If you know the Sydney Opera House, the Bird’s Nest in Beijing and the 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) building in London, then you are familiar with Arup even though you may not know it. Arup is the global company of engineers, planners and consultants that works with the world’s finest architects to create the world’s greatest buildings and engineering projects. These architects, Foster, Nouvel, Rogers and the rest couldn’t do their work without Arup. Arup is the greatest company in its specialised field in the world.
Arup had two issues of identity – first, it was hardly known outside the world or architecture and engineering and second, it does so many different things in so many different ways in so many different places that it was difficult to encapsulate everything it does, in away that is comprehensive and comprehensible. Saffron developed a unifying theme – elegance – of thought, of design, of execution – and a consistent visual identity system that enabled Arup to present itself as a united, coherent entity around a simple, dramatic idea, unique to the organization.
