NO. 09, 2014
NO. 09, 2014
eg EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal Integrated Environmental Media System
YOUR DESIGN PARTNER We’re more than just a digital media manufacturer. We team up with leading architects, designers, integrators and media experts to help transform public spaces into some of the world’s most iconic digital media destinations. From design concepts to in-depth technology sessions, we strive to deliver a high-quality digital media solution that lives up to your vision.
888-325-7446
commercial@daktronics.com
WWW.SEGD.ORG
www.daktronics.com
OUTDOOR
ENVIRONMENTS
SOCIAL HOUSING SIGNAGE
BOY SCOUTS TREEHOUSE
EXHIBITION TECHNOLOGY
City of Nashville Designer: Informing Design (Pittsburgh, PA)
Nemours Children’s Hospital Designer: Stanley Beaman & Sears (Atlanta, GA) Perkins + Will (Boston, MA)
CCBC Designer: Ayers Saint Gross (Baltimore, MD)
Inspired by Design. Powered by Innovation. Committed to Perform.
Let’s traveL together Building upon our 34 years of award winning performance and experience, GableSigns understands what it takes to make a great project. We have been working with EG designers since our beginning days, and never underestimate or compromise what a great partnership can achieve. From custom signs & architectural graphics, to dynamic digital displays, our team is here and ready to help on your next project. For more info, contact us at 800.854.0568
Cabana Bay Beach Resort Designer: WrenHouse Design Debra Wrenhouse
www.GableSiGnS.com
CHPL PROJECT DESIGN Hunt Design PHOTO Mason Cummings/Parks Conservancy
Society for Experiential Graphic Design A multidisciplinary community creating experiences that connect people to place
SEGD BoarD of DirEctorS President Vice President Treasurer
Jill Ayers, Design360, New York John Lutz, Selbert Perkins Design, Chicago Gary Stemler, archetype, Minneapolis, Minn.
Patrick Angelel, CREO Industrial Arts, Everett, Wash. Sander Baumann, designworkplan.com, Amsterdam Steve Bayer, Daktronics, Brookings, S.D. Peter Dixon, Prophet, New York Oscar FernĂĄndez (Ex Officio), University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Moira Gemmill (Ex Officio), V&A Museum, London Cynthia Hall (Ex Officio), Gensler, Seattle J. Graham Hanson, Graham Hanson Design, New York Edwin Hofmann, Limited Brands, Columbus, Ohio Alan Jacobson, ex;it, Philadelphia Amy Lukas (Past President), Infinite Scale, Salt Lake City Wayne McCutcheon (Past President), Entro, Toronto Bryan Meszaros, OpenEye, South Amboy, N.J. Stephen Minning, BrandCulture Communications, Sydney Dan Moalli, Technomedia, New York Steven Stamper, fd2s, Austin, Texas Julie Vogel, Kate Keating Associates, San Francisco Leslie Wolke, Leslie Wolke Consulting, Austin, Texas
SEGD cHaPtEr cHairS Atlanta Austin Boston Brisbane, Australia Charlotte, NC Chicago
G OL D EN G ATE NATION AL PARK
Do your project specifications require
3 week lead time, In-house manufacturing, 10 year warranty, Fade, scratch + graffiti resistance
Specify:
Cincinnati Denver Jacksonville, Fla. Edinburgh Kansas City London Minneapolis New York Philadelphia Portland San Diego San Francisco Seattle Toronto Vancouver
REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE AND MORE INFO AT izoneimaging.com/ EG14
2 — eg magazine
Washington, D.C. Wellington, New Zealand
Lynne Bernhardt, lynne@sbs-architecture.com Stephen Carlin, stevecarlin@coopercarry.com Jason Helton, jhelton@snallc.com Mitch Leathers, mleathers@snallc.com Michele Phelan, michele@96pt.com Sam Pease, sam@spdeast.com Jack Bryce, jack@jackbryce.com Kevin Kern, kkern@505design.com Scott Muller, smuller@poblocki.com Kyle Skunta, kskunta@selbertperkins.com Julie Maggos, j.maggos@interiorarchitects.com Hannah Anderson, handerson@msaarch.com George Lim, george@tangramdesignllc.com Angela Serravo, angela@tangramdesignllc.com Steve Williams, steve@harbinger.com Lucy Richards, lr@studiolr.com Rick Smith, rsmith@dimin.com Simon Borg, simon.borg@populous.com Adam Halverson, adamh@serigraphicssign.com Jese Yungner, yungner@visualcomm.com Rachel Einsidler, einsidler.r@design360inc.com Anthony Ferrara, anthony@designconcernus.com Anna Sharp, asharp@twotwelve.com Stephen Bashore, sbashore@cloudgehshan.com Ian Goldberg, igoldberg@cloudgehshan.com Kathy Fry, kathy@mayerreed.com Mike Sauer, ms@andersonkrygier.com Chris McCampbell, chris@kathydavisassociates.com Tim Huey, tim_huey@gensler.com Danielle Lindsay-Chung, danielle.lindsaychung@gmail.com Cynthia Hall, cynthia_hall@gensler.com Annie Patterson, apatterson@thisisdk.com Cynthia Damar-Schnobb, cynthia@entro.com Andrew Kuzyk, andrew@entro.com Danielle Bauer, dbauer@cygnusgroup.ca Daniela Pilossof, daniela.pilossof@gmail.com Jeffrey Wotowiec, jwotowiec@cannondesign.com Nick Kapica, n.kapica@massey.ac.nz
