The Westbeth Artists Housing identity system, designed by Elaine Lustig Cohen in the late
1960s, stands as one of her most enduring and iconic achievements in urban graphic design. [1,
2, 3]

Research: Roger Braimon

When the historic Bell Telephone Laboratories in Manhattan’s Far West Village were adapted
by architect Richard Meier into the world’s largest subsidized housing complex for artists, Lustig
Cohen was brought on to design the complete visual identity. [2, 4]

Design Structure & Visual Language
Rather than a traditional static logo, Lustig Cohen developed a modular typographic system
rooted in structural minimalism:
● Stenciled Geometry: The word “WESTBETH” was constructed using thick, uniform
geometric blocks. The letterforms are broken apart by thin, intentional negative lines,
mimicking a stencil template or architectural floor plans.
● The “W” Icon: The letter W from the wordmark frequently doubled as a standalone logo,
looking like an interlocking series of upward-pointing structural columns or directional
arrows.
● Industrial & Utilitarian Aesthetic: Because Westbeth was the first large-scale
industrial-to-residential adaptive reuse project in the U.S., the logo intentionally rejected
traditional, ornate “residential” branding. It embraced a raw, factory-stenciled, industrial
look that honored the building’s manufacturing heritage. [2, 5] Implementation & Preservation
Lustig Cohen applied this bold system across the entire physical and printed footprint of the
complex:
● The Entrance Sign: Her massive, structural stenciled typeface was cast directly onto the
exterior signage welcoming residents at the corner of West and Bethune streets.
● Stationery & Ephemera: She designed a highly collectible suite of corporate materials,
envelopes, and letterheads for the community administration.
● Museum Collection: A testament to its cultural significance, her original 1960s lithograph
test prints of the Westbeth stationery envelope and identity elements are preserved in
the permanent architecture and design collection at MoMA. [1, 5] Would you like to know more about how her signage collaborated with Richard Meier’sarchitectural plans, or examine her other corporate identity systems from that era? [6] [1] https://www.moma.org
[2] https://westbeth.org
[3] https://www.cooperhewitt.org
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org
[5] https://www.villagepreservation.org
[6] https://www.rit.edu