Rennerschule

The massive school building of the Rennerschule was constructed in 1928-36 in the style of Tyrolean Modernism and shows a typeface that provides viewers with a clear contrast: a delicate, curved cursive script, made from a fine steel profile. As a typical elementary school font, it corresponds to the function of the building.

The first official Austrian school font can be dated back to 1775. Over the course of several reforms, the original Latin font was developed from the “Kurrent” font, on which today's spelling is based. When it comes to writing systems, children were faced with more difficult challenges in the past: during these times, they had to learn six different writing systems. The “Kurrentschrift”, the “Sütterlinschrift” (or: German font) and the “Druckschrift” in upper- and lower-case letters. In 1941, following the Bormann decree banning “Fraktur” typeface, a second circular also banned the use of German script and introduced “Deutsche Normalschrift.“

In Austria, the teaching script was introduced in 1969. In 1995/96, the reform that is responsible for the script on the Rennerschule – represented by the capital and lowercase “r” – was implemented.

Free font interpretations of this handwriting became popular in the 1950s for façades or as business logos. It was not part of the original plans of architect Theodor Prachensky, so it probably appeared later on the building.

Rennerschule was the name of this building from 1953 onwards, named after Karl Renner, the first Chancellor of the Republic of Austria. Today it is called NMS Pembaurstraße.