Publisher Clive Roux, CEO Editor-in-Chief Pat Matson Knapp pat@segd.org Executive Editor Ann Makowski Founding Editor Leslie Gallery Dilworth Design Wayne-William Creative Contributors Michael Courtney, Naomi Pearson, Jenny Reising, David Sokol Executive and Editorial Offices 1900 L St., NW Suite 710 Washington, D.C. 20036 202.638.5555 www.segd.org
Postmaster: Send address changes to eg magazine, 1900 L St., NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC 20036. © 2014 eg magazine SSN: 1551-4595
WWW.SEGD.ORG
Subscriptions: US $80/year, International $125/year. Send US funds to eg magazine, SEGD, 1900 L St., NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC 20036. To charge your order, call 202.638.5555.
EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
eg magazine is the international journal of SEGD, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design. Opinions expressed editorially and by contributors are not necessarily those of SEGD. Advertisements appearing in eg magazine do not constitute or imply endorsement by SEGD or eg magazine. Material in this magazine is copyrighted. Photocopying for academic purposes is permissible, with appropriate credit. eg magazine is published four times a year by SEGD Services Corp. Periodical postage paid at York, Penn., USA, and additional mailing offices.
Daktronics
NO. 09, 2014
eg
Editorial, Subscriptions, Reprints, Back Issues 202.638.5555 segd@segd.org
When the founders of SEGD ruminated about what they should call a then-emerging discipline—which at the time was rooted solidly in architectural signage—they knew instinctively that its name should be much larger than the current delivery platform. After much soul-searching and heated debate, they settled on “environmental graphic design,” referring to the fact that the communication vehicle (mostly signage at that time) should be secondary to the bigger picture (the need to create clear communications in the built environment). If they were standing at the crossroads we’re facing today, I think they would again look beyond the current delivery platforms (signage and now screens) and toward the bigger picture (the need to create experiences that connect people to place and enrich life in the process). As our discipline evolves to connect the physical to the digital, our ways of thinking about design also need to evolve. We must begin to develop—if we haven’t already— new interactive and content skills that will serve users in a world that is now decidedly experiential. New and emerging technologies are helping designers create experiences that not only provide information, but enable interaction with users in meaningful ways. Most of the interesting technology revolves around identification and feedback (the basis of interaction). Much of it is trying to identify who is using a space, and what they are doing in the space, in the same way that websites use tracking cookies. Gesture recognition, facial and demographic recognition, and camera tracking are becoming increasingly sophisticated and common. And as we move closer to the Internet of Things, we will see our current world of individual touchpoints linked into a web of embedded interactions and experiences. Our SEGD design community is the best positioned to be the explorers, discoverers, and leaders of an intelligent environment, but only if we grasp this opportunity. It’s a journey we are on together! Along the way, enjoy this issue of the magazine. To celebrate the arrival of spring (finally!), we’re featuring several outdoor projects: an historic iron foundry in New York, a Boy Scout treehouse designed as a sustainability teaching moment, and a wayfinding program for an inner-city London social housing development. You’ll also enjoy Wayne LaBar’s article on new and emerging technologies used in museum experiences, and Ruedi Baur’s typographic response to The New School’s vertical campus in New York City.
