Description:

BVN is a creative collective of architects, designers, researchers and makers with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, London and New York. They approached Base in 2021 to help communicate their dynamic model of practice, and ambition to challenge expectations of architecture. Central to our work was the design and development of a new website. The website sought to bring their new brand identity and broader strategic shift to life; to grant access to the vast archive of BVN’s projects, to surface their values; and to allow the business to reach a broader audience beyond the field of architecture.

The new site presents a window into BVNs practice by foregrounding ideas that underpin their approach; we call these 'tenets’. These are dynamic and ever changing, they range from establishing deeper connections with first nation’s communities and their understanding of place; to working towards a net-zero future. Developed as part of a larger rebrand, the new website makes BVNs vast archive and myriad of ongoing projects more accessible to a broader and wider audience than ever before.

At the core of the site is the tenet module, a dynamic editorial presentation of BVNs core priorities that offers a deep understanding of their practice at a glance. By connecting projects to ideas we’re able to avoid many of the typical conventions found within architectural websites — while also ensuring audiences with limited architectural knowledge are respected and engaged. This consideration for the user is continued through the UI and UX which is developed to be fast, modular, and simple to use. One of the best examples of this is the bookmarking feature which allows collections of projects and news articles to be gathered together, read, and shared. This is particularly powerful for sharing curated content with prospective clients. Another is the dynamic filtering system developed to provide better access to their project archive.

We’re also quite proud of the way the studio and teams are represented. We art directed a number of still and video shoots in the Sydney and Brisbane studios in order to celebrate life at BVN and emphasize their collective approach to creativity.

We wanted users to be able to go deep into the site, but never get lost – rabbit holes with hand rails. Filtering systems, progress bars and the bookmarking functionality allow the user to go deep into the vast archive of projects and ideas presented on the site, whilst remaining aware of their location.