BJARKE INGELS X WESTBANK SAN JOSE COLLECTION

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Bank of Italy

Branding, Book Design, Copywriting & Production

Each book in this limited edition set of six books represents the unique perspective of an internationally acclaimed architect for the San Jose sustainability renewal initiative. Custom printed linen covers and the individually unique layout design of each book expresses not only the innovative architecture but the spirit and harmony created by its respect for Nature. The collection is an anthology of beauty and purpose in design.

The Bank of Italy, built by Italian immigrant Amadeo Giannini in 1926, is steeped in history and tradition. A pillar of San Jose's downtown for nearly 100 years, Bjarke Ingels Studio and Westbank are breathing new life into the historic structure. We had the honour of designing a book for Bjarke Ingels Studio x The historic bank of Italy x Westbank for the buildings momentous revival.

In this book design set, we explored the concept ‘book as an object’. The ink black linen cover bleeds into a full immersion of black edge painting, a homage to the singular printing press colour of the time. The pages, disappearing into the concept and in turn the book becomes a form.

Every detail of the book has been carefully designed to reflect the building's rich history and celebrate its contemporary revival. The colour palette embodies classicism with black and white featured from the cover to the interior spreads. Contemporary finishings like brass and formed concrete sit side by side with historic columns and ornaments in The Bank of Italy and celebrate the considered thought of the past and present. The book design weaves the tactility of the building concept through materiality — the cover is linen wrapped and hot foil stamped while the interior pages impress with gold foil and a column based type set layout, echoing the column structure of the fascia. The typography balances historic serif details with contemporary sans serif body font. The floor plan pages are flooded in a pale pink—a nod to the classic salmon pink Financial Times paper in print since the late 1800's. The Bank of Italy book is a considered study of the relationship between new and old and how we can honour the past while looking with optimism towards the future.