NO. 09, 2014
Advertising Sales Kathleen Turner kathleen@segd.org 202.638.5555
EGD in an XGD World?
OUTDOOR
ENVIRONMENTS
SOCIAL HOUSING SIGNAGE
BOY SCOUTS TREEHOUSE
EXHIBITION TECHNOLOGY
On the cover: At West Point Foundry Preserve in Cold Spring, N.Y., C&G Partners recreated the 32-ft.-tall gun platform used to test cannons. See story, page 22.
Clive Roux CEO
eg magazine — 3
CONTENTS
1 UP FRONT (10)
Found
Alpha giving and credit-worthy digital (12)
Review
Designing Brand Identity, Susan Szenazy, and Lella Vignelli (14)
Out There
FusionCast cast-metal signage, 3form Chroma, and a typographic chess set
4 — eg magazine
2 FEATURES (22)
Lost and Foundry
C&G Partners’ interpretive graphics breathe new life into an historic foundry site by bringing the past to the present. (28)
In Situ
Ruedi Baur creates an interpretive, three-dimensional wayfinding program for The New School’s vertical New York campus. (38)
A Scout’s Treehouse
At the Boy Scouts adventure camp in West Virginia, a new five-story treehouse makes conservation cool. (42)
No Place Like Home
Hat-Trick creates an artful signage and wayfinding program for one of inner-city London’s social housing developments.
3 INSPIRATION (52)
Tools of Engagement
New and emerging digital tools are helping raise the [experience] bar in museums and other exhibition environments. (60)
Sketchbook
Michael Courtney is an equalopportunity sketcher. (64)
Up Close
Per Mollerup on wayfinding, wayshowing, and why waylosing is not so bad.
eg magazine — 5
Systech | the trusted choice
Adaptable sign systems Manufacturing for more than 30 years
Contact us for your local Systech dealer Email info@systech-signage.com Call 800 807 1931 www.systech-signage.com
UP FRONT (10)
Found
Alpha giving and credit-worthy digital (12)
Review
Designing Brand Identity, Susan Szenazy, and Lella Vignelli (14)
Out There
FusionCast cast-metal signage, 3form Chroma, and a typographic chess set
FOUND
SECTION TITLE
10 — eg magazine
Alpha Giving Alpha Workshops is the nation’s only non-profit providing HIV-positive individuals with training and employment in the decorative arts. Working pro bono on a donor recognition wall for Alpha’s newly renovated facility, Poulin + Morris found inspiration in the iconic Eames House of Cards. In collaboration with Dura Architectural Signage (which also donated its services), P+M conceived an interlocking donor wall made of large blank acrylic panels fitted with slots, similar to the Eames cards. Each panel was finished by an Alpha Workshops artist in wallpaper, silver or gold leaf, plaster, or trompe l’oeil. About 150 panels were composed into a 4-foot-high by 5-foot-wide structure that can be updated easily and, at the same time, showcases Alpha Studios’ work. The same acrylic panels are used as room signs, and P+M also designed the workshop’s main identification sign. (Photos: Deborah Kushma)
The State Employees Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., wanted to find a beautiful and dynamic way to engage visitors entering their new 12-story office building. They also wanted to incorporate a digital wayfinding system and state-of-theart audio/visual systems into the building’s conference and meeting rooms. Materials & Methods managed to cover all the bases with a system that makes an artful first impression in the lobby and extends to all floors. In the lobby, a gesturally interactive art video wall is comprised of 18 55-inch Christie LCD displays in a staggered configuration surrounded by diffused glass panels backlit with low-resolution LED video tiles. Working with the SECU executive team and architects O’Brien Atkins, Materials & Methods developed 10 content scenarios ranging from painterly animations to SECU employee profiles. In the elevator lobbies above, pairs of vertically oriented 46-inch Samsung LCD displays serve as digital directories. (Photos: Jeff Grantz)
DNUOF
Credit Worthy
eg magazine — 11
REVIEW
Personal branding
We used to count the business cards in our Rolodex. Now we count the colleagues on LinkedIn, the number of friends on Facebook, and sleep with our digital devices under our pillows. Social media and digital devices have accelerated the blur between business and life, work and leisure, and public and private. Every time a person sends an email, it’s personal branding. Colleagues used to exchange business cards; now, blogs are becoming mainstream for anyone in business. Being authentic is critical because the web never forgets. Personal branding (think Sun King, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Cleopatra) used to be for indulgent monarchs. Now it’s de rigueur for being in business whether you are a corporate exec, a design guru, an aspiring entrepreneur, or a sales
Identity Who are you? Who needs to know? How will they find out? Why should they care?
