Nigeria is fast catching up with the globalization induced trend where nation states are controlled by a knowledge driven economy as opposed to the skill driven economy that typified the 19th century and was formalized in the 20th century with the professionalisation of most skill based endeavours. With the myriad complexities of the emerging 21st century, modern day professionals have found themselves facing new challenges in keeping up with new technologies on the international scene, maintaining relevance with local clientele (vis-à-vis the extended need to nurture new / foreign clientele) and staying at the top of the food chain…a position that requires the ability to deftly adjust to change and creatively evolve favourable scenarios out of every situation.
MOE - Identity Assets strut their stuff at Terra Kulture, the new
hip art venue on Tiamiyu Savage Street in Victoria Island.
Architects in Nigeria can no longer afford to sit back as master designers, twiddling their toes, waiting for the next major client with the right project and the right purse to feed the ego and pay the bills. Bills are ever rising – multiple taxation, increasing rent / utility bills, staff salaries, etc – and quite frankly, there just aren’t enough super clients to go round. The few available ones are keenly competed for …and even at that, the ability to compete effectively with the best is no longer sufficient. Architects must tap into the emerging knowledge economy by refraining from thinking in reference to the box - whatever box, within or without. To borrow from the popular marketing communication maxim – ‘differentiate or die’… that is the key for tapping into the next level of service delivery where space is limitless and there is plenty room for anyone daring enough for intellectual gymnastics.
Enter the Mosun Emeruwa led MOE Identity Assets, a front line Lagos based firm that has repackaged itself with a unique angle to service delivery and an unusual determination to push the design envelope to another level.
In recent sessions with MOE’s Goke Osibodu, the extent and relevance of the firm’s vision was unraveled. Operating originally in the traditional mould of the architectural firm offering consultancy services to clients, MOE had since 1991 built a decent portfolio of work with an impressive list of clientele. However, in an environment where clients typically viewed architecture as a necessary (and often avoidable) evil and most architects were trading their vital roles as design consultants for more lucrative roles as builders and project managers, the firm’s principal associates were not satisfied with the status quo. Thus after four years of analysis, research and introspection, a period that could have earned an average student a decent degree from a university as Osibodu opined, the firm redefined it’s approach to service delivery and adopted the framework of Identity Assets as a channel for effecting the changes in the environment that they desired.
The tag – ‘Identity Assets’ is not just a hip suffix attached to a corporate identity. The phrase touches on what Osibodu identifies as the ‘soft stuff’. Thus the motive is to build what is inside (the essence, the substance of the client / organization’s identity) first before defining the exterior environment (building envelope) which is the traditional preserve of the architect.
The exciting suspension bridge notion at Terra Kulture which
single handedly sets the tone for the art house’s unique identity.
Identity Assets refer to the intangible assets of an organization which are the organization’s vision, culture and identity. By tapping into the organization’s corporate genetic make-up, MOE then help articulate their clients’ ‘Big Idea’ (emotional essence that unify people, vision and strategy) and arm them with ‘Guideline Manuals’ to further aid the mining of their attributes into profitable assets. These Guideline Manuals could be for the environment - buildings and landscape, or for communication - a template that influences what advertising agencies will eventually churn out.
‘This is not Branding’ says Osibodu when asked further, its not the same thing that advertising agencies do, neither is it the same thing with what Alder Consulting (for example) does because MOE tends to go beyond the corporate identity (logo) and does not pretend to offer advise nor competence in the areas of day to day management / work processes of their clients. However, if having the receptionist wear a red shirt and smile at every guest would help communicate your ‘Big Idea’ a lot better, they are going to tell you about it.
Osibodu agreed that the idea somehow tallies with what the American architect - Frank Lloyd Wright did with Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel where the architect’s attention to detail, the foolproof structural resolution employed (that helped the building survive a major earthquake), and design involvement in the furniture, light fittings, napkins and other accessories could not have hurt the hotel’s profile and brand equity. Same thing with OMA’s work for Prada stores where Rem Koolhaas, the revolutionary Dutch architect collaborated with Bruce Mau - a front line graphic designer, to effectively fuse the building’s design and style as expressed in its different elements, as vital contact points for the brand. In other words, architecture does serve a key role in the global positioning of brands. Unfortunately, like most areas of human intelligence, this potential remains widely untapped in Nigeria.
However, differentiating does have its hassles. It becomes a lot more difficult handling staff recruitment since a basic architectural education (yes they still favour architects) is no longer sufficient basis for placement with MOE. The firm has its work cut out for it finding freshly trained architects with the sort of well rounded outlook that suits MOE’s new bill, this led Goke Osibodu into an impassioned discussion on the state of design education in our architectural schools. It’s a typical preoccupation of most firms trying to break into new territories. Koolhaas for example took up a Professorial chair at Harvard when he realized that OMA’s in house research and development initiatives always got distracted by the demands of the firm’s ongoing projects. In Nigeria too, it is becoming fashionable to give back to the system, as professionals like John Godwin and Femi Majekodunmi have intervened by becoming actively involved in the University of Lagos.
Another cause for worry is the inevitable hostility from Advertising agencies over the perceived infringement on their territory. Osibodu insists that when presented with more information, advertising agencies get to realize that they are not being faced with competition; in fact their work could be made easier by MOE’s Guideline Manuals and collaboration on projects could be fruitful for all parties, the client especially
MOE still remains an architectural firm and they still offer architectural consultancy. So what’s new? Not much really, architecture has always been involved in total design and like Bruce Goff – arguably Wright’s greatest protégé - who attests to no highfaluting architectural style except ‘Client Style’; a more – than - surface understanding of the client’s total make-up is a prerequisite to having a successful building. What seems new is MOE’s involvement in Identity Asset Management – the corporate resource tool for managing the intangible assets of organizations; tools deployed to good use in work done for National Bank and Standard Trust Bank (for example) in ground breaking Communication / Environmental Guideline Manuals.
The firm identifies intangible assets as - major sources of wealth creation that are often the most valuable dynamics of global market penetration and alliances. And this differentiation into Identity Assets and Design Management as business tools for improving productivity and brand equity - it doesn’t hurt the bottom line at all, especially with the unwholesome refusal of clients to pay professional fees for architectural consultancy while they map out sizable budgets for sustaining their brand equity through traditional means– it does make economic sense to differentiate… Osibodu smiles in agreement. Where would all these lead, 20 years hence….? ‘Interactive Assets’, he retorts without batting an eyelid…like it didn’t just take a thousand words trying to come to grips with Identity Assets in the first place.
So, differentiate or die…what’s your own angle?
-Ayodele Arigbabu. (Published in The Guardian Life Magazine, Nov6-12, 2005)
related link:
www.moeidentityassets.com
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