In September 2014, the Zurich University of the Arts and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHdK and ZHAW) moved to the Toni-Areal, a former dairy production site. The architects EM2N invested a great deal of time and effort to convert the industrial site into an imposing campus. The commission for the signage went to Bivgrafik visual communications, Zurich, in collaboration with Hi visual communications, Lucerne. The typeface was developed specially for the building and any additional requirements linked to it. It is regarded as part of the architecture: “When we design a wall we don’t take the usual graphic designer’s approach by going into the surface, instead we position the lettering in the specific context of the space.” This approach is also reflected in the final realisation and its applications. The lettering for the main circulation axes plays on changes in perspective. Striking letters fold out of the walls in relief, they emerge and disappear again. Their physical presence as bearers of information, the three-dimensional letters, oscillate between a painted two-dimensionality and being threedimensional objects.
The typeface was designed by Claudio Barandun (Hi) especially for the orientation system in the Toni-Areal. Its characterful basic form was inspired by the DIN typeface, which served as a model for the in-house development for a long time. Characteristics such as the round forms driven into the corners and the striving to an overall graphically reduced formal language were the guidelines for the development of the final Areal typeface. Binnenland was consulted for the conversion of the typeface into a digital font. In collaboration with Claudio Barandun, the basic alphabet he sketched out was further expanded and application-specific weights were developed. The final font family has only a few styles adapted to the supplementary house lettering. For the application, additional pictograms were implemented into the typeface.