associate. We are all rock stars now. Social media have made the world our stage. And the competition is fierce. Why has personal branding become so important? Jobs no longer last forever. The number of self-employed individuals has increased dramatically over the last decade. A third of our workforce is now self-employed. And we are all connected 24/7.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde
In a world that is bewildering in terms of competitive clamour, in which rational choice has become almost impossible, brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership—everything that enables human beings to help define themselves. Brands represent identity. Wally Olins On Brand
Designing Brand Identity
Six career secrets 1. There is no plan. 2. Think strengths, not weaknesses. 3. It’s not about you. 4. Persistence trumps talent. 5. Make excellent mistakes. 6. Leave an imprint. Daniel H. Pink The Adventures of Johnny Bunko
Branding is building your reputation. It’s not getting a tattoo. Do it anyway. © Andrew Shaylor Photography
91
90
Designing Brand Identity (fourth edition) By Alina Wheeler Wiley, 2013
Emblems
Emblems are trademarks featuring a shape inextricably connected to the name of the organization. The elements are never isolated. Emblems look
Rusk Renovations: Louise Fili Ltd.
terrific on a package, as a sign, or as an embroidered patch on a uniform. As mobile devices continue to shrink and multi-branding ads with onesixth-inch logos increase, the emblem presents the biggest legibility challenge when miniaturized.
Tazo: Sandstrom Design Design Within Reach: Pentagram
For brand identity consultant, coach, and writer Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity has become somewhat of a life’s work. Now in its fourth edition, this primer on brand design has become its own evolutionary process, the result of Wheeler’s efforts to “provide brand builders with the most comprehensive resource in the world about the brand identity process.” Wheeler has certainly delivered on her promise to be comprehensive, and at the same time, created a primer that is an attractive, easy read for busy designers and brand builders. Designing Brand Identity is divided into three major sections—Basics, Process, and Best Practices—and organized by spread for quick reading. The Basics section, as promised, starts from scratch: What is the difference between brand and brand identity? It moves on to cover brand ideals, elements, and dynamics. Process outlines a well-conceived methodology for creating brand identity, from market research (“ask the right questions”) all the way through reproduction files. And Best Practices is an up-to-the-minute case study archive that spans print, environments, and the web and mobile apps. A combination of excellent information design and succinct writing make this a must for any designer’s bookshelf.
12 — eg magazine
When I drive my car in New York City, L’Arte del Gelato becomes the center of the attention. Everyone cheers. This really makes me feel proud of where I came from and what I have done so far.
Bruegger’s Bagels: Milton Glaser NYU Abu Dhabi: Pentagram
Francesco Realmuto Founder L’Arte del Gelato
L’Arte del Gelato: Louise Fili Ltd. TiVo: Cronan
L’Arte del Gelato: Louise Fili Ltd.
TOMS Shoes: Unknown Brooklyn Brewery: Milton Glaser
61
60
03_9781118099209-cmp01.indd 60
9/6/12 9:44 AM
03_9781118099209-cmp01.indd 61
“ Wheeler has certainly delivered on her promise to be comprehensive, and at the same time, created a primer that is an attractive, easy read for busy designers and brand builders.”
9/6/12 9:44 AM
Ideas for a book, website, or exhibit review? Contact pat@segd.org.
