Benetton: Is It Urban?

Benetton is an atypical fashion brand insofar as they use an advertising strategy that relies on publishing a number of discrete moments. They use their power to bring real-life conditions – either beautiful or tragic – to the fore. In doing that they, unlike other large retail brands, don't 'sell' anything. Their brand is allied with beauty, truth, empathy and a feeling of shared humanity. How can a building deliver on this principle?

The proposal for Benetton has made that freedom possible through the provision of Tehran's most precious public space; its intimate parks. The project states that any urban building's ultimate purpose is to provide a space for meaningful interaction – either face to face or implicit through the experience of shared space.

The building occupies a prominent position on a boulevard known for its role within the everyday, unofficial encouners of the city's youth: the Bluetooth stip. It provides the urban quality that is absent from any other store around the world: the un-programmed space.

In this city where the interactions of Benetton's target audience are curtailed- formalized – the project proposes the ultimate contribution the brand can make to Tehran; a collective space for human encounter, framing a series of 'images', asking us to contemplate a shared humanity. The essence of Benetton Tehran is that is it present in the fullest sense through its absence. (text M. Murphy)

team
Tjeerd Haccou
In collaboration with
Jan Willem Petersen
Matthew Murphy
year
2009