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Otl Aicher's writings are explorations of the world, a substantive part of his work. In moving through the history of thought and design, building and construction, he assures us of the possibilities of arranging existence in a humane fashion. As ever he is concerned with the question of the conditions needed to produce a civilised culture. These conditions have to be fought for against apparent factual or material constraints and spiritual and intellectual substitutes on offer.
Otl Aicher likes a dispute. For this reason, the volume contains polemical statements on cultural and political subjects as well as practical reports and historical exposition. He fights with productive obstinacy, above all for the renewal of Modernism, which he claims has largely exhausted itself in aesthetic visions; he insists the ordinary working day is still more important than the "cultural Sunday".
Wolfgang Jean Stock
List of contents
preface by sir norman foster
introduction
crisis of modernism
doing without symbols
aesthetic existence
the third modernism
charles eames
hans gugelot
flying machines by paul mc cready
bauhaus and ulm
architecture as a reflection of the state
the non-usable useful item
the signature
intelligent building
my workspace does not yet exist
difficulties for architects and designers
appearance
graphic designers` space tob e themselves
a new typeface
the world as design
afterword
sources
About the author
Otl Aicher (1922-991) war einer der bedeutendsten und erfolgreichsten Gestalter Deutschlands mit internationalem Ruf. Er wurde Vorbild für ganze Gestaltergenerationen und war Mitbegründer der Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm.
Summary
Otl Aicher's writings are explorations of the world, a substantive part of his work. In moving through the history of thought and design, building and construction, he assures us of the possibilities of arranging existence in a humane fashion. As ever he is concerned with the question of the conditions needed to produce a civilised culture. These conditions have to be fought for against apparent factual or material constraints and spiritual and intellectual substitutes on offer.
Otl Aicher likes a dispute. For this reason, the volume contains polemical statements on cultural and political subjects as well as practical reports and historical exposition. He fights with productive obstinacy, above all for the renewal of Modernism, which he claims has largely exhausted itself in aesthetic visions; he insists the ordinary working day is still more important than the "cultural Sunday".
Wolfgang Jean Stock