Designed By: Lella Vignelli By Massimo Vignelli Self published, 2014
Great Places By Hunt Design Self published, 2014
After 35 years in History is littered with the stories of the women business and hundreds of built projects—from behind the men: often the Statue of Liberty to playing a huge role in the Golden Gate their success, but often in subordinate roles and Bridge—Hunt Design (founded by Wayne almost always Hunt, FSEGD) has underappreciated. memorialized some of Massimo Vignelli its favorite work in this wants the world to new book. know that wasn’t the “We’re about case with Elena (Lella) making great places Vignelli, his wife and greater,” says firm partner of more than Principal Jen Bressler. 50 years. In this tribute The San Diego Zoo, to her work, Vignelli honors the contributions Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Cedarsshe made to one of the Sinai Medical Center, world’s most successful Children’s Hospital Los and celebrated design Angeles, Rockefeller studios. He dedicates Center, the National the book to her as “an inspiration to all women Mall, and many others designers who forcefully are included. Volume two is in the works stand on their own already. merits, as Lella did throughout her long career.”
A Love Letter to the City By Stephen Powers Princeton Architectural Press, 2014
Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines Tony Brook, ed. Unit Editions, 2014
Szenasy, Design Advocate Ann S. Hudner, Akiko Busch, ed. Metropolis Books, 2014
Public artist Stephen Powers, known in the 1990s by his graffiti tag ESPO, harnesses the commercial vibe of advertising billboards but gives them a heartstrings-plucking twist with messages like “I Paid the Light Bill Just to See Your Face” and “If You Were Here I’d be Home.” His handpainted love letters stretch across city walls and along rooftops, combining activism and public art. Powers works with local communities to create visual jingles— often poignant affirmations and confessions that reflect the collective hopes and dreams of the neighborhood.
This may be the first comprehensive study of corporate identity manuals, featuring 21 examples from the 1960s to early 1980s—the golden era of identity design. It includes manuals created for institutions and corporations ranging from NASA and Lufthansa to British Steel and Audi. Its guiding principle: “The definition of a good manual is a manual that gets used.”
For three decades as editor-in-chief and now publisher of the groundbreaking Metropolis magazine, Susan Szenasy has been a voice of reason and insight on a wide range of design issues, from universal design and sustainability to consumer excess and the social and environmental impacts of the buildings and products we manufacture. The first collection of her writings reveals her thoughtprovoking style and her ongoing commitment to informed dialogue about design and culture.
eg magazine — 13
OUT THERE
A
B
C
D
Innovative materials, products & technology
14 — eg magazine
New product to share? Contact pat@segd.org.
C D B A
Typographic Chess Set Hat-Trick Design created this typographic chess set based on Champion (Lightweight) by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. The limitededition set includes 50 pieces laser cut from 25mm acrylic. The king is 50mm tall, and the pawn is 30mm. The 2mm greyboard is foiled in black and 364mm square. www.hat-trickdesign.co.uk
3form Chroma Metal Cast Signage FusionCast™ metal-cast signage is a cost-effective alternative to traditional cast-metal. The metal is positioned to the front of the plaque where it can be seen, while a cost-effective high-density urethane foundation provides strength and durability. The signs are half the weight of cast metal, 33% cheaper than bronze, do not require smelting, and carry a 10-year warranty.
Made from 38% recycled content, Chroma is saturated with color and can be fabricated and lit in numerous ways. Chroma XT was used in the new Children’s Park at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio). MKSK designed custom planters with ghost backing to enliven a maze of fragrant plantings. Internally illuminated with LED lighting and capped with natural black slate, the planters come alive at night to delight children from their rooms above.
www.fusioncast.com
www.3-form.com
TouchIntegrated Display The 46-inch V463-TM display features LED backlight, full-HD resolution, and interactive capabilities in a low-profile, four-camera optical-imaging technology that allows up to four simultaneous touches. Integrated, double-sided anti-reflective glass protects the LCD panels. It offers 1920x1080 native resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, 480 cd/m2 maximum brightness, and 4000:1 contrast ratio. www.necdisplay.com
eg magazine — 15
GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, DALLAS, TX – SIGNAGE IN TEXAS LImESTONE
www.mmcarvings.com — 909-337-9449
Marcel_Maechler_AD_2013-10-23_SEGD.indd 1
28.10.2013 15:38:12 Uhr
WE BRING YOUR IDEAS TO LIFE. Gemini offers a broad range of letters, logos and plaques in a variety of metals and plastics — all customizable to match your design. Plus, every Gemini product is built to last and guaranteed for life.
