Territorial Branding: The Example of Jean Nouvel's "Luisiana Manifesto"

Abstract

This article intends to be the first of a series, in an attempt to show the scope of a wider question, which is what is Territorial Branding? and why this issue is important for us architects.

One of the oldest levers of Territorial Branding is the Brand Architects, more commonly called Star Architects. It would seem that the identity of their brand, represented by a proper noun (their own), like Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, among others, is confused with the values they are building up. In general, we see that the Brand-Architect (1) organizes his/her brand around one manifesto, or several manifesti, which most times sound like a revolution and underline the values that characterize it, like the leading element of the strategy for each project. We will explore how Jean Nouvel achieves this, through his Louisiana Manifesto.

We will analyse the link between praxis and theory as fundamental components of any architectural approach, from the example of the Nouvel Manifesto applied to the project Le Grand Pari(s) (The Greater Paris). This example will lead us to the study of rhetoric as a strategy of Nouvels brand.
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(1) Most of these architects (and we are referring to the ones we observed during this analysis) dress in black. Perhaps seeking elegance, simplicity, sobriety, rigor, mystery or, in addition, the opening of their branding to all the colors of the world.