Building type explores interpretation as a creative strategy for developing experimental design processes that translate architecture into type. The research sits within the experimental area of the contemporary type design context. The methodology is based on a hermeneutic framework and establishes a cycle of research methods that enable the project to progress through several phases of inquiry. It is a practice-based project, but its intended outputs are not fully resolved typefaces, but rather a range of experimental type design strategies. These strategies translate aspects of selected New Zealand suburban architecture (a single-bay villa, a Californian bungalow and a state house) into letterforms and prototypefaces. The outcomes are communicated through two sets of publications, large format posters, plan print guidelines, card inserts and an exegesis.