Advanced educational opportunities for typeface design have spread swiftly over the last decade. In January, Troy Leinster’s overview of these new options covered his experience at Type@Cooper and KABK, and concluded with a list of eight other schools that offer specialized type design programs.
Despite this welcome growth, ever since The Cooper Union launched its (now perennially successful) series in New York it has become painfully apparent to me and fellow enthusiasts who live nearby that a true post-graduate program in type design is still missing on North America’s West Coast. There is no shortage of professional talent on this side of the continent — from Vancouver’s “Typographic Archipelago” where Tiro, Bantjes, Bringhurst, and Type Camp HQ reside, south to Los Angeles and its myriad art schools and independent foundries. And outside New York, the region with the highest density of type designers is arguably the San Francisco Bay Area — home to Adobe, Monotype, Emigre, MVB, PSY/OPS (whose newly founded Alphabetic Order now hosts classes), and many other type designers and lettering artists who are a product of this fertile zone where book arts and technology collide.
Even amid this rich ecosystem of type talent, San Francisco still has nothing like Type@Cooper, or SVA’s recently announced 4-week course with its impressive cadre of faculty and lecturers.
That’s why I’m so pleased that one of the most lauded of the Bay Area letter legends is doing his bit to bring more type design education to San Francisco. Sumner Stone will teach a 4-day workshop called Structure & Emotion in Letterform from May 28 through May 31.
Most of you know Sumner’s resume. He was Adobe’s first Director of Typography and went on to design many award-winning typefaces, including ITC Stone, ITC Bodoni, and one my favorite families, Cycles/Arepo. Over the last three years Sumner has been teaching at Type@Cooper, and obviously enjoys it enough to do more back in the Bay.
For this workshop, Sumner is partnering with the Letterform Archive where the first two days of class will be held, giving students access to prime material from the 16th through the 21st centuries while they learn letter design and drawing. This is followed by two days with experienced printers in the letterpress studio at the City College of San Francisco, where students will print their letter designs from polymer plates.
At the Letterform Archive, workshoppers get to play with (from top): Van de Velde, a renaissance manuscript, Bodoni, Johnston, and Leach, among others.
I dig this format. So much so that I put my stamp on the event as an official media partner. I’m not sure what that really means, but I do know I am honored to be associated with this workshop. I only wish I could be in the States this month to attend. Do what I cannot: go apply now before the 16 slots fill up. It’s not a full year of graduate study — but it’s a great taste of what could be.
This school building in Bath, England, by local architects Mitchell Taylor Workshop features stone walls recalling the city’s historic architecture, alongside contrasting dark grey brickwork and window surrounds (+ slideshow).
The design by Mitchell Taylor Workshop was the winning entry in a competition for a humanities building at Kingswood School, to be built on the school’s picturesque Lansdown Road grounds.
Located within a designated conservation area and World Heritage Site, the materials used for the facility’s exterior had to meet strict planning regulations.
The use of stone references Bath’s historic buildings and the architects chose to add contrast by introducing a grey brick that resembles slate, a materials that is also part of the area’s architectural heritage.
“The choice of materials evolved from the desire to create a playful front and back tectonic narrative,” the architects explained. “After the planners had requested that stone be used, we then identified another heavily used material in Bath, slate, and argued that a long dark brick had the quality of a slate block, which they accepted.”
One of the two-storey building’s facades is angled towards an open grassy area and features gables clad in pale stone, contrasting with the tall grey windows that echo the front of the adjacent Ferens Building, built in 1924.
“The new design evolved to be a contemporary interpretation of both the Ferens Building and the local context of the world heritage site,” said the architects. “The form and proportion of the roof structure and openings is a response to the rhythm of the Ferens building’s facade, with the tall windows and perforated panels.”
Grey brick was used to clad the rear portion of the classroom facility, including a large gable end that combines with an angled wall to frame a tall glazed entrance.
