New York’s architects, designers and other industry professionals will come together tonight for the Heritage Ball, the annual black tie gala to benefit the AIA New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture. Pentagram has designed the graphics for the event, which feature custom typography that celebrates the adaptable quality of architecture.
The designers created a playful typographic system based on the idea of reconfiguration of space—similar to the nature of architecture itself. Expanding and contracting, the typography visually echoes the way buildings and structures adapt to fill available area, especially in cities and urban environments. The custom typeface, named Herita-Geo by the designers, is composed of letterforms that horizontally scale between regular and extended widths of the font, which are used all at once.
The approach dynamically comes to life in animations where the letters squeeze in or stretch out as needed to fill the space. A double line was used to emphasize the architectural quality of the typeface, while the color blue references blueprint sheets.
Established in the 1980s, the Heritage Ball honors the rich architectural heritage of New York and the architects, officials, organizations, and professionals from related industries that continue the city’s tradition of design excellence. The 2015 honorees are Alicia Glen, New York City’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development; architect David Rockwell, founder of the Rockwell Group; developer Jed Walentas, principal of Two Trees Management Company; and Adam D. Weinberg, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
