Europaplatz Bern
Wayfinding for Europaplatz in Bern, Switzerland. Besides the Haus der Religionen, this building by Bauart houses 88 apartments plus stores, offices and a parking garage.
On their website, design firm Nulleins write:
To us, wayfinding means, to recognize difficulties and possibilities in spatial situations, and to find an optimal solution that affirms identity and that leads to a good orientation.
In the case of Europaplatz, the solution was found in using large and straightforward shapes in a visually complex context. All text is set in Nouvelle Noire’s low-contrast and monumental Ernesto, an all-caps typeface originally designed for a cultural centre in Germany. The industrial architecture of that building resounds in Ernesto’s shapes, and matches the many angles of the building and stairs of the Europaplatz complex.
Two entries of the building are indicated with a big, concrete capital A and B. No sharp angles here but conventional lettershapes: Ernesto comes with a mix of 'constructivist’ and 'conventional’ lettershapes. At the entries, the A is a stylistic alternate, and the B is the only B available in the typeface.