An overhanging canopy on the opposite side of the building covers the main entrance, which leads to a central circulation area used as a conference, exhibition and social space.
Eight classrooms and three staff rooms are housed over two storeys in a pair of blocks arranged on either side of the circulation and display area.
The grey window frames that project from the southern facade provide solar shading and incorporate perforated panels covering windows that can be opened to provide ventilation in any weather.
Pupils in the upper-floor classrooms can look out across the lawn towards the surrounding countryside.
Mitchell Taylor Workshop were invited by Kingswood School to submit a proposal for a limited competition for the design a new humanities building in May 2012. The site is located on the school’s Lansdown Road grounds in Bath within both the Conservation Area and with a World Heritage designation. The winning scheme was to house eight new classrooms and three departmental resource areas and a flexible circulation space that could be used for exhibiting work and for external academic and conference functions.
The form and orientation of the building was generated from site constraints in maximising the natural daylight and ventilation into the classroom spaces whilst controlling solar gain. The building is aligned along Fonthill Road to the north-east and is effectively divided into two blocks with the southern elevation orientated to the immediate open space and the extraordinary views beyond. The internal spaces unfold from a large overhang which provides a covered canopy and connects to an internal triangular plan shaped circulation area which allows for the pupils to display and exhibit their work and as breakout and social space.
Adjacent to the new classroom site is the existing Ferens Building, built in 1924. The new design evolved to be a contemporary interpretation of both the Ferens Building and the language of the heritage buildings of Bath with defined fronts and backs. The form and proportion of the roof structure and openings is a response to the rhythm of Ferens building facade with the tall windows and perforate panels.
The choice of materials evolved from the desire to create a playful front and back tectonic narrative. After the planners had requested that stone be used, we then identified another heavily used material in Bath, slate, and argued that a long dark brick had the quality of a slate block which they accepted. The proposal evolved to incorporate the stone on the south with the dark brick on the north façade creating a unique architectural composition.
Our experience of working with independent schools has brought about an expertise in a variety of building types from libraries, to boarding houses, theatres to classrooms, sports halls to energy centres. The Independent Schools have a strong identity and aspire to reflect this within the built environment. Budgets and time constraints are also well defined but this should not restrict the aspiration to produce interesting and relevant architectural buildings and places.
Mitchell Taylor workshop developed their proposal working very closely with the staff and pupils of the school. The school wanted to occupy their new building at the start of the 2013/14 academic year which meant a design and construction period of little over 12 months. The budget resulted in a construction value of £1,700/sq.m which meant that both the design and construction needed to well considered, co-ordinated and efficient as well as making a positive contribution to the built and academic aspirations of the school.
Gross Internal Floor Area – 632m² Form of Contract or Procurement Route– JCD ICD 2011 Cconstruction Cost Per m2 – £1640/m2 Architect – Mitchell Taylor Workshop Client – Kingswood School
Structural Engineer – Mann Williams M&E Consultant – King Shaw Associates Ltd QS – Bishopston Stephens Project Manager – Bishopston Stephens CDM Coordinator – Anderson FM Consulting Ltd Approved Building Inspector – Bath & North East Somerset Council Main Contractor – Beard
Getting your foot in the door in the creative industry is not an easy feat. With economic fluctuations in recent years and people retiring later and later, paid opportunities for recent graduates are harder to come by….
Yep, it’s Friday, get ready to waste some time and feel fine doing it. Skip your next Facebook break and try out the addictive game Super Planet Crash—build planetary systems, watch as they destroy themselves, collect points and think about gravitational relationships for fun! Super Planet Crash was made by Stefano Meschiari, whose real job involves real planets. As a postdoc astronomer at UT Austin and a big contributor to Seismic 2—software to aid “exploring and analyzing exoplanetary data”—Meschiari knows what’s up with interplanetary intrigue.
