Christoph Montebelli
Christoph Montebelli

Plattenbau Promenades

Plattenbau Promenades represents the architecture of Plattenbau housing on four continents—Berlin, Havana, Hong Kong, and Zanzibar—through the lens of photographer Christoph Montebelli. His images analyse the relationship between aspiration and reality. They portray not only the architectural structures themselves but also the unique local features and the people who inhabit these spaces.

This year, we had the honour of working with Christoph and the Berlin-based Kerber Verlag to design this book. The design process included creating the cover, selecting papers and fonts, developing the layout, and preparing the book for print. The project spanned several months and was a rewarding collaboration with Christoph and Kerber Verlag.

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Cover Design

The classic
Plattenbau representation

For the cover, it was important to Christoph to represent the architecture of Plattenbau in a recognisable way, immediately highlighting the book’s central theme. We created an illustration for the book, which was then embossed into the linen cover.

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A special dust jacket was created for the cover, incorporating one of the book’s photographs to provide a preview of its contents, as the cover itself featured no images.

Additionally, the dust jacket continued the lines of the building illustration, extending the visual theme.

The Layout

All around the
square photos.

From the beginning of the project, the photographer envisioned the photos presented in a square format with a lot of white space, allowing each image to speak for itself.

Once the photo placements were finalised, the text grid was structured so that the first line aligned with the top edge of the photos. The width of the two columns was defined by the width of the images.

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The Fonts
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Papers
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Inside Pages
Photos

Get a copy of your book here:

Kerber Verlag

Credits

Publishing House © Kerber Verlag, Berlin

Photographs © Christoph Montebelli

Texts © Peter Baranowski, Philipp Meuser, Patricia Wruuck, Ali Haji Khamis, Anja Elsner, Christoph Montebelli

Translations © Diane Loegel, Anna Schumacher-Baxter Brown, Christoph Montebelli

Copyediting © Amy Klement (ENG), Susann Harring (DE)

Design © Quattro Creative Studio / Céline Loegel, Luxembourg in cooperation with Christoph Montebelli

Production © Jens Bartneck / Kerber Verlag

Project Management © Lily von Wild / Kerber Verlag

Print © Gutenberg Beuys




Team
Every step in the book design process was a pleasure—from creating the cover and selecting paper to designing the interior layout and choosing fonts. It was a wonderful collaboration with Christoph and the Kerber Verlag.”
Céline - Designer
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