Book Report - Paula Scher

New York Natives interview for the Public Theatre

Source for Pictures

Poster Design used for 2013 shows

Outside

Shakespeare Machine

Paula Scher and the Public theatre lobby was a redesigning of bringing the public into the space so that it felt like anyone would be welcome. The building is of the former Astor Library so within designing the space they had to also counter the historical building commission and preserving the original architecture.

On the outside of the building is where Scher started designing since it was the first thing that people see about the theatre. They hung a glass awning with the public logo in transparency against a design above the entrance to the building. Only two supporting beams to the building hold this piece of work.  To connect with the type of the logo, boxes were used to hold posters with similar designs for the season’s shows.

Once in the inside of the building, Paula Scher wanted to combine the idea of the Public’s logo and the architecture. She has one focal point in the room of a round center desk with a chandelier sculpture, the Shakespeare Machine, above that was designed by Ben Rubin. On different wings it encompasses words or phrases from some of Shakespeare’s works.

Type is used all around the Public’s lobby area, the box office has a wall of collage of former Public posters, the information booth has the text featured on the wall and the desk. The text runs with the architecture, in doorframes, window frames, against walls, and is natural looking to the environment. The text was also painted with texture paint to show dimension to the piece.

To incorporate the donor’s to her building, she punched out bricks with their names against the wall. The bigger the brick the more they gave towards the Public Theatre. She also put donor’s names on or near the spaces that they donated to specifically.

Paul Rand's design definition, “Design is the method of putting form and content together.” On this project I believe Paula Scher did an excellent job of putting form and content together. She put the typography into the structure of the building. It isn't just hanging on the wall put interacting with the space. It gives a definition to the building and the architecture.
Video of Shakespeare Machine

"New Work: The Public Theatre Library." Pentagram, 1 July 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. <http://new.pentagram.com/2013/07/new-work-the-public-theater-lobby/>.

"The Public Theater Renovation." SEGD. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. <https://www.segd.org/public-theater-renovation>.