02 Studio L2M3

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF –WHAT YOU DO AND WHERE YOU WORK?W

I founded L2M3 in 1999 with architect HG Merz and as of 2001, I head the studio as lead creative director. I enjoy working between graphic design and architecture, wayfinding systems, signage, print, branding and identity projects that take on dual forms creating a distinct visual syntax that translates the idiosyncratic identity of each project theme.

WHERE

DO YOU TAKE YOUR TYPOGRAPHIC/ DESIGN INSPIRATION FROM?

Like everyone else too, I nurture from life. Since I have a smartphone and since there is the platform Instagram I have rediscovered photography for myself. I, literally, snap anything that catches my attention and inspires me but I do not go on a typographic scavenger hunt.

WHAT IS YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE PIECE OF DESIGN?

At the moment, it is the poster by Herbert Bayer from 1929. Bayer created it for the German Werkbund exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1930. For me, this art piece marks the zenith of graphic design at the Bauhaus with its newly developed font types, its rather radical, immersive layout while being striking to the maximum at the same. While working on the corporate design of the Bauhaus Archive, I started to study Herbert Bayer’s work with great pleasure and intensity. I think he coined the typical “Typofotostil” of the Bauhaus in which photography and words engage in a direct compositional dialogue. Additionally, his design of the typeface “Universal” was our starting point for the typeface we developed for the archive. While working on the corporate design of the Bauhaus Archive, I started to study

Visual Identity

The Bauhaus-Archiv opened in Berlin in 1960 as a place for documenting and archiving all things Bauhaus. In that time, it’s never had a corporate identity. But as the museum expands its scope and looks to add another building to its Berlin headquarters to account for a growing number of visitors, it was time for the organization to think about how it wanted to present itself to a new generation of design appreciators. It recently unveiled its first corporate identity, which will be used in printed materials, on the website and at the museum itself.

The building, which has the full name Bauhaus Archiv/ Museum für Gestaltung, holds a collection of of archival material from the school. It also contains exhibition space, presenting the permanent collection, and major exhibitions on the work of artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee.

The design was drastically altered from Gropius’ initial proposal but it retains several of his ideas, particularly the characteristic “shed roofs”, designed to bring indirect natural light throughout the interior. The archive building’s most striking feature is its distinctive profile, designed by Gropius as a row of saw-toothed volumes topped with rooflights to bring daylight into the exhibition areas.

On their upper level, the pair of parallel two-storey structures contain administrative and archive areas that are separated from the halls accommodating the permanent and temporary exhibitions. The building, which was listed as a protected monument in 1997, currently contains a total of 700 square metres of exhibition space.

Lobe describes Bayer Next not as an update to the original, but an expansion or a natural evolution. The simple curves of Bayer’s typeface are still present, but added to that are a host of angular, geometric glyphs. The goal of Bayer Next, he says, was to create peculiarities within the typeface. It needed to have edges and structure; it needed to be full of inexhaustible options. Hence the glyphs. “While experimenting with different “letters” we hit across many unique glyphs and wanted to add them to our new archive,” he says. “Parameters such as line width and x-height served very well as a method to unify the glyphs yet in an arranged form.” Looking at the materials, you’ll notice the sheer variety of letters and glyphs involved. No two materials look the same---some use a simplified version of the typeface, while others incorporate geometric glyphs. You’ll see a “g” with a triangle for the tail and up to 20 different versions of an “a”. With the glyphs, Lobe and his team created what amounts to an expansive database of typographic options for the museum. It’s an interesting approach, especially when contrasted with Bayer’s original ideal for simplifying typography down to a universal typeface. After all, with Bayer Universal not only did the designer get rid of serifs, he got rid of capital letters, too.

“Herbert Bayer left us all a legacy. History cannot and should not be ignored. The Bauhaus-Archiv assignment challenged us to go beyond the frontiers that the luminary Herbert Bayer had already explored without losing any of his spirit and vision as an ‘’imaginary creative director’’. I wanted to keep and expand an archive in a dynamic organic process, albeit using a scientific approach. I must correct you, our typeface is not an update; it is, rather, an extension and an expansion, maybe even a small yet important leap in its further evolution.”

