NN Rektorat is based on lettering created in 1933 by Ernst Keller for the signage of the complex that used to house the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich (Museum of Arts and Crafts, now the Museum für Gestaltung) and the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts). A custom version is used for new signage in the building.

This custom version of Rektorat is also used for the book shown here. It’s about the re-restoration and conversion of the modernist building for the Allgemeine Berufsschule Zürich (ABZ, General Vocational School Zurich). Edited by architects Silvio Schmed and Arthur Rüegg and designed by Jean Robert and Kati Durrer, it was published by Scheidegger & Spiess (translated):

“Shoe factory” and “fashion joke” are just two of the nicknames given to the new building for the City of Zurich’s trade school and arts and crafts museum, which was considered revolutionary at the time. Today, the spacious building, which was constructed by architects Adolf Steger and Karl Egender between 1930 and 1933, is considered one of the few icons of Neues Bauen in Zurich. With its flat roof and grid façades, the school wing epitomises a modern ‘laboratory for industry’, where great teachers of applied art such as Alfred Altherr, Johannes Itten, Hans Finsler, Willy Guhl and Josef Müller-Brockmann influenced generations of designers and photographers.

In 2016/17, architects Silvio Schmed and Arthur Rüegg adapted the former headquarters of Zurich's legendary art academy to the current needs of the Allgemeine Berufsschule Zürich ABZ with a sophisticated restoration and some innovative detailed solutions. This construction monograph provides an insight into the prototypical problems that had to be solved when adapting the building to current standards, presents the building in its historical dimensions from the perspective of monument preservation and paints a vivid picture of past and future life in this outstanding witness to modernism.

This brochure was designed by Anette Lenz for the Museé des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris. By using the various OpenType sets Anette Lenz shows how versatile the Rektorat typeface can be in one single design. A PDF version of the program is available from the museum’s website.

Cover of the English edition

In various different places, particularly in the USA, when writing the history of graphic design, Ernst Keller is referred to as the father of Swiss Style, later International Typographic Style. This is down to the large number of Keller students, who later shaped this Swiss Style and made it famous. Keller’s achievement is shown purely using his oeuvre, primarily his poster designs and his work on lettering and graphic design in architecture.

Edited by Peter Vetter, Katharina Leuenberger, Meike Eckstein. Published by Triest in English and German editions.

No Style. Ernst Keller (1891–1968) – Teacher and Pioneer of the Swiss Style
Kein Stil. Ernst Keller (1891–1968) – Lehrer und Pionier des Swiss Style
254 pages, 20 × 24,5 cm
527 images, softcover with flaps

Book spread. In 1933, Ernst Keller created lettering for the signage of the building that housed the Zurich Museum and School for Arts and Crafts (today Zurich University of the Arts, ZHdK). This formed the basis for the digital Rektorat typeface by Nouvelle Noire.

Book spread. During a renovation in 2001, the original letterings were discovered hidden behind some wallpaper (far left). With students, Rudolf Barmettler traced parts of the characters, refining and fully redrawing them in ink. This eventually led to Rektorat (right), a digital reinterpretation made by Barmettler together with Anton Studer, which is also used for the restored wayfinding system (left, 2017).

Cover of the German edition