Thonik, Amsterdam

Colouring ArchiLab

ArchiLab’s curator Bart Lootsma was asked to develop the 1500 m2 exhibition and the catalogue together with a design office. He chose Amsterdam based graphic studio Thonik. This is not their cooperation debut. They got to know each other during the project “Mentalitäten” in Germany in 1996 about Dutch Design, and in 1999 they did a book and an exhibition in Architecture Centre Eindhoven entitled: “The desire for architecture and day-to-day worries”. In the meantime Lootsma helped Thonik to choose an architect to build their studio: MVRDV. Thonik is experienced in the international arena. They did visual communication for Jan Hoet’s final exhibition in Gent “Over the edges” and currently they are working on the corporate identity for his new museum in Herford (Germany) by Frank Gehry. Despite the ‘patchwork’ quality of the ArchiLab building, a former military site, Thonik aims to create a strong impression of unity in the design of the exhibition and its graphic work. Since communication across national borders is unavoidable, they picked the standard RAL colour spectrum as a readymade starting point. RAL is an acronym for Reichs-Ausschuss für Lieferbedingungen and dates back to the Weimar Republic. The RAL K1 spectrum combines 16 colours per page on fields in 3 x 5 proportions. The combinations are intriguing. Dark blues, for instance, go together with liver pink and a strong magenta and the blacks can be found unexpectedly in between shades of white. The exhibition spaces will therefore be decorated with large panels in the same proportions on floors and against walls, a different RAL page combination in every room. Paradoxically the strange colour combinations and the size of the panels will provide unity. The graphic design follows the grid of the RAL K1 booklet. The page with whites and blacks forming a leitmotiv. As a personal touch Thonik has added RAL 2004, bright orange. This happens to be the colour of their own building, that to their surprise became a Dutch national controverse. The studio will get a new colour this year.