De-signing Public Space

Here is just a quick comparitive analysis to raise the issue of signage in public space. What exactly is required and what is not. Dublin's streets are well renowned for having poles set into the pavement for every sort of instruction...parking here....no parking there...parking only within the hours of 9.00-19.00....speed limit...loading bay only...the list goes on.

This is a scene from Myeongdong, a shopping district in central Seoul. Walking through these streets is almost a sensory overload, but in a good way, this adds to the character of the space, its unique charm, its selling point.

Delete!

In summer 2005 for a period of two weeks, Austrian artists Steinbrener-Dempf carried out a project in Vienna's 7th district blocking out all advertising signs, pictograms, company's names and logos. The fabric of signs and signals so characteristic of our cities - which normally fills the space between the architectural structures and the urban movement flows - is eliminated, and the public space is 'delettered'.

+ Panorama of the street scene