The goal: Build the most complex star system that can last for 500 years. Simple, right? It is simple to play, but dang if it isn’t hard to gather planets in a stable way. Choose up to 12 planets, ranging in size from Earth-sized to Dwarf Star. Choose their proximity to the central star and their rotating speed, and try to anticipate their orbits. If you’ve done good, your collection will stay within the 2.00 AU range, won’t crash into one another and will be complex enough to rack up points until you pass the five century mark. Extra points for incorporating denser fellows in the pack and sacrificing orbital simplicity. The current high-scorer clocked over 320,000,000 points, which after a few runs might seem impossible, but remember that you’re competing against actual astrophysicists. As Meschiari told Motherboard, “People are berating me because it’s making them waste valuable time when they should be writing proposals for the Hubble telescope.” So don’t feel bad if you’re not quite able to predict your planets complex relationships over time. But do try it—nothing says mindless fun like playing God.
Children can clamber onto the curved roof of this community library in China, which architects John Lin and Olivier Ottevaere designed for an earthquake-damaged village in Yunnan Province (+ slideshow)
Ottevaere and Lin led a team from the University of Hong Kong to design The Pinch, a library and community centre built as part of a government reconstruction following the 2012 Yunnan earthquakes.
Situated in the mountain village of Shuanghe in south-west China, the library and surrounding plaza offers a meeting place for local residents, as well as a space where children can play and read.
“Villages in China often prioritise building houses over community spaces and community programs, even though it is an important aspect of village life,” Lin told Dezeen.
“Although the government provided an open plaza for the reconstruction, we wanted to help introduce a program which would activate the site. By adding the library, we have created an important public and communal facility in the village,” he explained.
The library features a twisted shape that bends out to meet an elevated stretch of pavement, allowing visitors to walk over the roof and look out towards a new basketball court.
Inside, rows of books sit on shelves made from interlocking timber frames, which are suspended from the ceiling and hover just above the floor.
Simple school benches offer flexible seating, while polycarbonate plastic doors and windows front the building.
The project was part-funded by the University of Hong Kong. Forming part of a knowledge exchange project, the design team worked with a local timber company to learn about native wood and regional construction techniques.
Here’s a project description from the design team:
The Pinch: library and community centre
The Pinch is a library and community centre in Shuanghe Village, Yunnan Province, China. The project is part of a government-led reconstruction effort after an earthquake in Sept 2012. The majority of village houses were destroyed, leaving the residents living in tents for up to one year. After the earthquake the government has sponsored new concrete and brick houses and a large central plaza. During the first site visit, the houses remained incomplete and the plaza was a large empty site.
The University of Hong Kong decided to sponsor the design and implementation of a new library building. Located in the new but empty public plaza, it would serve to activate the community and provide a physical memorial for the event. The site of the library is against a 4 meter high retaining wall. The design spans across this level difference and acts as a bridge between the rebuilt village and the new memorial plaza. Emphasising its location in a remote mountain valley, the design responds visually to the space of the valley, offering stunning views across a dramatic double curved roof. The structure itself rises to a peak, a monument to the earthquake and rebuilding effort.
As a Knowledge Exchange Project, the construction involves collaboration with a local timber manufacturing factory. The process resulted in the development of a surprisingly diverse form through simple means. A series of trusses is anchored between the upper road level and lower plaza level.
The form of each truss changes to create both a gradual incline (to bring people down) and then a sharp upward pitch (to elevate the roof). The trusses were covered in an aluminium waterproofing layer and timber decking. On the interior, the trusses extend downward to support a floating bookshelf. Simple traditional school benches are used as chairs. The polycarbonate doors can open to create a completely open space extending out to the plaza.
Rather than submitting to the abandonment of wood construction (as with the houses after the earthquake), the project reasserts the ability to build contemporary timber structures in remote areas of China.
