Cover of “Bayern, München. 100 Jahre Freistaat. Eine Raumverfälschung”, with red serif lettering and blue and white areas.
Close-up of the “Bayern, München” cover, with red serif lettering along a blue and white diagonal.

Bavaria, Munich. 100 Years of the Free State. A Spatial Distortion

How can a book reveal a place as something constructed rather than given?

Context

Published on the occasion of the centenary of the Free State of Bavaria, Bayern, München examines how political ideas, cultural narratives and social transformations become visible through architecture and space. Rather than presenting a unified image of Bavaria, the publication reveals the contradictions and layers that shape the region: between urban and rural, tradition and modernity, identity and transformation.
Bringing together essays, images, archival material and speculative projects, the book develops a complex portrait of Bavaria and Munich as spaces constantly produced and negotiated.

Approach

The design responds to this multiplicity by creating a structure that allows different forms of content and perspectives to coexist.
Through sequences, contrasts and shifting scales, the publication becomes less a conventional documentation than a spatial experience in itself. The book reflects its subject matter by making relationships between images, texts and ideas visible, turning the archive into a tool for exploring how places and identities are constructed.

Contents spread of “Bayern, München” with large article titles arranged in two columns.
Full-spread photograph of an industrial area with silos and chimneys in “Bayern, München”.
Book spread about the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, combining a building photograph, large heading and narrow text columns.
Essay spread “München als Modellfall der Tiefen Stadt” with multi-column text and technical drawings.
Architectural collage spanning two pages, with grey buildings, pink areas and a large circular inset.
Spread titled “Das Neue München” with historical photographs, a city map and narrow text columns.
Spread with the large title “Geile Architektur”, small building photographs and a multi-column essay.
Back cover with diagonal blue and white areas and a red list of contributors.
Project Title
Bavaria, Munich. 100 Years of the Free State. A Spatial Distortion
Client
Stephan Trüby
Year
2018
Services
Editorial Design
Role
Art Direction, Design, Production
Project Lead
Matthias Görlich
Graphic Design
Pawel Wolowitsch
Editors
Stephan Trüby, Verena Hartbaum, University of Looking Good, c/o now
Publisher
Wilhelm Fink