A brand design strategy for architects’ creative thinking: Florestano di fausto-a case study

There is currently a major debate in architectural thinking between two groups. One group completely rejects the past architecture of their culture while the other builds a new architecture based on the past. This paper explores the potential of brand design strategy as a mechanism for creating a sense of attachment in end-users’ minds to an existing local brand of architecture. In particular, it examines whether the approach of Florestano Di Fausto (1890– 1965), as expressed in his major Libyan designs of the 1930s, successfully achieved the goals of brand design strategy. The findings of this study contribute to the field of meaning in architecture by introducing brand design as mechanism for architects’ creative thinking in the design process of a new building/product. The outcomes of this intellectual argument suggest that this architectural paradigm is a worthwhile model for learning and practicing architectural design (This paper includes quotations from the author’s original doctoral thesis entitled: Assessing perceptions of Di Fausto’s neo-traditional architecture based on personal construct theory. A digital copy has been conserved at the UNSW Library since April 2016.).