Bayer Next speaks to current times. It’s a direct nod to the past without ignoring what the future necessitates. As you might imagine, it’s a task that’s intimidating to even the most seasoned designer. As Lobe adequately puts it: “To work for an institution such as the BauhausArchiv is like being the coach of the German National Soccer Team.” admits Lobe. “Our idea is not to do a marketing or branding project, but to work like an archive would. An archive collects and does research. We thought maybe we could transform this idea, and bring that attitude to the work. So we started looking at Bauhaus typography and we realised that it’s not the ‘less is more’ thing that everyone assumes. The school did everything you can imagine. It was very playful and experimental. There were no borders, there were no rules, there was no taboo.”

Graphics have always been an inherent part of architecture, making the language of patterns, words, signage, and narratives as much of a part of the community as the buildings themselves. Almost every documented culture used words, symbols, or patterns in their environments—and we’re still doing it today, taking old techniques to new levels .Let’s go all the way back to hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphics used graphic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements to create characters and tell stories. However, these did not just act as storytelling—they also gave structures cultural identities that are still being studied today.

The graphic design of typography, imagery, symbology, and art can tell cultural and visual stories, and oftentimes echo an architectural and cultural message. The human desire to “dedicate” places is clearly the reason graphics were integrated into the built environment. Inscriptions, figurative murals, and ornamental surfaces have long been a part of architecture. These elements and concepts transformed over time, reflecting the social, political, and cultural climate of each period and becoming part of our rich visual and cultural heritage.

Although the discipline of architectural graphics was only recognized relatively recently, it has long been known not only for its functional improvements, but also for its integral relationship to changes in architecture, cultural movements, and art. This combination of the disciplines can shape our overall perception and memory of place and ultimately enrich our experiences with the built environment.

Architecture Graphic Design &

“The famous ‘Trylon and Perisphere’ of the 1939 New York World’s Fair became another lasting icon for me.....

It wasn’t architecture; it wasn’t really sculpture, and certainly not graphic design. So what was it? It did not fit into a category neatly. Could it have been ‘environmental graphic design’?”–Deborah

Bauhaus design aims for cohesion and simplicity, so architectural color schemes are often limited to basic industrial colors like white, gray, and beige. In interior design, primary colors are often used—tones of red, yellow, or blue—sometimes all together but more often in focused, deliberate ways (such as a single red wall, or a yellow chair).

Bauhaus design features little to no embellishment or ornamentation, instead drawing attention to the streamlined design. For example, many Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs to create a simple, geometric look. Tubular chairs—simple chairs held up by an angular length of steel tubing—are another quintessential example of Bauhaus interior design’s beautiful functionality: functional and straightforward, with geometric shapes and few extraneous details. Another popular characteristic of Bauhaus design is abstract shapes, used sparingly in decoration, and a functional option for mass production.

Since the Bauhaus movement focuses on simplicity and industrialism, it most often tries to incorporate the fewest different materials possible, all of which are considered industrial, modern materials. These materials include glass (especially in ribbon windows or glass curtain walls), concrete (especially in building design, and steel (especially in appliances and objects like lamps and chairs).

Bauhaus architecture and design aimed for visual balance through asymmetry. (Symmetry was considered too industrial without any artistic heart.) As a result, Bauhaus designers worked to unite and balance buildings and rooms by incorporating the same elements throughout (for instance, the same materials and shapes, or repeating colors) without making both sides the same. A landmark example of this is the Bauhaus building in Dessau, which includes several different shapes and angles while remaining cohesive with white paint and extensive window designs.

In the field of spatial linguistics, 3-D communication is most often times seen in direct contrast to its not-sodistant 2-D relative. With the vision of Stuttgart-based design firm L2M3, these dimensions are integrated under the creative direction of founder Sascha Lobe. Seeing no borderlands between graphic design and architecture, wayfinding systems, signage, print, branding and identity projects all take on dual forms. Working with architects, most notably Ben Van Berkel (UN Studio), Daniel Liebeskind and David Chipperfield, Lobe noticed a gap where architectural attributes left off and visual information needed to be communicated. Forecasting this need, he began to design graphic elements and systemize information for it to be recognized intuitively, efficiently and accurately.

In this way, interior structures become streamlined through outward communication, as proper orientation and navigation are especially important for the end-user. With an effective guiding interface, the atmosphere, identity and emotion of a space become all the more affable for those in its environs. These attributes have been injected into extensive projects L2M3 have undertaken across cultural and commercial institutions such as those for Vitra, Adidas, Mercedes Benz, Ruhr Museum, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Kreisssparkasse (KSK) Tübingen, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Amorepacific in South Korea and many more.