caféteria iwz
(scientific engineering center)
university of stuttgart
stuttgart 2016

“am i making too much noise?” 

like an ageing diva, stuttgart university’s cafeteria was beginning to look a little frayed around the edges. now it’s being given a serious makeover: ready to take center stage again, with a fresh and attractive new look. providing the foundation for this cosmetic surgery we have the green floor, which puts down a positive undertone, forming a calm backdrop for some exuberant, enigmatic black-and-white imagery: letterforms combined in large-scale graphic motifs and arranged around the space so that no two images are the same. this results in unique spaces – tables, benches, walls – that communicate with the cafeteria users. because when you look more carefully, these dynamic motifs can actually be deciphered. the word fragments – reminiscent of speech bubbles in comics – conjure up different sounds, encouraging diners to explore and enjoy their poetic possibilities, be it for themselves or in groups: uuuu! iiiiiiiiiii! Offering a counterpoint to this – apparent – visual confusion, the ceiling presents an orderly pattern that echoes the geometry of the existing ceiling modules, overlayering their regularity with a labyrinthine design. the message of the maze – there is always a solution – references the graphic fragments below. because on closer inspection you see that the sounds combine to form a sentence, asking – quietly, playfully: “bin ich zu laut?”: “am i making too much noise?”. and so it all falls into place – the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, the language, the lettering and the cafeteria diners: they’re all busily engaged in dynamic dialogue.