Oekolampad Basel

Originally built in 1931 by architects Emil Bercher and Eugen Tamm, the Oekolampad parish hall stands as a clean-cut slice of Basel modernism — cubic, brick, and straight to the point. Named after Johannes Oekolampad (Basel’s own Reformer), the space was always meant for the community.

Fast forward to 2022: the Wibrandis Foundation took the reins, giving the building a new lease on life with a thoughtful renovation by Vécsey Schmidt Architekten. Their mission? Open up the space to nonprofits and institutions doing good work in Basel.

We were brought on board to dig into the building’s past and pull a piece of its typographic DNA into the present. The result: a custom typeface, built on the bones of a 1930s original, now used across all the signage. Old forms, new function.