MASON
Redefining preservation
Mason is Hawaii's foremost firm combining architecture, historic consulting, and sustainability. With a broad range of expertise, Mason provides thoughtful and creative solutions for existing buildings, new construction, historic properties, and everything in between.
After 20 years in the business, Mason had built a solid reputation that centered on preservation work, but wanted to expand their growing capability to do new buildings. Mason enlisted W|W to develop a comprehensive brand platform and new messaging that builds awareness of Mason's design skills.
THE PROCESS
W|W led an extensive brand audit to refocus brand strategy and re-positioning by including the client's entire staff, from the initial workshop and through the entire process. The name Mason Architects was shortened to MASON, highlighting the firm's expertise in not just architecture but historic preservation as well.
W|W also developed a new mark for the firm, a stylized M built from a classic serif (a nod to the firm's deep heritage) with a sleek and modern sans-serif. This hybrid mark reflects the dual nature of Mason's work—respecting tradition, while guiding evolution.
"WE BELIEVE THAT PRESERVATION IS THE FUTURE OF BUILDINGS, NOT JUST THE PAST. We envision modern spaces that retain our island character and charm, and adapt the old for generations to come. We stand for unlocking potential, not trapping things in time and for understanding a building’s original use to better design its re-use. We believe in shaping change that lasts. At MASON, we are redefining preservation, one storied place at a time."
REUSABLE CONTENT SLICES
W|W also designed and developed Mason's next-generation website. A primary goal was to ensure Mason's content authors had the power to create highly customizable and fully modular pages. By developing a custom-tailored "block" based solution for their CMS, Mason's content creators gain the capability to craft pages that are unique, maintain brand standards, and remain feature-rich.
The new website utilizes a modern JAMstack architecture to provide a quick and secure site while keeping the door open to new integrations in the future. W|W used Gatsby and React to build a static site that sources content from Prismic, a headless content management system. Netlify, a specialized static site hosting platform, automatically rebuilds pages on each content change and distributes the site to servers worldwide.
View Mason's new website at: https://masonarch.com/
