Kindergarten Pradl

The kindergarten on Egerdachstrasse was built and designed in 1928 by Theodor Prachensky (1888-1970), a renowned Tyrolean architect with focus on Modernism. Based on his ideological roots in the Social Democratic movement, Prachensky, as an architect and official of the Innsbruck municipal building authority, realized numerous public buildings with social functions, including well-known social housing projects, schools, and maternity counseling centers.

The typeface on the kindergarten in Pradl reflects the style of the building. Fine metal letters are installed on a steel grid at a distance from the wall. Because of the shadow cast, when the light falls in the right direction, the lettering can be seen as a pattern on the wall. The lettering is probably a free interpretation of the architect himself, who was also known as a painter and poster designer. Examples for the typeface with its strict geometric, narrow letters can be found in Constructivism. Later typographers embraced a similar typography and introduced them into digital typeface families. In 1984, for example, the world-famous British graphic designer and typographer Neville Brody created “Industria”. Daniel Pallavin's typeface “ITC Anna” is another good example.