Ashfall balanced institutional authority with futurism for Tekuma

Cities don’t just happen. They’re imagined, negotiated and planned by people and companies who understand that the decisions made today will shape how millions live for generations. Tekuma, an MIT spin-out urban innovation practice, has spent years doing exactly that work – advising governments and sovereign wealth funds across 20 countries on building communities designed to last. When a leadership transition prompted the firm to reconsider how it presents itself to the world, Ashfall created an identity that carries institutional weight while pointing toward the future. The ambition was dual in nature. Tekuma operates in corridors of power where credibility matters, as sovereign wealth funds and government ministries expect a certain gravity from their advisors. Yet the firm’s work is forward-looking, centred on urban design as a humanistic practice rather than a technical exercise. The identity needed to hold both registers without collapsing into either sterile formality or empty futurist posturing. Ashfall’s solution builds on controlled contrast. Crisp outer forms and engineered, reflective surfaces establish authority, while restrained motion and subtle behaviour bring humanism. The system communicates seriousness and capability with momentum held just beneath the surface. The signature element anchoring the entire system is a tangible 3D form that reads as both metal and glass – engineered yet alive. Developing this visual shorthand for Tekuma’s work consumed considerable research into form, colour, material and shape. “We arrived at something that feels futuristic and elegant, alive and restrained,” explains Founder & Design Director Martin Ehrlich. “We were very close to infusing the material with the colour of the gradient, but decided to keep the identity as restrained in colour as possible and lead with black and white form only for the 3D.” It grounds the system in institutional gravitas rather than tech-startup lightness.