Typeface Design for the “Christian Garden” in Berlin

This project comprises the typeface design for an architecture that consists entirely of letters set up in the “Christian Garden” inside Berlin’s recreational park “Gardens of the World”. Inspired by medieval cloisters, the 33 cm high letters form an arched walkway that is built from texts of the Christian-Occidental tradition. Various alternative letter shapes of different widths create a highly homogeneous web of text, which is capable not only of transmitting the high static loads evenly to the ground but also prevents, due to the highly varying number of glyphs per line, particular lines from looking too compressed or too wide. Up to three alternative forms – majuscule, minuscule and special characters – serve to create a highly lively composition without being repetitive in appeal. The font supports 13 written languages, including ancient Greek and Cyrillic, and creates a typeface design of a sculptural appearance. Statement by the jury »This Babylonian confusion in the form of an arched-covered cloister has a high aesthetic appeal and is typographic architecture at its best. Developing an original typeface that supports no less than 13 written languages, including ancient Greek and Cyrillic, is an outstanding accomplishment. The typography inside the entire construction, thus, acquires a unique visual as well as spatial appearance.«