The Letters

Kapitol

Kapitol Thin

Kapitol Thin Italic

Kapitol Light

Kapitol Light Italic

Kapitol Regular

Kapitol Regular Italic

Kapitol Medium

Kapitol Medium Italic

Kapitol Semibold

Kapitol Semibold Italic

Kapitol Bold

Kapitol Bold Italic

Kapitol Black

Kapitol Black Italic

Kapitol Variable

Kapitol Variable Italic

Trial

Buy

Canberra

Islamabad

Brasília

Chișinău

Wellington

Buenos Aires

Amsterdam

N’Djamena

Mexico City

Kampala

Reykjavík

Ljubljana

Hagåtña

Ulaanbaatar

Pantheon, Rome, Italy,
Apollodorus of Damascus, c126AD

Église Saint-Jean de Montmartre, Paris,
France, Anatole De Baudot, 1904

E-1027, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France,
Eileen Gray, 1929

Casa Luis Barragán, Mexico City, Mexico,
Luis Barragán, 1948

Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík, Iceland,
Guðjón Samúelsson, 1948–1986

Cité Radieuse, Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, France,
Le Corbusier, 1952

Cvjetni Spomenik, Jasenovac, Croatia,
Bogdan Bogdanović, 1966

Pirelli Tire Building, New Haven, USA,
Marcel Breuer, 1967

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia,
Jørn Utzon, 1973

Blue Box House, Tokyo, Japan,
Mayumi Miyawaki, 1971

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
Louis Kahn, 1982

Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal, Brno, Czech Republic,
Radúz Russ, 1988

Women’s Centre, Rufisque, Senegal,
Hollmén Reuter Sandman, 2001

Australian Islamic Mission, Sydney, Australia,
Candalepas Associates, 2017

The design of reinforced concrete is a development of work done by Joseph-Louis Lambot, Joseph Moiner, and Francois Coignet. In 1850, Lambot constructed a boat and flower pots which were exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1855. He regarded this material as being especially well adapted for shipbuilding, reservoirs, and work of that nature. In 1853, Francois Coignet constructed a roof which had a span of twenty feet. The total thickness of the construction was twelve inches. He patented this idea and it was used to some extent, but his work did not show a clear conception of the mechanics involved in making the design. Joseph Moiner was a Parisian gardener. He constructed flower pots, tubs, and tanks of concrete in 1861. He made a framework of wires and the concrete was placed around the wires. Soon after this many other engineers took up reinforced concrete work, each one seeming intent upon developing their own ideas, securing patents on ther system.

At this time there did not seem to be a general development in the use of concrete, but it developed from individual ideas. This condition existed for many years, until engineers developed a formula which follows the laws of mechanics and which applies to all systems of construction of reinforced concrete. The ingredients used in making plain concrete are cement, sand, stone, and water. The strength of the concrete depends largely on the proportions of these materials and, of course, on the materials themselves. To make good concrete, good materials must be used, well mixed together with a minimum of water to secure a plastic concrete. To mold the concrete in the shapes desired, forms must be constructed of sufficient strength to support the concrete when placed. Plain concrete is extensively used for dams, retaining walls, piers, abutments, foundations, and many other types of construction where loads are to be supported. Concrete has a good compressive value but is weak in tensile strength and, therefore, steel bars are imbedded in the concrete in the proper places to resist the tensile stresses. In designing a beam, usually the top of the beam is in compression and is resisted by the compressive strength of the concrete, but the bottom of the beam will have a tensile stress to resist; and since the concrete has a low tensile value, the steel bars are placed near the bottom of the beam to resist the stress.

The steel bars must be entirely imbedded in the concrete to form a bond with the concrete. The concrete on the bottom will protect the steel from rusting and also protect it from heat in case of fires. The shear stresses in reinforced concrete are resisted by a combination of concrete and the steel. Reinforced concrete is used for buildings, bridges, retaining walls, and has been extensively used for highway construction. Concrete is a good material for fireproofing steel structures and also for protecting steel against rust. It is comparatively a cheap material and the ingredients for making concrete are available nearly everywhere. By placing steel bars in the concrete in the correct percentage, the steel will greatly assist in reducing cracks in the concrete due to temperature stresses. Although concrete is in truth the newest building material in our time, it is the oldest known to civilization because it was the stuff with which the eternal buildings of ancient Rome were constructed.

Even before the Romans used concrete it was used by the Egyptians, more than 4,000 years ago. We know this through the evidence of ruins of tombs and buildings. Many of these buildings were made of a material very much like concrete that must have been made in some such manner as concrete is made nowadays. About 2,000 years later, long after the Egyptian civilization had died, the people of Carthage discovered concrete for themselves and built a marvellous aqueduct 70 miles long, through which water was brought to their city. It was carried across a great valley over about 1,000 arches, many of which are still standing in good condition. To the Romans, however, we are indebted for some of the best examples of ancient concrete work. They used this material in their wonderful city for buildings, bridges, sewers, aqueducts, water mains, and in fact in a great many of the ways that we have seen it is used today. The great Coliseum and the Pantheon at Rome are relics of the skill of the ancient architects in the use of concrete. Although many historians think that the secret of making cementitious building material was lost from the fall of Rome until the middle of the eighteenth century, there are ruins of ancient castles which stood in mediæval times in Europe which indicate at least some use of concrete. A discoverer of natural cement in modern times was John Smeaton, working with a kind of limestone which could make a cement that would set, or harden, under water.

It was hailed as the recovery of the secret of the ancient Romans of making hydraulic cement. It was so called because it would harden under water. In 1796, Joseph Parker, another Englishman, made what he called Roman cement. Several others followed, and in 1818 natural cement was first made in the United States by Canvass White near Fayetteville, N. Y. The material was made from natural rock and was used in the construction of the Erie Canal. All of these cements are called natural cements by engineers nowadays, because they were made from natural rock. It was only necessary to find a clayey limestone which contained a certain percentage of iron oxide and two other minerals known as silica and alumina. The limestone was crushed to a convenient size and was burned in a kiln. The heat turned the stuff into cinders which, when ground to a fine powder and mixed with water, would make a cement that would harden under either air or water very quickly, and last for practically all time.

The supply of natural cement, however, is limited, because the proper kind of limestone is only found in a few places. Consequently, when an artificial mortar called Portland cement was invented in 1824, the world took a step forward. Most authorities give the credit for the invention to Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer of Leeds, England. He took out a patent on the material and in 1825 set up a large factory. In 1828 Portland cement was used in the Thames tunnel, making the first time that the material figured in any big engineering work. In those days even the most enthusiastic supporters of cement little dreamed that in this modern age it would be the material that would make possible such tremendous victories over the obstacles of nature as the Panama Canal, the tunnels under the rivers that surround New York and the great dams that hold back the waters all over the country. The advantage in Portland cement is that it can be made of a number of different kinds of earth, to be found in many different parts of the world, and makes a far stronger rock. It sets more slowly than natural or hydraulic cement, but is more satisfactory for use in reinforced concrete work. The artificial product contains lime oxide, silica, alumina, iron oxide, and other minerals in varying quantities, but the necessary ones are silica, alumina, and lime.

Styles

Kapitol Thin

Kapitol Thin Italic

Kapitol Light

Kapitol Light Italic

Kapitol Regular

Kapitol Regular Italic

Kapitol Medium

Kapitol Medium Italic

Kapitol Semibold

Kapitol Semibold Italic

Kapitol Bold

Kapitol Bold Italic

Kapitol Black

Kapitol Black Italic

Kapitol Variable

Kapitol Variable Italic

OpenType features

Ligatures deactivated

Ligatures activated

Language (English)

Language (Română)

All Caps deactivated

All Caps activated

Contextual Alternates deactivated

Contextual Alternates activated

Default figures

Tabular Lining figures activated

Fractions deactivated

Fractions activated

Numerator, Denominator deactivated

Numerator, Denominator activated

Glyphs

Basic character set

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdef\uE002ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Accented characters and language options

ÀÁÂÃÄĀĂÅĄÆǼĆĈČĊÇĎĐÈÉÊËĒĔĚĖĘĞĜĠĢĤĦÌÍÎĨÏĪĬİĮĲ\u0134 \uE000ĶĹĽĻĿŁŃŇÑŅŊÒÓÔÕÖŌŎŐØǾŒŔŘŖŠŚŜŞȘŤŢȚŦÙÚÛŨÜŪŬŮŰŲẀẂŴẄỲÝŶŸŹŽŻẞÞàáâäāăãåąæǽćčĉċçďđèéêěëēĕėęffğġģĥħıìíîĩïīĭįĳȷ\u0135 \uE001ķĸĺļľŀłńňñņŋòóôõöōŏőøǿœŕřŗśŝšşșţțťŧùúûũüūŭűůųẁẃŵẅỳýŷÿźžżßþð

Language accents

` ´ ˆ ˇ ˘¯ ˙ ¨ ˝ ˚ ˜ \uE003\uE004 ˛¸\uE005

Standard figures

00123456789

Tabular Lining characters

00123456789%.,;:$¢£¥€฿₫₣₦₧₱₽₹₺₩ƒ

Symbols and punctuation

Case-sensitive symbols and punctuation

•·-–—/\()[]{}|@¡¿

Ordinal characters

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Fractions

½⅓⅔¼¾⅛⅜⅝⅞

Numerator and Denominator figures

\u2070 \u00B9 \u00B2 \u00B3 \uE006 \uE007 \uE008 \uE009 \uE010 \uE011 \u2080 \u2081 \u2082 \u2083 \u2084 \u2085 \u2086 \u2087 \u2088 \u2089

Superscript and Subscript figures

^0123456789_0123456789

Information

About Kapitol

Kapitol is a sans serif type family characterised by a robust practicality achieved through clean utility and concrete geometry. Inspired by the unique materiality found in 1980s screen aesthetics, Kapitol expands on the memory of the single weight Chicago (originally designed as a 12pt bitmap version by Susan Kare in 1984 and later adapted as a vector-based TrueType version by Kris Holmes in 1991), re-imagining the style with more traditionally legible forms, while retaining much of the original unique contrast and feel. The Kapitol family utilises robust geometry to create a practical and diverse set of types that can be used equally well for text and display purposes.

The first drawings for Kapitol began in pure gridded geometry and were then evolved to also utilise more balanced and organic forms. Where necessary Kapitol discards the grid and utilises letterforms that have strong connections to the history of grotesque typefaces, all the while maintaining a unique contrast and purely vertical stresses.

The fourteen style Kapitol family consists of a broad range of weights that vary progressively in their aesthetic, due to the strong contrast in combination with its vertical stress. At text sizes Kapitol feels utilitarian and sets in efficient, structural galleys. At larger sizes the finish is clean and strong, almost brutalist, making for combinations of crisp geometry and solid forms.

The range of Kapitol weights are dynamic exponents of the family’s geometry. As the type weights get lighter or heavier toward the family’s extremities, their structural requirements change, but the overall geometric tone is maintained. Ultimately, the weights at the lighter and bolder ends of the spectrum look less and less like their visual origins, but always feel like they are a part of the greater family. The thin and black weights in particular stretch their inherent contrast to the limits, creating unique and characterful outcomes that are subtly familiar, yet always original.

Release

2021

Design

Mark Gowing
Dave Foster

Mastering

Ben Kiel

Features

Fourteen styles
Variable fonts
Latin-based language support
Discretionary ligatures
Fractions
Ordinals
Inferior, superscript, numerator and denominator figures
Tabular figures, currency and math symbols

Language support

Abenaki, Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Amis, Anuta, Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Arrernte, Arvanitic (Latin), Asturian, Atayal, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bislama, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Chickasaw, Cimbrian, Cofán, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Delaware, Dholuo, Drehu, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, Folkspraak, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Gooniyandi, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut), Guadeloupean Creole, Gwich’in, Haitian Creole, Hän, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hopi, Hotcąk (Latin), Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Irish, Istro-Romanian, Italian, Jamaican, Javanese (Latin), Jèrriais, Kaingang, Kala Lagaw Ya, Kapampangan (Latin), Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Karelian (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kiribati, Kirundi, Klingon, Kurdish (Latin), Ladin, Latin, Latino sine Flexione, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Māori, Marquesan, Megleno-Romanian, Meriam Mir, Mirandese, Mohawk, Moldovan, Montagnais, Montenegrin, Murrinh-Patha, Nagamese Creole, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Ngiyambaa, Niuean, Noongar, Norwegian, Novial, Occidental, Occitan, Onĕipŏt, Oshiwambo, Ossetian (Latin), Palauan, Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Q’eqchi’, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Sami (Inari Sami), Sami (Lule Sami), Sami (Northern Sami), Sami (Southern Sami), Samoan, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Seri, Seychellois Creole, Shawnee, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Slovio (Latin), Somali, Sorbian (Lower Sorbian), Sorbian (Upper Sorbian), Sotho (Northern), Sotho (Southern), Spanish, Sranan, Sundanese (Latin), Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Tzotzil, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Volapük, Võro, Wallisian, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu, Zuni

Usage notes

We are committed to the highest levels of font production. Kapitol has been professionally engineered to work seamlessly across all platforms and to perform exceptionally in print and on screen. The OpenType fonts contain a multitude of convenient features, such as automated case-sensitive punctuation and symbols, alternate figure sets and broad Latin-based language support to enhance your requirements.

Kapitol is a sensitive and useful type family that embodies a new kind of formality based on that familiar robustness and sense of geometry. Kapitol was partly envisioned as a potential replacement for modernist grotesque typefaces, both in display and text use. It was created as a new kind of text typeface that could stand up to the demanding combination of contemporary print and digital use, while also remaining unique and ultimately legible.

Kapitol’s fourteen styles all come with full sets of ordinal characters; inferior, superscript, numerator and denominator figures; as well as tabular currency, math symbols and figures. All Kapitol family packs also come with variable fonts.

Essay: A Concrete Process
Mark Gowing

Those of us old enough to have used a computer in the mid 1980s, can recall the experience of reading a pixelated version of Chicago on early Macintosh screens. Designed in 1984 by Susan Kare for Apple’s first operating system, Chicago is fondly remembered as the typeface associated with many people’s first experience with personal computers, and would later be employed again in 2001 as the typeface used for the operating system of the first iPod. Chicago was defined by its unique letter structure that was a response to its specific on-screen context. Launched in 1984, Chicago was originally only created as a 12pt bitmap version utilising a restrictive pixel grid…

Fonts in use