LETTERS, LOGOS & PLAQUES 1-800-538-8377
signletters.com
University of Saint Thomas donor recognition wall designer: L.A., Inc.
Bringing design to life 9 635 G ir a rd Ave n u e S o uth M in n e a p o l i s , M N 55 431 9 52 6 41 9 6 0 0
archetypesign.com
FEATURES (22)
Lost and Foundry
C&G Partners’ interpretive graphics breathe new life into an historic foundry site by bringing the past to the present. (28)
In Situ
Ruedi Baur creates an interpretive, threedimensional wayfinding program for The New School’s vertical New York campus. (38)
A Scout’s Treehouse
At the Boy Scouts adventure camp in West Virginia, a new five-story treehouse makes conservation cool. (42)
No Place Like Home
Hat-Trick creates an artful signage and wayfinding program for one of inner-city London’s social housing developments.
LOST AND FOUNDRY
C&G Partners’ interpretive EGD program for the West Point Foundry Preserve breathes new life into an historic site by bringing the past to the present. By Jenny S. Reising 22 — eg magazine
The 13-by-5.5-ft. main entrance sign has a stainless steel and wire mesh base filled with rubble brick and curved 2.5-ft.-high cast-iron letters that evoke the raw “pig” iron stamp of the foundry’s early years, when the iron was smelted on site.
T
he 87-acre West Point Foundry Preserve in Cold Spring, New York, might have remained one of the greatest undiscovered industrial archaeological gems in America had it not been for Scenic Hudson, which purchased the site in 1996 to create an historic preserve. Often called “the Silicon Valley of the 19th century,” from 1818 to 1911 the water-powered West Point Foundery designed and manufactured armaments, steam engines, industrial machinery, housewares, and cast-iron facades. Up to 1,000 workers toiled at the site around the clock. The foundry was most famous for producing cannons, including the long-range Parrott guns that helped the Union win the Civil War. Nearly 100 years later, all but one of the buildings had been demolished and the site was an assemblage of forgotten ruins in a heavily wooded ravine that abuts the Hudson River.
Freestanding 6-ft.-tall, 2-ft.-sq. stainless steel and wire mesh totems house graphic panels manufactured by SH Immersive Environments (formerly Systeme Huntingdon) on three sides and a cast-iron seal inspired by the original 1818 foundry seal. Brick taken from on-site ruins double as structural support and a nod to the site’s history.
“When we purchased the property, it contained such an important resource, had such significant archaeological remains, and was also in such a scenic area that we wanted it to be an accessible, exciting historic preserve,” explains Rita Shaheen, Director of Parks at Scenic Hudson. The group spent the next eight years working with Michigan Tech’s industrial archaeological program (which directed six seasons of digs on the site), industrial experts from Europe, and a Cold Spring think tank to uncover the site’s history and help inform new uses for the land. In 2006, Scenic Hudson tapped Mathews Nielsen landscape architects to realize its vision, one informed by community and other stakeholders. And for the interpretive elements, Shaheen says, “We wanted something that was light on the land, historically accurate yet contemporary, and had a dialogue with the old ruins.”
