Oliver Tomas | Text Proportion Utility » Architecture

Le Corbusier: The modulor (1954)

Oliver Tomas — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:31:16 +0000

26/01/12 – Select illustrations from Le Corbusier’s The modulor: a harmonious measure to the human scale universally applicable to architecture and mechanics published by Faber and Faber (1954). Book design and typography based on the proportions of the modulor.

Sources and more information
Images on Flickr
More Le Corbusier posts

Richter’s Anchor Stone Building Set No. 8 (1894)

Oliver Tomas — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:23:27 +0000

18/03/11 – Selections from the packaging and documentation of Richter’s Anchor Stone Building Set No. 8 (Anker Steinbaukasten No. 8), first issued in 1894.

Selection includes:

Schematic for the arrangement and storage of stone blocks
Box cover graphic featuring the goddess Architecture
Richter’s designs for architectural models: cover and select contents of the architectural designs manual
The practical architect: cover and select contents of the sections booklet

All images courtesy of the impressively comprehensive Collection of Anchor materials

Sources and more information
Anker Stones Germany
Collection of Anchor materials

Czechoslovak folk architecture series (1961)

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:59:03 +0000

14/02/11 – Series of twenty matchbox labels featuring Czechoslovak folk architecture. Printed in 1961 by the Solo matchworks company.

Sources and related information
Czechoslovak matchbox label collection on Flickr//
Related entry: Czech stamp series featuring folk motifs and architecture

A selection of Chicago architectural postcards (1941)

Oliver Tomas — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:57:49 +0000

12/12/10 – Small selection of Chicago architectural postcards printed by Curt Teich and Co. in 1941. All postcards have a ‘linen-finish’ and are marked: ‘C.T. Art Colortone’.

Sources and related information
Postcard collection on Flickr//

Max Bill: Form (1952)

Oliver Tomas — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 07:17:46 +0000

20/09/10 – Selections from Max Bill’s Form: a balance sheet of mid-twentieth century trends in design published in 1952 by Verlag Karl Werner, Basel.

Many of the images included in Bill’s book come from the 1949 traveling exhibition Die Gute Form (Good Design) organized on behalf of the Swiss Werkbund. It includes everything from natural phenomena and industrial tools to sculpture and commercial goods, from architecture and urban planning to children’s toys.

From the introductory essay:
This is primarily a picture book laying no claim to completeness or balance. It illustrates things that evince a remarkable degree of perfection, or embody some idea capable of further development. In fact, it is really a kind of survey from the compiler’s personal standpoint of the evolution of form towards the middle of the Twentieth Century.

Sources and related information
Images from Max Bill’s Form on Flickr//