born, based upon automobile-oriented sensitivities.  This aesthetic, architecture particular to the roadside, is architecture designed to gain our attention and recognition.  As Vieyra (1979) discusses, creating a single effect or image was of utmost importance.  Given that behind most roadside architecture is a commercial venture, it is not surprising that commercial messages are imbued.  Motorists make associations between architecture and the products and/or services contained within.  Architecture can persuade, excite and most importantly motivate consumers. 

Historically, architectural language and form have expressed function literally, for example with Claude-Nicolas Ledoux’s Charcoal Burner’s House and Cooper’s House, whereby the dwelling form was derived from the artisanal practice of the occupant. These expressions of function are interesting in that any doubt is removed from the mind of the observer, who will not need to employ reasoning or intuition to interpret or understand the Architect’s message.  The function is expressed clearly and the message is conveyed.  Ledoux was interested in an architectural revolution and was attracted to simple geometrical forms in contrast to the elaborate baroque style of the French aristocracy.

Similarly, Programmatic architecture deals with literal manifestations, often seen along the road side and will include a number of buildings that Venturi (1977) would term “ducks”.  In Australia we have the Big Merino and the Big Pineapple to name but a few, acting as regional billboards with a clear message for visitors.

However, messages were not always commercial.  With a political and authoritarian motivation, the Russian Constructivists and Rationalists of the early 20^th century were “…dedicated to the honest expression of structure, the use of new materials and techniques and the analysis of spatial effects, for which it was hoped to set down design rules” (Riseboro 1985, p219).  The intention was that the form and materiality of a structure would convey a message.

This Thesis concerns commercial roadside architecture, specifically the architecture of automobile showrooms as a typology.  Elements of auto-centric roadside architecture, including automobile showrooms, are seen as temporary, transitory and worthless structures, built to service a fickle consumerist society.  This is evidenced by the ephemeral nature of our roadside architecture.  Indeed, our understanding of architecture is as much a function of time as it is space.  As Preziosi (1979, p.16) states “the significative organisation of a built environment is as temporal as it is spatial: settlements are designed to be construed spatially over time.”  Hence, the “semiotic bricolage” of our daily lives is continually changing, as are the messages we receive and understand.  The roadside is continually changing and evolving, and the architecture of automobile showrooms will continue to change with it.  Roadside architecture needs to respond to change as this is intrinsic to its nature as a typology. 

The automobile is essentially a twentieth-century invention that has had an unquestionable affect on the shape and scale of our towns and cities and in the way we live our lives.  As Bell (2001, p.12) says, “To accommodate the explosion of the world’s car population our cities have been continuously scoured, razed and rebuilt.”  This change has been welcomed by most, indeed society has now accepted the automobile; we now have an automobile culture.  The automobile has had a considerable effect on our built environment and in the creation and evolution of roadside architecture.  Many “styles” of architecture have developed in response to the automobile, for example the fantastic and modern imagery described by Liebs (1985), which captured the spirit of a particular age of consumers, whereby imagery from the space race was engendered in automobiles.  Throughout the twentieth-century there have been periods where the design of the automobile and architecture have crossed over.  For example, in the 1930s and 1940s with the distinct geometries of Streamline Modern and, later in the 1950s and 1960s with Googie, it can be demonstrated that the automobile and roadside architecture of these periods respectively used a similar design vocabulary.  Commercial architecture was initially adapted to suit auto-centric activities; however, it later came to embrace the automobile as the key driving force behind the design of roadside architecture, including the design of automobile showrooms. 

Roadside architecture is ubiquitous; however, how often do we notice it?  As an architectural typology the automobile showroom must not only satisfy a pragmatic design brief, it must grab the motorist’s attention and act as a marker on the landscape for future reference and reinforce the strength of the brand.  The automobile showroom must act as an advertisement for that manufacturer, and act to distinguish itself from its competition.  This is especially true of the automobile row, those complementary agglomerations of like-minded retailers seeking synergies from the greater drawing power of a group.  Given that motorists passing our commercial auto-centric roadside architecture are moving at speed and viewing the landscape through the windshield like a movie (Liebs 1985, p.5), the architectural statement an automobile showroom needs to make is bold, in essence the architecture needs to act as a sign and deliver a message. 

