CGD

The Institute for Architecture and Urban Planning of the City of Prague recently opened an information center aimed at elevating public discussion about the capital's development. The building near Charles Square offers the CAMP visitors a café, a study room and a lecture and an exhibition hall. CAMP moreover entered the public space of Prague by its noticeable, minimalist citylights, which at first sight appear as if they are missing something. They look like a black- and-white sketch inscribed into a dotted grid; as a model for something what is still waiting for its final form. If we search further, we can find printed materials and applications which are similarly sketched and economic in color, graphic design and material. The black, white and fluorescent-green colors, the dotted grid and the systemically looking typeface together form a characteristic and variable system of the new center's visual identity. The above-mentioned "absence" and the sketchy rendition of the visual materials proved to be an asset and intent, where elementary graphic features serve to reflect the basic function of CAMP as a place which instead of defining rather outlines ways and possibilities of developing the public space of Prague.

The expert jury of the competition substantiated its selection as follows: "In the case of this design, the jury very positively valued the understanding of CAMP's purpose as an institution which gives a basic framework to the discourse on the development of the city and is the pivot of information on its condition. The idea of this framework is clearly formulated as a geometric grid and is enriched with a range of scales in the form of imaginary zooming, which resulted in a system capable of, on the one hand, absorbing and integrating any contents and, on the other hand, working as a didactic model embodying the purpose of the entire institution." The visual identity of CAMP rose from a tender for four invited graphic studios. It exemplifies that if a client clearly knows what he wants and properly announces a tender for concrete studios, the outcome can be very successful. All in all, CAMP definitely ranks among the most significant graphic endeavors of the past year.

Kateřina Přidalová