ABACO
ABACO comes from the “Annex del Centre d’Atenció Primària Gòtic” building, situated in front of Elisava, in Barcelona. This building is covered with lots of thin wooden blocks placed upright. I was struck by this simple pattern, especially on the left side of the building’s front: inside a rectangle, 27 wooden blocks are placed upright, divided by 4 horizontal lines that create 4 equal sections.
This setup reminded me of a tool I used in my early school years for simple math: the abacus—a way to show numbers with pieces you can move. I looked for a simple system made of a few basic shapes to create an easy grid for a basic font. The system I saw was already a grid, with the rectangle—used in two sizes—as the only shape. The result is a playful set of variations that can be used in different ways: BASICO, AMICO, ATOMICO.