In simple terms, the messages communicated are either primary – for example the automobile showroom as a typology being a glass box in a yard; or secondary – for example the pylon and other signage that adorn these boxes.  It is possible that we could move towards an integrated model where there is no distinction between the primary and secondary messages.

The automobile showroom today, with a few exceptions, comprises a parking lot for stock, a workshop for repairs and servicing and, a glass-walled box for the display of new models.  The architecture of the showroom says very little about the automobiles within, it simply acts as an impotent or inert display cabinet.  The styling of the automobiles and showroom appears to be mutually exclusive, with the architects and clients missing an opportunity to reinforce the brand to consumers through an architectural intervention on the site.  As Bell (2001, p.101) states, the “brave new world of car retail has segued into a morass of low level sprawl, off-the-shelf showrooms with zero personality and presence, blossoming out along arterial roads.  Only the flagship showroom – the big brand, high-rent billboard sites that line Park Lane and the Champs Elysees – transcend the stereotype.”  The showroom could be considered as the packaging that the automobile comes within; however, in advertising brand the reliance typically is solely upon signage, with showrooms that could be interchangeable between automobile manufacturers.  Automotive styling may be distinct and noticeable, for example a Morris Mini or Volkswagen Beetle, and we can immediately determine a vehicle make and model without reading the badge.  However, some manufacturers seek to satisfy the mass market and produce vehicles that blend into the landscape and it may be difficult to distinguish between a Ford and a Holden, particularly with newer models.  Automotive and architectural styling has an essence that needs to be clarified.  As consumers we can generally distinguish between makes of automobiles; accordingly, architects may be able to use stylistic techniques to impart a vehicle’s persona into the built form of the automobile showroom.  Architecture may then be used to advertise.  Automobile showrooms must articulate the brand of the manufacturer, and this articulation must be appropriate and convey appropriate architectural imagery.  A showroom for Mercedes-Benz would not convey appropriate imagery for advertising Hyundai for example, and vice versa.  It would seem that the simple solution would be to first define the image and identity of the manufacturer and then create an architectural intervention that expresses the brand.  In practice this is much more difficult as visual imagery may be ambiguous to the interpreter. 

The majority of work in this field has been conducted within the United States, with the works of Vierya, Liebs, and Longstreth being particularly relevant to the field trip component of this Thesis.  Each has conducted a detailed documentation and subsequent analysis of particular architectural elements along the United States roadside.   For example, Vieyra (1979) documented America’s gas stations whilst Liebs (1985) investigated a variety of roadside architectural prototypes including supermarkets, drive-in theatres, motels and automobile showrooms.  Longstreth (2000) went one step further in devising a nomenclature to categorise the commercial architecture of Main Street USA.

 

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Significance

Considering the volume of the built environment along our roadside and the impact it has on our daily lives, comparatively scant attention has been devoted to increasing our understanding of what is a recent architectural phenomenon.  This Thesis will consider the automobile showroom, as a component of the roadside, and in part address the shortfall in our knowledge.

Roadside architecture is generally seen as a blight on our landscape, and not valued by society in the way that a historic building might be.  It would appear that value is contingent upon permanence and the two are intertwined as society in its application of heritage and planning polices ultimately decides how our cities, which are often seen from the road, are allowed to evolve.  If our roadside architecture is given more design consideration it might attain greater value within the community as society learns to respect and understand the ephemeral nature of our built environment.

The automobile showroom, which will continually evolve as models change, has not been fully resolved as an architectural typology, with improvements both possible and necessary.  Accordingly, there is an opportunity to improve the quality of our built environment and the visual amenity of our landscape through the better design of automobile showrooms.

If we can understand how the commercial architecture of our roadside can create conscious (and subconscious) associations in the mind of observers, then we can understand how to more effectively communicate the products contained within and as Architects better service our clients and ultimately inform society as a whole.

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