Foundry logo and identity, by Moloobhoy & Brown

Foundry is a brutalist-inspired progressive art, culture, and co-working space created for Emaar communities.

Emaar defined an opportunity to add culture destinations into their mass scale communities spread across the Emirate, starting with Downtown Dubai. Their plan was to develop multifunctional spaces to engage the surrounding community through expression and culture. We were approached to help create and define the brand. Working closely with the project team we built out the envisioned brand strategy into a visual design system.

Foundry was born — a place to discover contemporary artworks, innovative pop-up activations, design stores, and co-working spaces. The industrial quality of the brand name and identity is a nod towards the brutalist aesthetic of the interior architecture. Based on the concept of perspective the logo was created to be both 2D and 3D — a reflection of not only the minimalist interior design but also the art forms that would be hosted within Foundry.

The brand design system revolves around the ‘F’ brandmark. It’s an anchor point for the base design of all communication materials, allowing for maximum impact of the artists work across both print and digital applications.

Brutalist interiors are characterised by a minimalist design that showcases the bare building materials and structural elements. The space makes use of exposed concrete and brick, angular geometric shapes, and a predominantly monochrome colour palette. These characteristics helped guide and define the brand identity, typography, palette, signage, and wayfinding.

Spread across seven galleries the exterior signage and graphic system needed to designate the space and showcase what was happening within. Bespoke graphic applications were created and applied across the window frontage, teasing the artist’s work showcased within. This helped illustrate Foundry’s content and generate intrigue from the surrounding community.

Typeface: Aktiv Grotesk
Photography: Farel Bisotto

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