From 1818 to 1911, the West Point Foundry produced armaments, steam engines, industrial machinery, housewares, and cast-iron facades. It was most famous for producing cannons, including the longrange Parrott guns that helped the Union win the Civil War. (Photo: Putnam History Museum)
eg magazine — 23
LOST AND FOUNDRY
Rebranding the Preserve “We believe very strongly in creating place but not doing it artificially,” says Keith Helmetag, principal of C&G Partners, which created the environmental graphic design program. “When you build and refresh a place on a foundation and in ruins with an extraordinary history, the task is remarkably easy if you’re willing to just respond to the information that lies in front of you.” In this case, C&G had plenty of material to work with, beginning with the slab-serif typography that existed on the foundry’s original raw-iron stamp and laid the groundwork for the Preserve’s rebranding. Beginning with the site’s main identity monument, the cast-iron typeface is a dominant feature throughout the EGD program. The Preserve’s name is introduced in 2.5-ft.-high curved cast-iron letters by sculptor Jan Spoerri that appear to be “wrapped around the original pig, or form,” Helmetag says, while also evoking the spirit of the cannons that were legendary for being built on the site. The letters are set over a stainless steel gabion, anchored in place by carefully placed brick fragments taken from the foundry’s surface ruins. The repurposing of the brick serves a dual purpose: it’s a nod to the site’s historic past and also a way to re-use materials from the site. In addition to its wish for an easy-to-maintain and weather- and vandal-proof signage system, Scenic Hudson wanted the interpretive elements to incorporate materials that are either recyclable or could be recycled.
A direct reference to the site’s historic past, the modern cast-iron West Point Foundry Preserve lettering and an updated seal from 1818 also appear on five kiosks that define portals to the site. Contemporary additions to the seal, such as graphic cattails of the nearby marsh and a stylized white oak wreath frame, reference the site’s transformation as a second-growth forest during the 20th century. While the branded kiosks acknowledge Scenic Hudson and list site rules and regulations, they also offer narratives on daily life during the 1800s in Cold Spring and at the original foundry.
Five kiosks define the various portals to the site. Branded with the new foundry seal, they acknowledge Scenic Hudson and list site rules and regulations, and also offer narratives on daily life during the 1800s in Cold Spring and at the Foundery.
24 — eg magazine
C&G Partners reinterpreted the original 1818 West Point Foundery seal with the addition of graphic cattails of the nearby marsh and a stylized white oak wreath frame.
“
When you build and refresh a place on a foundation and in ruins with an extraordinary history, the task is remarkably easy if you’re willing to just respond to the information that lies in front of you.
”
Telling the story Eight years of research had uncovered a wealth of information about the site’s storied past, but Scenic Hudson wanted to highlight three themes in the EGD program: the foundry’s role in the Civil War, its role in the Industrial Revolution, and how nature had reclaimed the land/the Superfund cleanup of contamination from another offsite entity. One of several unique interpretive elements C&G created is the gun platform, a 32-foothigh wood structure that sits on a raised promontory overlooking the remediated marsh. During the foundry’s heyday, each Parrott gun was tested from the hanging gantry of the original three-story-high gun platform for velocity, accuracy, and impact. C&G recreated the gun platform with seating in the lower sections, an interpretive panel on the hoist describing the platform’s history and the marsh’s more recent Superfund cleanup, and a decorative roof structure with wood-cut-like illustrations of the site’s flora and fauna by Stephen Alcorn. Helmetag says the use of woodcuts is a reference to the early 1800s, when wood type and woodcuts were often used to depict painted illustrations. On the boardwalk, a 12-ft.-long stainless steel silhouette of the 300-pound Parrott gun is inscribed with a Civil War-era article from The New York Times describing the foundry and its armaments. Another highlight of the EGD program is a partial replica of the Boring Mill. At 36 feet in diameter, the Boring Mill waterwheel was at the time one of the largest in America, driving metal-finishing equipment that rifled the Parrot cannons and other factory products. Rather than recreate a working waterwheel—which Helmetag says would have aroused concern about people climbing over it or burning it—C&G designed an historically
The 32-ft.-high, 10-ft.-sq. gun platform is a replica of the original, which was used to test cannons by shooting toward the nearby Crow’s Nest Canyon. eg magazine — 25
LOST AND FOUNDRY
accurate section of the Boring Mill in marine-grade stainless steel in its original channel, discovered during excavations by Michigan Tech’s archaeological team. Constructed by Hatfield Metal Fabrication, the 15,000lb. replica was assembled on site. Interpretive panels mounted on the rail of an adjacent stairwell feature historic images, descriptive text, and a watercolor depiction of the Boring Mill by artist Kevin Woest that shows how it likely looked in its heyday, based on historical documents and archaeological findings. The staircase bridges two elevations—the exhibits lining the forest and Foundry Road, a well-worn path along the ravine that workers traveled on their way home from the foundry—and provided an opportunity for another interpretive gesture. Text and historical images mounted onto cast-aluminum panels were attached discretely to the stair risers so that, as pedestrians ascend the stairs, they can learn how water was pumped from the Foundry Brook to drive the Boring Mill waterwheel and other factory machinery. Client Scenic Hudson Location Cold Spring, N.Y. Project Area 87 acres Open Date October 2013 Design C&G Partners interpretive exhibits, signage, and graphics Design Team Keith Helmetag principal; Amy Siegel lead designer; Brandon Downing research, writing, and design; Justine Gaxotte designer; Daniel Fouad design renderer; Kendall Tynes graphic designer Landscape Architects Mathews Nielsen Consultants Stephen Alcorn woodcut illustrations, Exhibitology detailing, Kevin Woest watercolor renderings, Emery Pajer cartography, MPress monograph printer, Putnam History Museum historic images
A 1.5-by-11 ft. graphic panel features a timeline of the site.