Construction diagram
Location: Shuanghe Village, Yunnan Province, China Design: Olivier Ottevaere and John Lin / The University of Hong Kong Construction: Kunming Dianmuju Shangmao Company Funding: Supported by the Knowledge Exchange Impact Award, HKU Project Team: Crystal Kwan (Project Manager), Ashley Hinchcliffe, Connie Cheng, Johnny Cullinan, Jacky Huang Size: 80 sqm Cost: 130,000 rmb Unit Cost: 1600 rmb/sqm
This wooden extension to a school library near Melbourne, by local firm Branch Studio Architects, creates a reading lounge and balcony nestled among the branches of surrounding trees (+ slideshow).
Branch Studio Architects renovated the existing library at St Monica’s College and added a new reading room and decked terrace, which extends over a previously unused courtyard.
Pupils enter the library through a doorway clad in dark wood, which opens into an existing corridor and leads to a lounge area featuring angular sofas and benches that wrap around supporting columns.
Beside the entrance, a multi-purpose reception desk also incorporates borrowing facilities, an audiovisual hot desk and digital access to the library catalogue.
Sliding doors can be pulled back to open this space to an outdoor courtyard featuring planted beds and a tree surrounded by wooden structures that create seating areas.
On the back wall of the courtyard is a mural painted by architect Brad Wray that references the colours and shapes found in the landscape of a nearby national park.
The natural orange tones of the mural and the contrasting green grass in the courtyard informed the colours used to upholster some of the plywood furnishings.
“A carefully chosen colour and material palette was selected to reflect and complement the courtyard artwork, engaging with the Australian outback, an important icon of the St Monica’s College philosophy,” explained Wray.
Pupils can ascend from the lounge to the library’s main reference area using a wide set of stairs designed to evoke the monumental Spanish Steps in Rome.
“The book stacks are placed on the upper level of the library in reference to the books being the Trinita dei Monti Church at the top of the Spanish steps and the external courtyard as the Piazza di Spagna at the bottom of the steps,” said Wray.
This staircase incorporates spaces for pupils to sit and read, conduct meetings or use the built-in photocopying facilities.
It leads to an area containing the bookshelves and a series of work spaces that can be divided by drawing translucent curtains around them.
An existing wall was removed to create the entrance to the treetop reading lounge, which culminates in a balcony providing views towards the nearby countryside.
The exterior of the new addition is clad in black-stained plywood with natural timber battens creating a vertical contrast that references the nearby gum trees.
Plywood used throughout the interior provides continuity with the library’s facade and creates robust, hard-wearing surfaces that will be able to resist the scuffs and marks of daily life in a school.
Zig-zagging LED strip lights in the extension echo the shape of the bookshelves and the lights are also applied to highlight existing trusses in the main downstairs reading area.
The traditional school library is becoming more digitalised and the all mighty physical book becoming more and more scarce. The St Monica’s College Library fit-out new extension consists of two parts: a renovation to the existing school library and a new reading lounge & deck extension. The project celebrates and elaborates on the traditions of the school & civic library through a series of key ideas, or ‘chapters’, that were translated into architectural interventions. These architectural interventions were collectively composed and narrated as a single ‘story’.
1. Entry Threshold – Inspired by the entry to the ‘Secret Garden’, the Entry Threshold is conceived as a singular volume and is the main entry to the library. The threshold protrudes slightly into the existing school corridor like a portal into another world.
2. Garden Foyer – Two large glass sliding doors open up the library to the courtyard where an existing internal corridor is used to segregate the courtyard from the library completely. The internal library spaces are now engaged with the external courtyard, creating an indoor/outdoor reading area.
3. The ‘Multi-desk’ – A singular multi-purpose, multi-use, “Swiss army” reception desk, catering for borrowing, audio-visual hot-desk, library catalogue and a seat.
4. The Spanish Steps – An existing 1400mm change in levels between the lower & upper floors of the library was previously connected by two awkward, narrow stairs. This has been redefined as a series of platforms that promote impromptu spaces for discussion, meeting, photocopying, reading, viewing and traversing between the two levels of the library.
