Greenspace London

ABOUT

The Old War Office, a landmark building, originally completed in 1906 is steeped in history. Once the site of the original Palace of Whitehall, home to Henry VIII and other monarchs, the building has witnessed world-shaping events whilst influential political and military leaders including Winston Churchill, Lord Kitchener and Herbert Asquith held office. The building inspired Ian Fleming to write the infamous James Bond novels and its grand architecture has made the building a dramatic location in five Bond films, and more recently The Crown drama series. At the helm of The OWO project is the Hinduja Group, founded in 1914 and passionately committed to the building since its acquisition in 2014. Their vision was to create a Luxury destination for Whitehall - working with a team of experts including Historic England and Museum of London Archaeology, and appointed EPR Architects to oversee the intricate redevelopment, with hotel interiors designed by New York-based designer Thierry Despont. Greenspace were appointed in 2017 by Westminster Development Services on behalf of the Hinduja Group, to develop the brand strategy, name and identity, and to create a fitting legacy for the destination.
Greenspace felt the weight of responsibility to respect the building’s past, while
creating a legacy for the next generation to enjoy. Walking around the empty
building, the team felt a palpable sense of history. Hearing the echo of footsteps
going up and down stairs, and the sounds of doors opening and closing, there was
a powerful, visceral quality to the experience.

Challenge

Greenspace were commissioned to create a destination brand that connects the
understated values of mature customers with the optimism of wealthy millennials, by
celebrating the absolute authenticity of the building’s history and spirit.

Strategy

‘Home to Legends’ is an expression used to guide all our communications and behaviours. It speaks of absolute authenticity, a sense of place and the expectation of the extraordinary. This was the starting point for all brand activities.

Creative idea

Moving from ‘The Old War Office’ to ‘The OWO’ is a way of retaining it’s heritage whilst forging a new future. Evolving place names to create new lexicons is a long established technique — take South of Houston Street to SOHO for example. ‘The OWO’ allows us to connect the understated values of mature customers with optimism of millennials and still celebrate the absolute authenticity of our building’s history and spirit. Every detail surrounding the brand was created to speak of historic authenticity, and this was our approach when creating the visual identity.

The OWO wordmark was our starting point — a simple yet precise piece of typography, we drew character from a unique period of time where both spoken and written communication was key. Inspired by early 20th century Grotesque typefaces found across Britain at that time, the wordmark letterforms are distinctively wide, a typographic trait from the turn of the century. The bespoke typeface that followed is filled with character and detail. We worked with Colophon foundry to draw a utilitarian Grotesque, named 1906 after the date in which the building was opened. Letterforms although utilitarian were distinctively flared and full of gestural flourishes. The 3 weights include a number of unique stylistic sets such as old style numerals, date and fraction systems, several unusual arrow styles, typographic ornaments and historic details such as imperial measurements. 1906 was used throughout all communications, from physical wayfinding and printed publications, to animations and digital applications.

The OWO primary colour palette reflects the materiality of the building’s Portland stone, the Alabaster marble of the grand staircase and the black and white mosaics that line its warren of hallways and private residences. Graphic patterns echo some of the sensitive work carried out within its walls, including morse code denoting the geographical co-ordinates of The OWO.
A supporting photography style documented the characterful surrounding area and many of the stories of the historic neighbourhood.

The applications themselves were carefully designed to reference character from the time period, wether it be menus inspired by ration books, chocolate packaging that was sized from imperial measurements, or an animation style borne from espionage, ‘emerging from the shadows’.