Building 98

We were invited by artist Martin de Porres Wright and Executive Director Mona Blocker Garcia to create a visual identity for ‘Building 98’ in Marfa, Texas. Building 98 is a project of the International Woman's Foundation, which has operated an artist-in-residency programme there since 2002. The building includes a gallery, museum, recording studio and gallery shop.

Marfa is a small desert city in west Texas, and known as an arts hub. The Chinati Foundation, founded by artist Donald Judd (1928 - 1994) displays his huge indoor and outdoor installations there.

With much of the artwork and sculpture produced in the area being large-scale and robust, we created a symbol for Building 98 based on the architectural plan of the building, which is in Fort D.A. Russell, where it served as the Bachelor Officer Quarters and as an entertainment centre for West point Officers during World War I and the Mexican Revolution.

The symbol was designed with a 3D sculptural application in mind — a prototype was made in wood and visualized in the local desert landscape. Final construction of the sculpture will be commissioned locally.

The font used for all elements of the Building 98 visual identity is Latina Essential, a free font designed by the Latinotype foundry, based in Concepción and Santiago in Chile, which was used to reflect the client's connections with that country.

Signage, posters, postcards, merchandise and press advertisements have been produced with ongoing publications, website and sculpture currently in development.