5. Tree-top reading lounge – A new reading lounge punches through an existing brick wall on level one and extends out over a previously unused courtyard. The reading lounge is specifically orientated & configured to offer views towards the nearby Darebin creek green belt and wetlands. Flexible & translucent staff areas encourage teacher and student engagement. Through the use of a curtain divider, a more transparent & sometimes blurred visual & spatial barrier is created. Similarly, curtains are used as informal screening devises to create flexible teaching & study areas. When a private class is required curtains may be pulled shut. At other times the curtains can be pulled open for the area to be used as a large open study area during lunchtime and after school.
A ‘grand’ reading-room area for larger class and study groups, sits in contrast with a series of ‘nook’ areas where students can hide-away, immerse themselves in the library and read alone. The library contains a series of Forum spaces for smaller, more intimate student reading, study groups and area for one-on-one teaching. The library supports both traditional reading and digitalised plug-in learning.
Painted dark grey and lined with strip LED lights, a series of existing zig-zag trusses are celebrated, creating a improved sense of space which previously was cluttered & segregated from the upper level of the library.
The book stacks are placed on the upper level of the library in reference to the books being the ‘Trinita dei Monti Church’ at the top of the Spanish steps and the external courtyard as the ‘Piazza di Spagna’ at the bottom of the steps.
A carefully chosen colour and material palette was selected to reflect and complement the courtyard artwork, engaging with the Australian outback, an important icon of the St Monica’s college philosophy.
Moments of the colour orange are used throughout in fabrics, paint finishes and bench tops to link back to the external courtyard artwork. The courtyard artwork or mural was designed and painted by myself [Brad Wray] with the help of my wife – Ellie Farrell. It is an abstraction of the Bungle Bungle national park viewed from an aerial perspective. It is the second time now I have been fortunate enough to simultaneously take on the roles of both architect and artist on a project. The painting was completed out-of-hours, after work and on weekends over a 3-month period.
Plywood was used generously throughout for its durability and practicality. The schoolyard is a place where wear and tear is common and plywood is a material whereby scratches and scuffs could add to the patina of the material. Often the embedded grain within the plywood ceiling, wall and joinery panels bare reflection with some of the forms and textures outside on the nearby grey gums. Vertical natural timber battens, in collaboration with black stained plywood cladding, promote a visual connection with internal and external spaces. The shadow-clad external plywood cladding references the black and grey tones of the nearby grey-gums. Vertical, Victorian ash timber battens reference the vertical nature of the tall grey gums nearby.
The extension is almost completely hidden from outside of school grounds. Situated amongst the tree canopies with only a small glimpse to be seen from a nearby walking track, the new building fabric merges with its surroundings. Internal loose furniture was custom designed for the project and made by a local furniture maker. A series of pendant lights highlight and promote both specific and non-specific areas of engagement within the library.
The project was constructed in two parts. One used a traditional means of contract with a building contractor undertaking the extension part of the works. Whilst the internal works or fit-out, which includes everything from all joinery to the Spanish steps were impressively undertaken by St Monica’s College’s own internal ‘maintenance’ team. It has been rewarding to learn from library staff, the amount of borrowing has significantly increased due the opening of the new library.
“Shape” is a fun animated exploration of what design can mean and how it shapes our experiences. It’s the heart of a project by PIVOT Dublin that has grown over the last few years to include an informative website, educational program and outreach campaign. All of the elements aim to educate the youths (and the public at large) about creative work and history around design. Gently soundtracked and wordless—the better to communicate universally—it invites you to think about what you’d change to make your world work better. And, of course, it’s beautifully executed.
Happy Friday, you’re almost there. Let this adorable short ring in the weekend.
News: Portuguese brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus have won a competition to design a new school of architecture in the Belgian city of Tournai, with plans for a complex featuring a house-shaped entrance void.
Located within the city’s historic quarter, the project will involve renovating an eighteenth-century hospital to accommodate administrative services as well as converting two industrial buildings to create space for classrooms and a library.
