Tadao Ando (Japan) - minimalist designer. He creates structures that remind people they are living with nature.

Ando's structures include Osaka's Raika Headquarters; the Tokyo's Kidosaki House ; the Suntroy Museum.




The Lord of The Ring

> any ideas? or essential reading?

Something on history of architecture?
For the 20th century, check out Kenneth Frampton's book.


> has this has been done before, in a previous article,

Probably yes (I'm just guessing)... you should check local architecture schools and their libraries. Look for academic researches on this subject, or similar subjects (history of architecture, history of arts).


> is there any point in doing a little piece along these lines?

It's an interesting theme. I suppose every detail is important in archaeology.

And The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and I believe the Armani headquarters in Milano.

However, it was Pentagram that chose DTLs Nobel for the signage and such for the building in Fort Worth.

I can't comment on the interaction of text with Ando's work in other contexts.

I would, however, suggest a visit to any of his buildings.

thanks for the tadao ando info, H B M and James.

what about typefaces initially developed for use on buildings (eg. signage? gill sans started life when Gill made a sign for Douglas Cleverdon's bookshop; Frutiger (a�roport de Roissy); Johnston sans (london underground) etc.

still more categories of lettering:
�applied (signs, billboards, plaques, neon etc)
�carved or engraved
�painted/drawn
�ephemeral (chalk, writing on misted up windows)

The Hoefler Type Foundry (now Hoefler and Frere-Jones Typography) has created custom typefaces based on historical sources for use in New York's Lever House, and Radio City Music Hall. Plus, Gotham was inspired by New York City building signage in general, specifically a sign in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. They gave an interesting lecture on these projects at Typo Berlin in May. You could probably contact them for more information. They know everything.

I would like to see the Neutraface letters that House is selling in a signage application. House might be able to tip you off to a location where the type is in use.

http://houseind.com/house.php?kit=NEUTRAFACE-FO&sub=special

I don't need to explain the architectural pedigry.

A lot of the Las Vegas signage has a pretty well documented history via a company called Ad Arts in California as well as the YESCO archives may have some insight to the designers of such signs.

There is a sign graveyard in Las Vegas I went to a few years ago and they are planning on building a complete sign museum to house these restored signs. A few Google searches will find you there . . .

Beyond that, almost ALL of the Googie signage designs in LA came from the architectual firm of Armet and Davis. A lot of the sign designs came from the orthographic drawings presented to clients by the firm.

Beyond that, check out any books from Alan Hess who is an architectual historian as well as getting in touch with the LA ModCom who focus on architectual preservation for more deep scoop and limitless information.

Beyond that, check out the Letterheads, Sign Muesum in Cincinnatti, and old copies of sign magazines on eBay.

You may be surprised to learn how much influence 'pre-fab' plastic injection molded lettering had as materials became cheaper and easier to mass produce and were marketed heavily to the sign making trade.

Hope this offers some direction . . .

Best,
Stuart :D

PS: I just re-read your initial post and would also suggest you take a perspective on how the lettering was integrated into the building vs. just slapped on the front. Armet and Davis used different shaped pylons to compliment the lettering.

You might consider artefacts left or trapped in a building.

Books, of course. In a kitchen or storehouse, packaging. Many larger buildings had stables, workshops, laundries and bakeries, and kitchens that contained chemicals used for making medicine and cleaning. So look for lettering printed on containers like flour sacks, canisters and bottles. An old wine cellar with a few bottles of 18th century Chateau Rothschild would be a nice find for an archaeologist. I wonder what the label would look like.

I have discovered old cardboard boxes (printed) used as insulation.

Also, various artefacts (some left by construction workers) in walls and under floors, such as newspapers, cigarette tins, cans, and bottles. Tins for commercial products (especially tobacco) are often reused for storage of small items in workshops. Usually in the basement/cellar.

Electrical, gas, heating, plumbing and sanitary equipment may have the maker's ID on it.

dan and james � thanks for reminding me about gotham and neutraface (respectively). yes, james, i would like to see those steel letters in use.

i am also reminded of thirstype's identity system for the Chicago Architecture Foundation which uses lettering designed by Mies.

http://www.thirstype.com/identity_caf.html

nick, interesting post!

yes, we do discover these 'artefacts'; i've seen many weird & wonderful lettered objects when doing building surveys. (i'm tempted to post some photos!) all of which are beautiful and inspirational in their own right, and may provide information about the building/occupants/attendant activities with which they are associated.

i'm particularly interested in the relationship between lettering and its immediate context � the building onto which it is fixed/painted/carved.

signs and lettering inspired by signs, are beautiful things in themselves, and i think more people are valuing and documenting the diversity and character of vernacular signs, and the vanishing crafts behind them. plus planners, architects and conservation professionals are realising that historic signs are an important part of the urban fabric.

but, in this case, i'm not interested in the *intrinsic* value of architectural lettering, but its relationship with the architecture, or in the information it can confer on the associated building.

so stuart,you're bang on when you suggest i 'take a perspective on how the lettering was integrated into the building vs. just slapped on the front'.

here is a great example.

At the base of the Anglo Saxon tower of St Mary le Wigford Church in Lincoln is a reused Roman tombstone.



The orignal, Roman, incription is in the lower part of the tablet. It has been broken down, presumably to fit its new location. I don't have a transcription to hand, but the inscription marked the graves of Sacer, a Roman from Gaul, his wife Cassouna and their son Quintus.

It was reused in this C11 building, with an added inscription to Ertig, who donated money for the building of the church. The translation reads 'Eirtig had me built and endowed to the glory of Christ and St Mary'.

Significantly, rather than obliterate the Roman inscription, or use the back of the tombstone, the Anglo-Saxon one has been carved in the apex of the tombstone.

more images can be seen here:
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid1cdroms/england/lincoln/churches/s_mary_le_wigford/

maybe you should try talking to some of the guys at Letterhead Fonts. It seems a lot of those guys are sign painters who've had experience in the kind of work like shop windows, etc. maybe they could give some insight into that aspect.

You might look up Nicolette Gray's book, Lettering on Buildings. Reinhold, 1960.
George

Bury St. Edmund's Cathedral (graveyard) - you really need to see the it. The stonecutter - A MASTER!!!

What about Mr. Michael Harvey? - began his career as a carver





The Lord of The Ring

just the kind of title i was looking for, george. thanks.

i'll have to check out bury st edmunds. any images, H B M?

i've ordered the gray (1960). now i'm starting to get somewhere�these titles are also relevant:

�Alan Bartram (1975) Lettering in Architecture

�Jock Kinneir (1980) Words and Buildings

�Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon (2003) Signs: Lettering in the Environment

baines' site on public lettering in london is also very good (prepared for a lecture/s, i think, but elements were reused in his book). this has been linked elsewhere on this site, but is relevant here.

http://www.publiclettering.org.uk/

http://www.publiclettering.org.uk/Exploitingcontext.php

>Bury St. Edmund's Cathedral (graveyard) - you really need to see the it. The stonecutter - A MASTER!!!

do you mean this one?
http://www.samsays.com/Picasa%20Web%20Exports/UK/Bury%20St%20Edmunds%202000/target20.html

Sample.

Be back from Croatia.
Here is a pic from Rijeka.
AS