Taiwan Pavillion
Identity System

The Taiwan Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale explored the idea of private domesticity inverted as public space in the exhibition Township of Domestic Parts: Made in Taiwan. Curated and designed by the noted architect Jimenez Lai, the pavilion is a collection of nine small houses, each embodying one domestic program. Pentagram designed an identity for the exhibition that showcases the theme in a lively mix of colorful graphics and custom typography, both in English and Chinese. The pavilion is also a commentary on weijian, an urban phenomenon that is common in Taipei and other cities in Taiwan in which buildings are augmented with illegal add-ons. Custom letterforms for the identity are an expression of weijian, expanding to fill the space of posters and other collateral. An iconographic system inspired by Lai's groundbreaking graphic novel Citizens of No Place complements and augment the exhibition typography. The designers also created the website for the exhibition, which uses the colors of the identity system as a method of navigation. Each section "Pavilion," "Exhibition," "Events," et al-has a different color path, leading visitors through the website.