The architects also plan to demolish some existing buildings, making room for a tree-lined courtyard and a new structure that will serve as the spine of the complex.
Weaving between the renovated blocks, the new building will link different departments and provide a distinctive entrance. According to the architects, it will make contact with the existing brick volumes in as few places as possible.
“The design evokes the existing iconography in the architectural heritage of Tournai,” said the architects.
“Its geometry causes various urban plazas and produces a large interior space which will house all academic activities, as well as establishing a close collaboration with the community,” they added.
Asymmetric windows complete the angular timber-clad volumes of this nursery in Heilbronn, Germany, by local studio Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten (photographs by Zooey Braun + slideshow).
Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten designed the wooden Kleinkindhaus as a complex of playrooms and learning spaces for Heilbronn’s Waldorf School.
To complement the building’s green surroundings, the architects sourced Swiss pine to create an exposed wood-panelled facade and a bare wooden interior.
“The timber construction is a natural and elemental method of building,” architect Kristina Heuer told Dezeen. “The building is inspired by nature. It literally grows out of the site and unfolds like an organism.”
Situated between the existing school building and the kindergarten, the timber-clad nursery is inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s architectural theories promoting accessible spaces that open out to nature and are filled with natural light.
“The polygonal shape is a reaction to the surrounding landscape. It provides pleasant, sustainable and healthy space and therefore satisfies the social, physical, and spiritual needs of its occupants,” explained Heuer.
Angular windows puncture the exterior walls, while gill-like slits allow natural ventilation.
The elongated section of the building acts as a backbone for three protruding group activity rooms, connected by a long corridor. These rooms open out into an external play area and include areas for the children to rest.
“For us, it was very important to create a light and open environment for the children and nursery nurses,” said the architect.
The main entrance leads to a multi-purpose room and reception area for guests, while suspended orbs illuminate the way to the kitchen, office and storage rooms.
Other spaces include a computer room and a wardrobe where children can store their coats.
The free Waldorf school Heilbronn is situated in a green oasis, between two poles: the large-scale development of schools and the university in the north and east, and the heterogenous housing development in the west and south. The new Kleinkind-house was built between the main building and the kindergarten in a confined area.
An elongated ridge, opened by a multi-purpose room, houses the administration and the secondary rooms. It points the way to the arriving people, guides and accompanies their way and protects the attached three buildings of the group rooms like a strong backbone.
Those three group rooms stick like fingers into the green space, joggle with it and form individual south- facing open spaces. An in-between zone is formed between the group rooms and the backbone, which self- evidently construes the situation of entrance. Insides, it sets the space for public and semi-public movement and communication.
The whole building is polygonal reshaped in ground plan and elevation. The resulting flowing spaces follow the anthroposophical architectural idea of Rudolf Steiner. It creates diverse and high-quality spacial situations with different connections of views and outdoor spaces. There are places, which invite to stay, to play, to move, to learn or to rest. An open, light and friendly atmosphere couples with good clarity and easy orientation.
Using the wood planking façade and wood panelling interior walls, the wooden frame construction is made visualised and experienceable. The choice of material follows the logic of organic construction. On one side the building is integrated into the surroundings and on the other side it is conform to the users need for natural and harmonic building materials.
Admit it. Your seven-year-old nephew could out-HTML tag you any day and you think that a Cascading Style Sheet is something with a thread count. That’s where the Mediabistro mothership comes in. They’ve asked us to tell you about the online course in HTML and CSS that kicks off next week. Over four fun-filled sessions, web designer (and illustrator) Laura Galbraith will guide you through a variety of web page production techniques, from column-based layouts and search engine optimization to semantic markup and advanced CSS styles. And you’re bound to ace the typography sections. The online learning fun begins April 1 (make of that what you will). Preview the course syllabus and register here.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Admit it. Your seven-year-old nephew could out-HTML tag you any day and you think that a Cascading Style Sheet is something with a thread count. That’s where the Mediabistro mothership comes in. They’ve asked us to tell you about the 