In September 2019, a call for architectural projects was launched to create a new urban neighborhood and logistic center in the 18th arrondissement of Paris called Chapelle International.

Here is the project designed by Plan Comun and Nicolas Dorval-Bory, commissioned by Nacarat. The submission is divided in three parts: concept, project, and team. République Studio arranged them into three separate booklets. When placed on top of each other, the booklets become one.

Designed with one font in one weight, the inside pages are printed on Mohawk paper and the covers on grey Keycolour with one extra layer of white ink. The booklets are then presented in a custom-made screenprinted box.

Blue Crow Media:

Our limited edition monthly wall calendar is a celebration of some of the most awe-inspiring and influential examples of Brutalist architecture around the world. Featuring works by Le Corbusier, Breuer, Rudolph, and other heavyweight proponents of the style, captured by the leading photographers of Brutalism today.

The typeface chosen for the calendar is New Rail Alphabet (A2-TYPE, 2009). The original Rail Alphabet was designed by Margaret Calvert of Kinneir Calvert Associates in the 1960s. Drawn in two weights, it was intended for the use on signs; in stations by British Rail and in NHS hospitals. It also was used at BAA airports and by the Danish railway corporation, DSB (see the article in Eye). The digital revival and expansion was made by Henrik Kubel in close collaboration together with Calvert. New Rail Alphabet comes in six weights with italics. The cover of the Brutalist Calendar shows the heaviest style, Black.

Blue Crow Media used the same typeface already for the Brutalist Paris Map. Previous issues in their series of Brutalist and Concrete Maps featured other, related typefaces, namely Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica, respectively. New Rail Alphabet shares Helvetica’s horizontal terminals in a or e, while other details like the belly of a or the narrow J are more like in AG. In an interview with John L. Walters, Kubel describes it as “a very female version of a sans, it’s warmer than Helvetica, it oozes Margaret in every detail.” I don’t think labeling it as a “brutalist” typeface would do it any justice, but it’s nevertheless a great choice here. New Rail Alphabet excels in referencing the no-nonsense aesthetics of calendars from the mid 20th century, with their big bold numerals in black and white, with red for the weekends.

PART – Practice for Architecture, Research and Theory is an architectural practice for experimental, digital and technological innovation research and implementation. On the occasion of PART winning the Young Architect's Prize, Estonian design studio AKU designed a book and a website presenting their projects to date.

Instead of software rendering, photographed models are used to depict the work. They are placed on a 3D grid, giving a sense of space and scale. Texts and informations are set in UCity, a geometric grotesque from Fatype, while Galapagos C, an experimental grid typeface from Dinamo with Felix Salut, serves the headlines.

The website (part.archi) follows the design concept with the content adapting to the 3D space in a surprising fashion, illustrating the very experimental approach of the architectural practice.

The Form of Form is a triennial event designed to discover and construct dialogues around the visual dimension of architecture and its social and technical impact.
Its graphic identity is built around the typographical elements of the title, with prominence being given to the two square “o’s” that generate various spaces between themselves.
The visual translation of the title follows the strategy of redundancy, equivalent to the way in which the title itself constructs its meaning when spoken.

The forms are created through the relationships that are established by the ‘O’ letters and through the space and format of the support(s), transforming the rationality of the starting point into flexible forms that, in some cases, end up being defined according to their actual contents.
Based on New Rail Alphabet typeface, Henrik Kubel responded to the challenge presented to him by R2 and designed new glyphs for the letters ‘F’, ‘R’ and ‘M’, “Form” is written with different forms of “Form”. Some glyphs have been modified in order to subtly distinguish the repetition of the word through the form of the letters. In this way, the meaning of the identity can be expanded, varying according to the different contexts.

Project description by R2

Holzschopf und Betonklotz is a summary of texts and essays from the journalist Köbi Gantenbein. For more than 25 years, the author has written about architecture in Graubünden, the southeastern region of Switzerland. The book combines a selection of 25 texts with an epilogue from the architect Peter Zumthor.

ISBN: 978-3-906064-71-0

Monograph of Basel architects Buchner Bründler. Awarded in “Most Beautiful German Books 2013” and a Gold prize in “Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt 2014” (Best Book Design from all over the World). Plain is used on the cover. It’s not apparent in these interior images, but Deutsche Nationalbibliothek also credits Times Ten.