Design Commissions
Christine Alberts created the graphic identity for the _Habitat _exhibition and publication and the 2018 and 2019 Annual Reports.
Habitat
The core of the exhibition Habitat: Expanding Architecture consists of the panels that CIAM members presented to each other in Dubrovnik in 1956. "The presentation also includes archival material from the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning," says Christine Alberts. "The exhibition's design is based on a grid that goes from very fine to course. I continue this idea graphically in the design of the panels and captions. Therefore, the formal and material aspects of archiving inform the presentation of the exhibition texts. The captions are printed on cardboard resembling the kind used for archive boxes: the Dutch text was on the white side; the English on the grey side."
In the book Habitat. Ecology Thinking in Architecture, several authors' essays accompany the various archival material shown in the exhibition. "For the publication, I eventually opted for the classic art-book typology, allowing plenty of room for images and using a restrained design and typography. The design interventions are reduced to the absolute minimum. It doesn't look like a designer was involved, but it's actually a very concentrated and precise design." Such concentration epitomises Alberts' approach: "What my designs have in common is the typographic approach and my attention to detail and, where possible, materiality. I'm interested in designing with a sharp focus on content. That's why I prefer to work in close consultation with the curators and editors of an exhibition or publication. The design process takes shape through interaction and conversation. Ultimately, every collaboration is a new adventure with its own dynamic and outcome."
The exhibition _Habitat: Expanding Architecture _focused on the tenth CIAM Congress, which took place in Dubrovnik in 1956. The concept "habitat" was a central theme, and an expanding understanding of architecture was proposed through a new ecological approach. This approach sees architecture not as an autonomous discipline, but as part of a larger, dynamic whole. As well as work by major post-war Team 10 architects, such as Jaap Bakema, Aldo van Eyck and Alison & Peter Smithson, exhibits include work by James Stirling, Piero Bottoni, the Finnish PTAH group and the Portuguese CIAM Porto group. The publication Habitat. Ecology Thinking in Architecture includes contributions by Frits Palmboom, Erik Rietveld, Hadas Steiner, Georg Vrachliotis and Leonardo Zuccaro Marchi. It is richly illustrated with the work of renowned architects Aldo van Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson, Van den Broek & Bakema and many others.
Jaarverslagen
The design of Het Nieuwe Instituut's annual report follows the institute's straightforward and restrained house style. This house style provides a template in which designers can make designs for the various programme components. It enables a multitude of designers to determine the institute's identity. The institutional house style is predominantly published in black and white, accompanied by gradations of green.
"Since the print run is only 60 copies, I researched the possibilities of digital printing, together with printer Robstolk," explains Alberts. "I wanted to find the most attractive result and give the annual report more allure. The report's cover features white text on black cardboard. The foreword to the 2018 edition discusses Het Nieuwe Instituut's fifth anniversary and how the institute took shape over that period. Given its self-conscious quality, I put this text on the cover. Furthermore, we've been working with many images from the last two years to demonstrate the dynamic of Het Nieuwe Instituut's extensive and multifaceted programme."