STUDIO INSIGHT
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMAUGUST 2019
HOW TO FUSE GRAPHIC
DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
Members of SODA Studio tell Tom May how they combine
two disciplines to create exciting and ground-breaking work
STUDIO INSIGHT
S
ODA Studio does something that’s unique
in creative circles. While architecture and
planning have traditionally been separate
from graphic design and branding, this
London-based studio brings the two
together in one company, to create a new synergy and
creative opportunities.
This inventive approach has helped SODA win work on
a range of fascinating projects. These include a small-
batch liqueur distillery, a new hotel concept for creative
enterprises, a contemporary take on a Soho member’s
club and the refurbishment of London’s listed landmarks.
We sat down with some of the studio team, to learn their
story and what makes them tick.When Katie Stamp, your head of design, arrived in 2015,
it was the start of a whole new direction for SODA.
Can you walk us through what happened?
Laura Sanjuan: I founded the practice in 2010, then a
couple of years after that, Russell Potter joined me as co-
director. In our first few years we just wanted to sit in our
cave and deliver architectural designs, nothing more. Then
we brought Katie in to rebrand us.
Katie Stamp: I was brought in to rethink the name, the
website, all the internal documents, the company ethos,
and how to move it forward.
LS: Katie wasn’t contracted as a freelancer, or as part of
an agency: she was hired as a full-time member of staff.
Russell and I were interested in the whole process of
rebranding, and we thought that getting an agency might
make us disconnected from that. So we wanted to be fully
involved. And it turned out to be a real eye opener.
Through this rebranding process, we identified a gap in
the market and decided we could approach architecture in
a different way. Architects are graphic-led, but they’re not
graphic designers. So we wanted to be a studio that could
provide both architecture and graphic design, and where
both could inform each other.Weren’t other studios already doing this?
LS: They weren’t, and as far as I’m aware, they still aren’t.
Yes, there are bigger architectural practices offering
branding services, but they don’t integrate the two from
the start of a project like we do. Commonly, the brandingPHOTOGRAPH © ELLEN HANCOCK