ART 327: Invisible Cities: Armilla

October 9, 2005

Invisible Cities: Armilla

In this project, the student will be given a selection of stories from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. They are to choose one of the stories and develop a series of typographic postcards based on the information contained in the story. The idea is to blended their own personal interpretation of how this city might be represented solely through the use of type. It is a project designed to both expand upon how designers use type to explore its relation to content while at the same time serve as the message's container.

Original text

Whether Armilla is like this because it is unfinished or because it has been demolished, weather the cause is some enchantment or only a whim, I do not know. the fact remains that it has no walls, no ceilings, no floors: it has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be: a forest of pipes that end in taps, showers, sprouts, overflows. against the sky a lavabo's white stands out, or a bathtub, or some other porcelain, like late fruit still hanging from the boughs. you would think the plumbers had finished their job and gone away before the bricklayers arrived; or else their hydraulic systems, indestructible, had survived a catastrophe, an earthquake, or the corrosion of termites.

Abandoned before or after it was inhibited, Armilla cannot be called deserted. At any hour, raising your eyes among the pipes, you are likely to glimpse a young woman, or many young women, slender, not tall of stature, luxuriating in the bathtubs or arching their backs under the showers suspended in the void, washing or drying or perfuming themselves, or combing their long hair at the mirror. in the sun, the threads of water fanning from the showers glisten, the jets of the taps, the spurts, and splashes, the sponges' suds.

I have come to this explanation: the streams of water channeled in the popes of Armilla have remained in the possession of nymphs and naiads. Accustomed to traveling along underground veins, they found it easy to enter into the new aquatic realm, to burst from multiple fountains, to find new mirrors, new games, new ways of enjoying the water. their invasion may have driven out the human beings, or Armilla may have been built by humans as a votive offering to win the favor of the nymphs, offended at the misuse of the waters. in any case, now they seem content, these maidens: in the morning you hear them singing.

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The founder…

Armilla. This city was founded by incredibly beautiful creatures who were lovers of water and its energy. These creatures were seductive, radiant, and intimate women who lived and protected a secret underground city from their fire-possessed enemies. Powerful, but graceful, these women were born with expert sword skills and the ability to levitate.

An event of historic site…

Armilla. This city was comprised of vast stretches of pipelines that ran up, down, and sideways. These pipes and their protectors magically rose above ground one day after being secretly hidden for centuries, putting on a magnificent show of waterfalls, fountains, and sprouting waters. Within these pipelines and water shows, sparkling white bathtubs, sinks, and other porcelains were scattered, and the mystical nymphs and naiads sang as they bathed.

A service of the city…

Armilla. This city was unique in its contrast of the lusciousness of the women and solidity of the pipes, but there were more underlying events happening inside the pipes everyday. Invisible while underwater, service snakes that lived inside the pipes secreted microscopic enzymes that coated the pipes, preventing leaks and rusting. These snakes also served the women upon request as messengers; in return they were able to travel on the pipelines freely, instead of inside.

Your visit to the city…

Armilla. This city was run by women. Their enticing gestures and glances lured visitors to come closer, but one should not be too seduced by their looks. Anyone that stepped foot into the city was immediately surrounded by hundreds of snakes, as the women slowly levitated towards him. When asked his purpose of visiting, any answer delivered him back where he came from, and the only memories of the city were the pipelines beneath his feet as he was exiting.

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