Design Commissions
Christian Lange created the graphic design for The Other Architect exhibition (2017).
The Other Architect
The Other Architect touring exhibition presented work by more than 20 firms and collectives with an alternative architectural practice. Giovanna Borasi, former chief curator and now director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, curated the exhibition in 2015 and approached Christian Lange for the graphic design. "The interior of The Other Architect consisted largely of vitrine tables which contained architectural drawings, photos and publications," explains Lange. "To offset their horizontal uniformity, I proposed presenting big enlargements of drawings and photographs on the walls." In Montreal, the exhibition spread over six or seven rooms, with a lot of space allocated to the considerable amount of material. "I could show-off with large drawings on the walls," he says.
The exhibition's Rotterdam instalment was in 2017. It was shown in a reduced form in Gallery -1 of Het Nieuwe Instituut: a low-ceilinged room with black walls, limited lighting and no daylight. "The room's dark walls and ceiling forced me to adjust the wall drawings," says Lange. He rendered his drawings in the shape of text clouds, like those found in comics. "The black walls gave the drawings a certain weight not present in the original design," he explains. "Black and white were predominant in the Rotterdam exhibition. I only used colour for the website announcement and on Het Nieuwe Instituut's façade, where the image came into its own."
He continues: "My design for The Other Architect consisted of three elements: enlarged drawings, exhibition texts and captions. The exhibition texts stood upright on special stands on the tables. For the captions accompanying the displayed objects, I devised a system of a narrow strip of paper and a somewhat larger horizontal format. They were printed on the same sheets of paper and then cut loose. This modular system afforded considerable flexibility to the exhibition's design."
It was the first time that Lange designed an exhibition's graphic elements. He enjoyed its three-dimensional aspect: "It offers more possibilities, in a spatial sense, than designing a folder, a website or a book. My design practice has changed as a result." At the CCA, Lange suggested continuing the exhibition's graphic elements in the communications material. This unity of visual identity, which is now standard at Het Nieuwe Instituut, was new to the CCA.
The Other Architect examines the practice of architects, from the 1960s to the present day, who have taken a broader view of their role as designers. Various case studies demonstrate how architects, often operating in multidisciplinary teams, introduce new practices
Christian Lange
Christian Lange studied Visual Communication in Potsdam, Leipzig and Zurich. After graduating, he worked for various studios and academies. He started his studio in Munich in 2014, specialising in book design, visual identity and exhibition design. Awards include the Most Beautiful Swiss Books Award, the Most Beautiful German Books Award, Best Book Design from All Over the World, and the DAM Architectural Book Award. He has designed art books and magazines, such as DUMMY and Fluter (DE), and exhibition catalogues. More recently, he designed the Düşler Ülkesi monograph by Cana Bilir-Meier (Kunstverein Hamburg, Spector Books). Clients include the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal; Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, Vitsoe in Munich and the LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster.