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Uncovering thousands of ancient Arabic inscriptions & patterns through easily digestible, exhibition-based learning.

The Alhambra, of Granada, Spain | Spring 2024 | 6 weeks | Team: Jasmin Palermo

Print Design, Production
Web and Interaction Design

Rooted in Research

A system designed for the UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompassing a zine, website + interactive tool, and wayfinding for exhibition-based learning, to discover the rich history of the thousands of Arabic inscriptions and patterns within the palace walls. We were able to work with Juan Castilla Brazales, a Spanish researcher and historian whose expertise lies in Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) and ancient Arabic, who provided us with decades worth of research on inscriptions to make this possible.

A grand palace and 10,000+ Arabic inscriptions.

The Alhambra, a palace that has served generations of sultans, kings, and queens, was first constructed in the 11th century. A unique hallmark of Islamic influence in Spain, its thousands of religious inscriptions and geometric artworks have remained untouched.

Symbolic Wayfinding + Building a Place-Based Language

In order to highlight and represent the many architecturally significant and unique aspects of the Alhambra, we developed a wayfinding system that highlights the features of rooms in this sprawling palace. These are representational, showing at a glance what visitors can expect to discover in a certain area. The radial motifs play into the patterns and architectural features that are based in symmetry and mathematical and religious reasoning.

16 page perfect-bound zine, edition of 5. Die-cut and vellum jacket.

Part I: Inscribing the Alhambra

‘Inscribing the Alhambra’ is a zine that documents and highlights five of the thousands of inscriptions on the palace walls. Juan graciously provided us with these transcriptions that allowed us to distill the many inscriptions into five main themes: Nasrid Dynasty proverbs, poetry, religious expressions, moral maxims, and Quranic excerpts. This zine was a meaningful challenge in typesetting right-to-left Arabic with the left-to-right of English, and learning about the many different kinds of Arabic script that exist. We used a Kufic-style typeface that is similar to what is seen in the palace.

Part II: Patterning the Alhambra

‘Patterning the Alhambra’ is an interactive web component that details the building blocks of Islamic patterns and motifs. In Islam, the depiction of sentient beings and Allah in a human-like form is forbidden; patterns are a way to instead focus on spirituality. They often draw inspiration from nature and are built on grids of divine geometry. We felt that having two segments that each document such crucial aspects of Islamic art - its calligraphy and its patternmaking, that translate across structures, mosaics, rugs and furniture - captures the most crucial, and often the most mysterious parts of the palace to visitors.

Please excuse the dust - this page is under construction!

Amber Li