
17MET STUDIO DESIGN LIMITED |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019
The abbey approached us after
trawling the country for experienced
designers. Our first task was to
demonstrate our design expertise
and empathy with the subject.
Subsequently, they requested that we
create a visitor experience sympathetic
to their values and goals, all the
while exploring a 1,500-year journey
of Benedictine monks spread across
Europe and beyond.
After securing the contract, we
collaborated with both our researchers
and content developer working
with Buckfast Abbey to develop
something entirely unique for their
visitor experience. We also engaged
the services of individual specialist
companies to handle construction,
model-making, audio-visual
productions and interactive software.
We finalised the project after a year of
weekly cross-sector collaboration, and
feedback has been overwhelmingly
positive.
Hong Kong Wetland Park
In Hong Kong, we worked together
with government representatives to
build a wetland park. They provided us
with three particular goals they had in
mind:
»Mitigating the loss of land and
species through urbanisation
»Creating another venue for tourism
»Educating young people across the
city with regard to the preservation
and migration of wildfowl
Throughout every stage of the process,
we worked closely with partners from
the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust to cover
feasibility and present to government
ministers on the Hong Kong tourism
board. After establishing a plan, we
worked closely on concept, narrative,
production and specification with
a variety of other entities involved,
including government architects, to
finalise the £50 million project.
Collaboration is an absolute
priority
In both of these examples, one trait that’s
of absolutely paramount importance for
us resonates: collaboration. By partnering
with clients and demonstrating our
willingness to work with a variety of
other bodies, we have consistently
delivered large-scale projects with
outstanding results. It really is as simple as
that – a willingness to listen and engage
with others with a view to creating
one coherent, excellent and culturally
appropriate project has underpinned
our journey from success to success.
This ethos does not solely cover the
work we do day to day, however; it has
governed our growth and international
expansion over the past three decades.
We’re currently in partnership with
architecture firms in Hong Kong and
Mexico, having operated independently
in the former since 1996. We are
additionally celebrating the opening of
our new Singapore office and plan on
expanding into Dubai soon.
This will allow us to take advantage of
the booming market for experiential
design services in the Middle East.
Heritage and tourism are very much
hot topics in that part of the world –
and we believe that winning business
abroad by sitting in a London office is
impossible. Being out in the field doing
research and forging partnerships from
an early stage is key for the kind of
international work we undertake.
Hong Kong Wetland
Park
We have
delivered
museums,
exhibitions and
attractions
across 50
countries for
over 30 years
“
“