Robert A.M. Stern may be known as a pioneering postmodernist, but the term doesn’t begin to cover the stylistic versatility and wide-ranging output of his architectural practice. Among different audiences, Robert A.M. Stern Architects is known equally for everything from the design of houses and apartment buildings, to the design of office towers, academic buildings, and whole towns. Pentagram has designed a new website for RAMSA that captures the firm’s expansive portfolio.
Pentagram has a longstanding relationship with Stern, having designed a series of six monographs on the architect’s work, beginning with Robert A.M. Stern Buildings in 1996, followed by Houses (1997), Houses and Gardens (2005), Buildings and Towns (2007), Buildings and Projects 2004-2009 (2009) and On Campus (2010). The distinctive design of the books reflects Stern’s own architectural approach—the contemporary interpretation of classical forms in a confident, even monumental form. Pentagram has also designed two books of architectural writing by Stern, The Philip Johnson Tapes and Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism.
At the same time, Pentagram collaborated with Stern and his partners on a variety of architectural projects over the years, including the planned community of Celebration, Florida; Manhattan music space the Kaufman Center; Wave Hill, the public garden in the Bronx; and Fifteen Central Park West, the luxury residential development that has been called the most successful apartment building in the world.
The biggest challenge in designing the RAMSA site was representing the versatility of Stern’s practice. Using a layout that very consciously evokes the covers of the monographs Pentagram has designed for the firm—including the font, Requiem—the breadth of the firm’s work is signaled in a single view. Clicking on any one project type immediately takes visitors to that practice area while opening a full-frame view of an emblematic project. Visitors can view case studies of projects within each category, including slide shows of images. The site also includes a map of projects around the world and profiles of the firm's principals.
