Bertelsen & Scheving Architects

Bertelsen & Scheving Architects is a medium sized architectural firm specialising in cultural heritage as well as restoration and transformation of existing buildings. Frontpage handles social media, email marketing, website and PR for them. We’ve had focus on getting their Instagram to grow organically by regularly posting content and make the content easy to understand for everyone - not only other architects. Amongst other things we have succeeded in reaching about 100 visits to the Instagram profile each month, and we have redesigned the website where we optimised it in regard to SEO without compromising the quality of the texts.

The May 4 Residence Hall

Time: August - September 2016

Place: Denmark

Description of the project

Challenge

Bertelsen & Scheving Architects had spent two years restoring the old May 4 Residence Hall on Frederiksberg. At previous occasions they had experienced that it could be difficult to interest media in restoration projects. Therefore, Frontpage got tasked with getting coverage for this particular project in the relevant media.

Goal

When the reopening of the hall drew closer in the autumn of 2016, the goal was to spike interest about the project in regional and architectural media. Initially, Frontpage developed an exciting opening reception together with the client and the Residence Hall’s administration. The goal for the reception was to get local media to cover it, including the regional TV broadcaster TV2 Lorry.

Strategy

In regard to getting media interested in the restoration we chose to focus on the history of the residence hall. The May 4 Residence Hall in Frederiksberg has a special history as a symbol of peace and reconciliation after World War II, and it was a central part of the restoration to bring back architectural symbols from the post war period. Particularly the effervescent colours, are distinctive and sensational, are characteristic of the architect Hans Hansens functional style and dreams of optimism for the traumatised youth of the time. 

Execution

The media received an invitation for the reception as well as press material telling the history of the residence hall, its symbolism and the specific restoration, paired with a lot of beautiful pictures. It was especially architectural and lifestyle media that got invited, but local media from Frederiksberg and the surrounding area also received invitations.

We made sure to get professional pictures taken for the press material that really showed off the beautiful colours and architectural details.

On the day the reception took place we sent out a press release that highlighted the importance of restoring the college in accordance with its history. We highlighted interesting details like how the original colours had been hidden behind newer coats of paint that got scraped off during the restoration process. Therefore, it was possible to restore the exact original colours.

Result

TV 2 Lorry came to the opening reception and broadcasted a great feature from the opening day of the residence hall. Local newspapers wrote about the restoration and the opening, and several lifestyle and architectural media printed delightful pictures of the sparkling new hall.