Why being distinctive can be a good thing.

Last week, I saw a building that made me stop walking to my meeting. I liked the colours and there was something familiar about it. I took a picture and sent it to C and L, two Francophiles (and Francophones) in my life, because the bold primary colours of the outside piping reminded me of the Pompidou centre in Paris.

Hmmm, looks familiar

As I looked a bit closer around the rest of  the building the inside out pipes reminded me of another building that I couldn’t place at the time. Whilst thinking about this I was on the phone for a different meeting (but on mute) so I parked the thought somewhere in the “random stuff” category in my brain.

The next day- probably reminded by G’s working model of a skyscraper lift platform made out of Duplo-  I looked up the London buildings of Richard Rogers, the architect who designed the iconic Pompidou centre.  Jackpot. Turns out he had indeed designed the building I seen the previous day.

Sexy architectural love child

Coincidentally, he’d also designed the equally iconic Lloyd’s building in London which is where I recognised the yellow inside out piping style from.

Or as I said to L, the building that I’d stopped to photograph was:

“The sexy love child of Pompidou centre + Lloyd’s building”

What’s your signature style?

The building I saw (88 Wood Street) isn’t as architecturally famous as the Pompidou centre or The Lloyds building but I immediately recognised it Richard Rogers’ work. The boldness, the playfulness, the desire to make the functional beautiful.  As we go about our own working, creative and personal lives what are we each purposefully doing that people would immediately recognise as unmistakably us?

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