Home
1968237678|
Title: All set for Mexico Pages: 26 - 33        
Author: Jake Brown Text: All set for MEXICO 68 A month from now, barring another last-minute crisis, the Olympic Games will open in Mexico City. The design teams have made sure that, without spending the vast sums of money available to more wealthy nations, the Mexico Olympics will bean excising cultural and visual occasion, with plenty to amuse the crowds. Jake Brown reports. (caption) The title, above, is taken from a section of the Olympic Games logo designed by Lance Wyman. Huge balloons, below, will be used to mark different areas of the Games and will be spotlighted at night. All the signs are that the Olympic games in Mexico next month are going to be a ball. This time it will not be just a sporting and athletics meeting, but a festival of music, fine art and theatre -t he cultural side which until now has been forgotten. And of course, taking place in Mexico City, it is not likely to be an over-serious occasion, but a time of pleasure and enjoyment. Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, chairman of the Organising Committee, has been quoted as saying "The Olympics is really a big party for this world." And so it should be since the Mexicans are great pestevos. (caption) The graphics above and below, by Lance Wyman and Peter Murdoch, are from the Olympic Newsletter. Versions of the logo are used on the cover, and there are pictures of Mexican landscape and art inside. (caption) The 19 official Olympic sports each have a symbol for directional signs, some of which are shown above and below. Similar symbols are used for cultural events. They were designed by Lance Wyman. This way of looking at the Olympics as more than a competitive meeting - as a great celebration of human vigour, achievement and inventiveness - has affected the design of all the physical attributes of the project. It has set in motion a design programme that will set precedents throughout the city long after the athletic competitors have gone home. Mexico is not one of the richest countries in the world, and the Mexicans were appalled at the $2 7 billion spent by the Japanese on their Olympic facilities. This was a figure which the Mexicans could not possibly meet, so they have designed in a completely different way. In the event, the capital cost is likely to be around $80 million, about half of which has been spent on improving existing buildings and constructing fewer new buildings than were necessary at Tokyo. (caption) The Mexican Olympic Games logo, rig kit, is a naturally radiating progression from the Mexican Olympic Games symbol itself. Starting with the five entwined rings of the Olympic Games symbol, these become an integral part of "68," and the geometry of the numbers then determines the configuration of the word "Mexico." Out of this grows a series of lines that can be projected to form a pattern of infinite size, which has been used for the poster and other advertising material. (caption) The newspaper kiosk, below and opposite, which comes in two versions, is designed by Peter Murdoch, director of special projects. The kiosks use the same square metal rod framework as the directional signs shown on page 32, and 50 of the large version, and 200 of the small version, will be erected in Mexico City to coincide with the opening of the Olympics. Their hinged doors, which will shut when not in use, provide an ingenious solution to problems of display and storage. (caption) The souvenirs above right, were designed under the direction of Peter Murdoch. There are also boxes, flags and paper dolls which employ the techniques and materials of Mexican popular art, including the works of Hiuchol Indians and " Judas" figures. A range of paper souvenir earrings, bracelets, rings and belts has been designed by Julia Johnson-Marshall, who is also responsible for the dresses, right, which are worn by Olympics hostesses to match whatever event is taking place. There is some fine new architecture. The Sports Palace, designed by Felix Candela, Antonio Peyri, and Enrique Castaheda Tamborrel, has a huge 524-foot dome. Equally impressive is the swimming pool and gymnasium complex. But otherwise, except for the Olympic village, which will afterwards be converted into middle-class flats, the Olympics will be using existing structures, the best of which is the beautiful, elliptical University sports stadium of 1962, now enlarged to hold 80,000 spectators. From the design point of view, the architecture was the most impressive aspect of the Tokyo Games, but in Mexico City it is the graphics and "party" decorations which set the visual pace. Head of the design team, under Signor Vazquez, is architect Eduardo Terrazas, but most of the graphics are the work of Lance Wyman from the United States and Peter Murdoch from Great Britain. These two young designers were brought together for this project and have now set up a Transatlantic partnership, but for the Olympics, Lance Wyman is director of graphics, and Peter Murdoch director of special projects. First hints of the standard being achieved in their field came from the dramatic symbol and the first few issues of the two pre-Olympic publicity documents, Olympic Newsletter and XIX Olympiad. These dashing magazines, although not outstandingly well-printed, showed the work which was being prepared. (caption) One of the tickets, left, used to admit spectators into the Games and designed by Lance Wyman and Beatrice Colle. The coloured area at the top and bottom codes the day and time the event takes place, and a central band locates the position of the seat in the stadium. Symbolic silhouettes help to avoid language problems. The wool pictures, above, were made to their own designs by Mexican peasant craftsmen, who have been encouraged to take part in the great