A narrative typography that chatters away cheerfully: the task was to develop a system of graphics for large glazed elements in an administration building. The solution: word games with anagrams. The word anagram comes from the classical Greek “anagraphein” which means to rewrite or write again. A short text provides the letters that serve as the material for repeatedly new word inventions and combinations. The word games are, of course, nonsensical, but it is amusing to follow the transformations and to discover new contents time and time again. The game has a total of c. 3500 transformations, which were carried out in 111 text columns with almost 80.000 adhesive letters, font size 70 points, applied to the glass using a special sandblast film.

The new Austrian Standard for barrier-free building, B 1600, issue 2011-04-01, contains rigorous requirements as regards protection against impact for full-height glass doors and areas of glazing that can be approached from two sides. The standard calls for a strong contrast between light and dark and an even, dense coating of the glass at a certain height. In addition to this requirement an old person’s home and nursing home of this size with its different services and user groups requires a system of routes that is as self-explanatory as possible. The concept for the signage for the Antoniushaus is based on connecting what the regulations call for with something useful. In concrete terms this means breaking up the transparency of the glass surfaces by using typographical patterns, which at the same time communicate useful information that helps people find their way around this senior citizen’s residence and nursing home. The typography, individually adapted to the specific situation, covers the areas of glazing in the stipulated manner. The texts are stuck on to one side using a special black and white film. The legible texts always appear in white, whereas the back-to-front texts are black (and are legible as white texts from the other side). Through precise detailing it proved possible to meet the demands in terms of design, effective visual screening and an easily visible and legible guidance system. The core facility in this building is “sheltered housing” with a total of 60 new dwelling units. The labelling or identification of these units was also carefully considered. The numbering of the rooms makes use of raised numerals fixed to the frame of the entrance door. Beside the number is a delicate shelf in the same kind of wood (ash) with an inserted name plate that can be easily exchanged. Something can be placed on this shelf or hung from it. This invites people to design their own “house entrance” within an ordered system, offers information that promotes a sense of identification with the facility, and shows empathy for the people who live here and their guests.

Together with architect Helmut Kuess and building on the basis of workshops held with public relations staff from the various local communities Reinhard Gassner developed the idea for the Panorahmen. The name is a word play based on panorama and Rahmen, the German word for frame. Panorahmen are striking steel frames with viewing windows which have been erected at 34 locations in the various Rhine Valley communities. They offer a view of public squares, buildings and landscapes where vision rheintal (vision rhine valley) takes place or intended to take place. The architects Geli Salzmann and Eva Lingg finalised the design.

Falva is an inn located in Blons, a mountain village in a valley known as the Großes Walsertal. This deeply incised valley is characterized by precipitous mountain slopes on both sides. Ultimately, it was this image that provided the inspiration for the visual design. The letter “l” was inclined at a slight angle and, together with the letter “v” that follows it, suggests the shape of a mountain peak.

»Konstruktive Provokation« (Constructive Provocation) attempts to explain the density of contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg (clearly evident in the immediate surroundings) within the framework of an exhibition and explores frequently asked questions such as »how is that possible?« It describes architecture not as an extract but as a part of a living culture of building in its technical, design-related, social, ecological, hand-craft and personal aspects. Instead of emphasising the works of individual architects and explaining single buildings by means of models and plans, the exhibition tells about the roots and the growth of a broad-based movement that allowed architecture of a high quality to develop. »From rumour to myth: That’s how you could describe the last decades of Vorarlberg architecture.« Dietmar Steiner The exhibition consists of a series of theme-related introductory portals. Various levels of reading allow the visitor to proceed from a general insight to in-depth immersion in the theme. The first level shows photographs by Ignacio Martínez on the fronts of the cubes; short texts augment and explain what is shown. In a second level drawers that can be pulled open and wall elements offer insight into further details and architectures relating to the respective materials.

“überholz” is the name of a new course in timber building at the University of Art and Design in Linz Names such as “the art of timber building” or “timber construction”, or poetic terms such as “Dickicht” (thicket) or “Stirnholz” (end grain wood) were some more obvious choices. The reduction to simple familiar words is surprising; the problems with the umlaut become the characteristic. The word “über” (about, through) suggests the transfer of knowledge and “holz” (wood) is simply called by its name. Aspects of architecture and planning are communicated by the typographical implementation. Here we are familiar with the word “Holz”, but what does it say to an Italian public? The Italian partners assured us that the target group in Italy is also familiar with the term “Holz”. It is hard to pronounce – a tongue-twister and a foreign word – but precisely on this account is suitable for the “corsi” (timber building seminars) of the Italian proHolz subsidiary organisation, “promo legno”.

A monochrome logotype: the word “Lehm” is set in the Grotesque font, Trade Gothic bold condensed, whereas the “o” is in an Antiqua (font type: New York). The Antiqua makes the “o” resonate and creates exciting contrasts between traditional and modern, filigree and stable. Reinhard Gassner

The former “Architekturforum Tirol” opened its new rooms in 2005 in the renovated brewhouse of the old Adambräu brewery in Innsbruck. This was linked with a call for a contemporary appearance. In a workshop together with Walter Bohatsch a name was arrived at. The new name for this association was “aut“ and was intended to hover freely, almost experimentally, in space without any associations such as institute, gallery or forum – on the contrary it was to be provocative and agitative and not an abbreviation with just three letters. In the initial phase the name was supported by a claim. The most interesting thing happens in-between, as it were, between the familiar term “out”, which of course starts not with an “a” but an “o”, and the simple way in which the sequence of letters can be explained by three words. Lettering + subline »architektur und tirol«.

The task was to design a name and appearance for a software company. The company’s dual track character is programmatic: on the one hand it offers high-tech content management systems and on the other creative, but standardised, software solutions. In a workshop with the client it was decided to use a freely invented onomatopoeic name. The solution consisted of two letters, actually just one form of letter that stands alternately on its feet or on its head – nu – n and u, not u and n, which would have had a far more negative connotation; the dynamics and the combined effect of the letters harbours numerous meanings, nu functions like a kind of acoustic pictogram, which is due to the familiar and yet at the same time unfamiliar quality of this name. It is too short to be abbreviated, it awakens curiosity and relates to the number two. This association is played with visually with by swivelling the letters in the logotype and in other applications – 2 colours with 2 x 2 letters that, when overlaid, produce new forms and colours.

The name zuschnitt stands for a magazine about wood as a material and works made of wood. It is aimed primarily at architects, people interested in building and those who make decisions about building in Austria and neighbouring countries. The title avoids words such as “wood”, “building” or “architecture”. Nevertheless it reports about wood, processing, series, the made-to-measure form. The language elements are the acceleration of the word at the beginning due to the “Z”, and the two terminating consonants at the end of the word. Consequently the middle part works as a resonance space for the two vowels, “u” and “i”.