Architectural Photography for Workplace Experience, Brand Identity, and Awards Visibility
Vocon × Benesch — Key Tower Cleveland Project Overview
Project: Benesch Law
Architect: Vocon
Location: 127 Public Square, Suite 4900 Cleveland, OH 44114
Project Type: Workplace + Interior Architecture
Purpose: Award submissions, marketing, editorial features, and long-term brand visibility
Award: 2025 IIDA iDesign Winner in the Work Category
Publication: Properties Magazine “Rising to Greater Heights”
This project was created for architects, workplace strategists, and marketing leaders who see contemporary office design not as decoration but as a strategic asset for culture, recruitment, and brand positioning. The photographic work for Vocon and Benesch goes beyond documenting interiors; it visually communicates spatial intent, material richness, and user experience in a way that supports press, awards submissions, partner visibility, and long-term brand narrative.
Vocon’s transformation of Benesch’s Cleveland headquarters—including eight connected floors in Key Tower—was recognized with a 2025 IIDA iDesign Award in the WORK category, affirming its excellence in workplace design and people-centric planning.
A People-First Workplace Captured With Intent
Vocon’s design for Benesch’s headquarters rethinks the post-pandemic workplace as a layered environment that supports flexibility, wellness, collaboration, and culture. Spread across eight connected floors, the space marries hospitable entries, collaboration nodes, café lounges, and visual connections that resonate with how people work today.
The design reflects a work-where-you-work-best culture, with intentional daylighting, flexible touchdown cafés on every level, a connecting staircase to encourage movement, and hospitality cues like a billboard-sized media wall and a full-service barista station. These experiential qualities demanded photography that not only shows surfaces but also conveys how people inhabit and move through space.
Photographic Strategy: Elevating Architecture Through Experience
The photographic approach was shaped by how architects and marketing teams actually use imagery:
Clear representation of architectural intent
Honest material rendering—carpet, millwork, furniture, and finishes
Balanced compositions that show both detail and spatial relationships
Imagery that wins awards, press, websites, and presentations
Human scale without distracting from the design itself
This approach isn’t about stylized staging—it’s about truthful representation that architects, designers, and marketing teams can deploy confidently across disciplines.
Balanced Light, Human Scale, and Spatial Narrative
Key Tower’s layered interior conditions presented opportunities and challenges: bright collaborative lounges, naturally lit lounges, deep plan zones, and textured material shifts. Photography had to respect the design’s intentional lighting hierarchy, capturing both ambient daylight and secondary artificial layers without flattening or exaggerating visual cues.
Rather than relying on artificial contrast, we controlled exposure and composition to preserve spatial depth, material texture, and the human scale that makes architectural photography behave as experience documentation rather than static set dressing.
Collaboration on Site
In advance of the shoot, the team confirmed a detailed shot list and coordinated a walkthrough. Having stakeholders, designers, and marketing representatives on site ensured alignment around priority views, story arcs, and internal usage needs. People were included in selected images not as props but as evidence of programmatic success—individuals interacting with the space, pausing at lounges, and moving between floors in ways that communicate design intent and support human experience.
This preparation and coordination created an on-site process where the photography team could operate as an extension of the wider design and branding group, navigating priorities with clarity and discretion.
Amplifying Design Recognition Through Photography
Winning the IIDA iDesign Award in the Work Category isn’t just a plaque on the wall—it’s a testament to the design’s ability to reflect culture, innovation, and workplace evolution. Photography plays a crucial role in that recognition. By visually articulating how Vocon and Benesch’s design operates at scales from detail to whole floor experience, the imagery became a strategic asset in awards presentations, press materials, and partner showcases.
Images that capture people-centered design, material intention, spatial layering, circulation, and amenity richness make work legible to juries and editors who may never see the space in person. That interpretive clarity amplifies design impact.
Conclusion: Photography as Design Communication
Architectural photography at its best is more than beautiful pictures. It is design communication—a tool that supports brand identity, narrative cohesion, press engagement, and award visibility. The Vocon × Benesch Cleveland headquarters project exemplifies how thoughtful imagery can reflect spatial experience, respect architectural authorship, and reinforce the strategic value of design.
For architects and marketing leaders seeking compelling photography that makes design ideas legible and impactful, explore David Joseph’s Interior and Exterior portfolios or contact the studio to discuss your next project.
In-House Representation: Julia Toke
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