occasion. (caption) A selection from the third set of pre-Olympic stamps, which was designed by Lance Wyman and was the first to reflect the graphic policy for the 1968 Olympics. The stamps, which carry representations of all the offcial sports, not only work well individually but create strong pictorial patterns when grouped together in a series, however short or long the particular series may be. Having accepted the fiesta concept initiated and planned by Vazquez, Wyman and Murdoch have produced the graphic designs and ideas which make the project so memorable. Their first job was the brilliant "Mexico 68" logotype and the Olympics poster. In their work forr the Games they have made sure that the symbols, the information signs, and the best of the publicity material are not merely in the functional manner of international languages, but are also gay and amusing and festive; in addition they have produced a programme to which other people can contribute. So often, designers seem concerned that other people should not alter or add to their work, in case it might be spoilt. But in this case the designers have deliberately reversed such an attitude - by the tone as well as the framework of their designs - to ensure that other people can and do join in. For instance, there is the souvenir jewellery by Peter Murdoch's wife, Julia Johnson-Marshall, and all the pretty soys, paper windmills and wool pictures made by Mexican peasant craftsmen. As far as the pictures are concerned, the men who made them from coloured wools glued on to boards were just given the Olympics symbols and asked to usse it as they liked. The result is as fine, and in the same tradition, as the popular use and interpretation of the symbol designed by Aloisio Magalhaes for the fourth centenary celebrations of Rio de Janeiro in 1965.* There is nothing stiff or rigid about the Mexico Olympics designs; they are always gay and popular. And although there are inevitably some poor souvenirs and graphics coming out of Mexico, there are far more of outstanding quality than is usually the case in work for this kind of tourist-geared junketing. (caption) Collapsible cardboard display systems, top, have been designed by Peter Murdoch and used by the Organising Committee to send Olympics material abroad at little cost: the displays can, in fact, be sent by air mail The information booth, right, is also designed by Peter Murdoch, and makes use of every inch of space. Unlike the newspaper kiosks and the street signs, these booths are not intended to be permanent, but are one of the few items in the design programme which will vanish once the Games are over. (caption) A series of play boxes, below, can be built from pages of a souvenir booklet designed by Lance Wyman. Besides providing the boxes, the booklet gives the history of the Games and information about Mexico. (caption) The city sign system, above and below, designed by Peter Murdoch, is based on a simple metal frame and incorporates wastepaper baskets telephones, maps and Olympic signs. (caption) The Aztec Stadium, above, was designed by Ramirez Vazquez and Rafel Mijanes Alcena in 1965, and will be used for some of the Olympic events, while another existing building, the University Stadium designed by Carlos Lazo in 1962 above, has now been enlarged to hold 80,000 spectators. Specially built for the Games is the swimming pool and gymnasium complex, below, by Manuel Rosen Morrison, Antonio Recamier Montes, Edmundo Bringas and Javiet Valverde Garces, and the copper domed sports palace, bottom and opposite, designed by Felix Candela, Antonio Peyri and Enrique Castaheda Tamborrel. Of Peter Murdoch and Lance Wyman's own work, Lance Wyman's stamps are perhaps the most delightful, particularly in the way they work as sets as well as individual pieces. However, what makes their part of the exercise so successful is the way in which, under Signor Vazquez, they have sorted out which parts of the special material should be ephemeral and which should be permanent. At one level the designs are as splendid and as temporary (although a great deal better than what we are normally used to) as Christmas baubles and paper chains. At another, they are the starting point of plans which will help to make Mexico City an easier and pleasanter place in which to live. For instance, Peter Murdoch has designed two kinds of street furniture- information booths and city signs -that will remain as permanent features. The information booths, which have an inwardly curving form rather like a snail's shell, are designed to show the maximum amount of information on the minimum amount of space, while the directional signs use a simple, square sectioned frame that can be used as a single unit or built up in series. The basic frame can support a wastepaper basket, telephone, letter box, first aid pack or range of signs and whatever combination of these services is required. Peter Murdoch has also designed cardboard collapsible display systems for the presentation of Olympics material in Mexico and abroad. The festive atmosphere in the City itself will be reinforced by using balloons (picked out by searchlights at night) to mark the situation of the Olympic events and by painting streets in different colours so visitors can easily find their way around. Mexicans are reported to be both breathless and delighted by what they have achieved on such a modest budget. Many outsiders thought that some of the schemes could not be completed in time. But it looks as if the buildings are on schedule, and even though a few of the more delightful projects may not finally come through, there are still enough of them to ensure that, in the heart of one of the most beautiful countries in the world, visitors are going to have a great time at this year's Olympic Games: *See Typographica 12 |
||||