NYU Casa Italiana
NYU’s Casa Italiana and Takt team up to create a modernized brand and website that spark enlightening conversations through the magic of Italian culture.
A Digital Platform for Interdisciplinary Innovation
Since its founding in 1991, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) at the University of British Columbia has been at the forefront of intellectual risk-taking and groundbreaking interdisciplinary research. As a prestigious institute that fosters collaboration across diverse fields, PWIAS needed a digital platform that could match its ambitious vision and evolving needs.
In 2021, PWIAS embarked on a journey to reimagine its digital presence—a journey that would culminate in a website that reflected the institute’s expansive intellectual landscape and provided flexibility for its future growth.
The challenge was clear: create a digital headquarters that encapsulated the essence of PWIAS’s groundbreaking work while providing an intuitive user experience for both visitors and the institute’s internal team. A significant hurdle was the lack of an in-house developer, which made it crucial for the new content management system (CMS) to be both powerful and user-friendly.
To truly understand PWIAS’s needs, we conducted extensive stakeholder interviews, diving deep into the institute’s goals, content requirements, and operational processes. These conversations informed every aspect of our design approach, ensuring that the final product was not just a website, but an extension of the institute’s unique rhythm and collaborative spirit.
To give the PWIAS team the control and flexibility they needed, we adopted a modular—or atomic—design approach. This strategy enabled us to create a library of custom content modules that could be reused across the site. The result? A website that was not only visually cohesive but also infinitely flexible, allowing PWIAS to craft new pages and sections as their needs evolved.
We also introduced several custom post types within the CMS, enabling dynamic content integration. This system allowed the PWIAS team to effortlessly curate and showcase research themes, projects, and updates, keeping the website relevant and engaging for its diverse audience.
The new website offers a seamless user experience, anchored by a scalable CMS designed for ease of use. With an intuitive authoring dashboard, the PWIAS team can now manage and update the site’s content efficiently without the need for technical assistance. This user-centered approach ensured that the digital platform would grow alongside the institute’s ambitions, supporting its future endeavors.
In addition, the website was optimized for speed, accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA), and SEO, ensuring that it meets the highest standards of digital performance while remaining inclusive and accessible to all users.
PWIAS’s new digital presence is more than just a website—it’s a platform that embodies the institute’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge. By blending technological innovation with user-centered design, we’ve created a digital space that reflects PWIAS’s esteemed standing in the global academic community and provides a foundation for future research initiatives.
As PWIAS continues to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and push the limits of intellectual inquiry, their new digital platform will support and amplify their efforts. With a scalable, flexible foundation in place, the institute is well-positioned to continue shaping the future of research and innovation for years to come.