Archizoom
Archizoom
Identity
Archizoom is a cultural platform for exhibitions, conferences and debates on architecture. Located on the EPFL campus in Lausanne and named after the 1970s radical group Archizoom Associati, the gallery reflects the notion that design is inseparable from research and political engagement in the broad sense. As Andrea Branzi, one of the group’s founders, famously stated, “making architecture didn’t mean just making houses or building useful things; it was to express oneself, to communicate, to debate, to create freely one’s own cultural space, according to the right of each individual to create their own environment.”
We created an expressive and flexible brand identity that epitomises the gallery’s critical spirit. Archizoom Associati’s curious and rebellious stance provided the direction for our proposal. The group’s unorthodox plans for No-Stop City (1969) were created using a typewriter, which presented a starting point for the identity. Using this language, which also reminded us of concrete poetry, we developed a visual system combining the gallery’s two central themes: theory and architecture. Words act as immaterial particles of ideas and create shapes and patterns.
The identity forms a continuously evolving language which mimics the cultural platform’s energetic voice. The extensive typographic family provides a palette of options to accommodate a wide range of activities. The system’s lightness, mischief and versatility honour the legacy of Archizoom.
Besides redesigning the gallery’s identity, we also worked on campaigns for Archizoom’s exhibitions including Sometimes Doing Nothing Leads to Something, Database, Network, Interface and Do Not Carry Your Flag Too Low.
Photography credits: Johanna Bucher, Valentin Jeck
2021
