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The new brand architecture for Mercedes-Benz car retail, i.e. its network of dealers, was determined through a two-stage competition, which was won by GRAFT against renowned international competitors. The concept of a new, seamless customer experience with modular touchpoints – developed in close cooperation with Mercedes-Benz and TRIAD, a creative agency from Berlin – responds to changing customer expectations both on- and offline. A concept-immanent component of the new retail brand architecture is infinite scalability for its worldwide application. The Budapest car dealership exemplifies the key components of the design strategy – optimal zoning of the physical retail space with its touchpoints for an attractive customer journey.
The car dealership in Budapest corresponds to the extended typology in the planning catalogue. It is the optimal solution for building contexts with medium to low urban density. The extensive, silver roof area defines the appearance of the facility even when viewed from a distance. It contrasts with the monolithic and dark character of the showroom structure, whose ascending topography encompasses the showroom area. The transparency of the glass facade creates a flowing transition between interior and exterior space. A light sculpture in the ceiling as well as ground zones formed by a change of materials guide the customer intuitively to the entrance which is inset minimalistically in the glass facade.
For the new brand architecture of Mercedes-Benz car retail, GRAFT has been working on concept development and engineering, creating design guidelines and planning tools that can be implemented at sales and service locations around the world. The planning catalogue ranges from facade specifications and roof design to the interior design of customer contact areas, including media integration and furniture design. The heart of the concept is the duality of a basically black topography or landscape and a silver-white roof or ceiling figure. The stage for vehicles and consulting is thus defined by a top and bottom, but is conceived as spreading out horizontally endlessly. All spatial boundaries are reduced to a minimum. Through high transparency of the minimized building envelope, inside and outside form a flowing transition. Within the customer service area of a car dealership, vehicle presentation is interwoven with focused yet flexible consulting areas. Similarly, modular media elements can be incorporated into the interior fittings that shape the showroom, strengthening the combination of the real and virtual brand presence and enabling the creation of a flexible and atmospheric setting for the products.
The new brand architecture for car retail makes it possible to address and respond to the changing requirements of different target groups and successively and adaptively incorporate them into diverse spatial environments. The resulting scenography creates numerous opportunities to interact with the Mercedes-Benz brand at different levels.
GRAFT is conceived as a studio for architecture, urban planning, design, music and the pursuit of happiness. Since its establishment 1998 in Los Angeles, it has been commissioned to design and manage a wide range of projects across multiple disciplines and in numerous locations. Further offices followed in Berlin in 2001 and Beijing in 2004. We believe in the power of architecture as a tool, best employed not for its own sake, but to represent ambiguous and diverse identities. Our design process is evidence-based and human-centered. Our approach stems from scenography and movement rather than tectonics. In this way, we are able to create dynamic, flexible architecture that allows multiple readings.
