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book (design) story #275

aldo henggeler, peter f. althaus:
die stadt als offenes system

birkhäuser verlag, basel, 1974
printer: stäubli offsetdruck, zürich
size: 16 x 24 cm
designer: hans-rudolf lutz

"the city as an open system" – this book is about urban development, published by architect also henggeler and art critic peter f. althaus in cooperation with the eth in zürich, the swiss "federal institute of technology".

this 1974 book is a striking example of modernist swiss typography that was designed after the "classic" 1940s-1960s era.

the typographer and graphic designer hans-rudolf lutz (1939-1998) studied at the basel school of design (with emil ruder) and later became a teacher at the design schools of zürich and luzern.

in the 1980s hans-rudolf lutz was involved with the innovative jazz band unknownmix. i remember their perfomances which employed typographic visual projections designed by lutz.

the experimental typography – all is rotated by 90° – somewhat reminds me of this book designed by karl gerstner in the 1950s.

there are sections with layered diagrams on transparent glassine pages – to be viewed seperately and combined.

this book won a "most beautiful swiss books" award. for more on lutz go to lutz.to!