Addition – Transformation – Conversion

'Old & New' is a comprehensive documentation of design concepts that illustrate the entire range of dealing with existing buildings. Residential projects as well as spectacular building types are introduced in three chapters 'addition', 'transformation' and 'conversion'.

The decision not to show buildings on the cover was done in favor of illustrating a metaphor for the three chapters. A threepart typographic model reads 'OLD' and 'NEW' at once. It was developed following the three principles 'addition', 'transformation' and 'conversion': to achieve a subtle reference to architecture we converted two-dimensional typography into three-dimensional space. We added the words 'OLD' and 'NEW' by transforming two letters into one object. The result is a metaphor for the content which simultaneously reads the book's title.

To provide easy comparison of projects and to help supply valuable information for designers and planners, onlab designed information graphics illustrating the detailed project data. On the contents page all facts and figures are compiled as an add-on to the Table of Contents and inside the chapters data is respectively assigned to the specific projects.

The selected fonts - relevant sans serif and korpus - were designed by binnenland and were selected by onlab because they conceptually corresponded to the topic of the book: new design concepts dealing with existing structures. Korpus was developed based on studies of mistakes in reproducing characters in the early twentieth century. Inaccuracies that emerged in part even at the metal casting and subsequent proofing stage were interpreted freely and combined as a basis for the newly formulated font characters.