The Hive —
In the heart of Manchester’s
Northern Quarter.
Creating a new identity for The Hive, a Grade 'A' office space in Manchester's thriving Northern Quarter. The 80,000 sq ft building is home to some of Manchester’s most creative and innovative businesses.
Recreating iconic letter forms from the Northern Quarter.
The brief was to reposition The Hive within the Northern Quarter as over time it had lost both it’s identity and it’s grounding within the district and community. To deliver a truly connected identity we recreated iconic and unique letter forms from the surrounding area including Victorian brick signage and mosaic tile street names that synonymous with the area.
These ceramic street signs were originally commissioned for the NQ as the flagship cultural area of Manchester by Tim Rushton. The signs, white on blue for the streets running East / West and blue on white for the streets running North / South, give the area its own recognisable identity. Using these individual local letter forms to make up the identity also has a nod to and celebrates the creativity and individuality of the people that live and work within Manchester’s most vibrant and creative hub.
How we created feeling
By tying the identity of The Hive back into the district we created a sense of ownership that revived the building in the mind of the surrounding community. It successfully repositioned this once heavily juxtapositioned modern development and grounded it right back to the routes of the creative hub of Manchester.
This considered approach to the rebrand was extremely well received by the companies and individuals that work within The Hive, giving them an ownable sense of space and place they could be proud to be a part of. Overall this sense of pride was the key defining trigger for the project, a celebration of an area and a real pride of place.
Defining a strong sense of place and grounding a space in the surrounding community.
One of Manchester’s greenest and most energy efficient buildings
The Hive was ahead of it’s time with sustainable innovation when it was originally built and this, more than ever, was a key factor to champion. The natural ventilation system typifies The Hive’s emphasis on sustainability by enabling zero energy cooling, this resonated with us here at Persona and we were proud to work on a project that continues to push the boundaries of sustainability in commercial office space.