26 — eg magazine
Fabrication Meyer Contracting Corporation exhibit fabrication, SH Immersive Environments (formerly Systeme Huntington) graphic panels, Hatfield Metal Fabrication custom ironwork and armatures, Robinson Iron cast-iron seals, Jan Spoerri main identity sculpture Photos Alex Ellipsis
An 1892 New York Times article is inlaid on a 12-ft.long stainless steel silhouette of the Parrott gun, made at the site during its heyday.
Fabricated from stainless and powdercoated steel, this 8-ton, 36-ft.-tall, at-scale partial replica of the original Boring Mill waterwheel sits on the foundation of the original. Hatfield Metal Fabrication built the replica in its shop, dismantled it for transport, and then reassembled it on site.
Getting it right The EGD program is designed for longevity, with materials such as marine-grade stainless steel, cast iron, and powdercoated steel used throughout. Graphic panels by SH Immersive Environments (formerly Systeme Huntingdon) incorporate rust-proof aluminum backing to withstand the area’s extreme weather conditions and the site’s positioning in a flood plain. Chris Meyer, president of project fabricator Meyer Contracting, says the project’s logistics were difficult. His team had to build temporary roads out of nontraditional materials that wouldn’t damage the environment. Not only did they need to rebuild the stonework for the Boring Mill’s foundation, but then scattered original rubble around it to make it look like it had always been there. With the project’s intense focus on historical accuracy, it took eight months to approve the gun platform graphics, and Meyer then had to incorporate lightning protection for its metal roof. The 200-pound cast-iron seals produced by Robinson Iron went through several rounds of revisions to ensure they would fit in the metal frames created by Hatfield. Meyer admits he didn’t see how things would come together with so many artists and fabricators collaborating on the project. “When I first bid the job, I didn’t see the vision,” Meyer says. “But through the process, as I saw how everyone took responsibility
for their part of the project, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. It was a true collaboration.” For C&G, incorporating the various artistic elements created by outside collaborators enriched the project and ensured it spoke with multiple voices. In the case of the Boring Mill, no actual photographs of the original existed, so the watercolor by Woest, which was based on years of forensics by Michigan Tech, depicts how water likely traveled through the site and through flumes to back-shot water to drive rifling machines on multiple floors. Helmetag says, “The project was much like the Foundery was in its heyday—a collaboration among designers, artisans, and craftspeople to create a new kind of transformative project.” For Scenic Hudson and especially Shaheen, who has shepherded the project since its inception, it was important to get the project right to honor the site’s history and the Cold Spring community. “There isn’t a lot of open space in Cold Spring, and the community is very careful about what comes into the village,” she says. “This project was definitely different, much larger, and much more involved than practically any other project we’ve ever done. But the designers nailed it, we’re getting great feedback, and people feel a sense of pride about the Preserve.” Jenny S. Reising is a Cincinnati-based writer and editor.
eg magazine — 27
niveau 4
ni
4
variété de styles niveau 3 3
ni
niveau 2 2
ni
niveau 1 basis
ni
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
ni ba
té de styles
28 — eg magazine
niveau 2
When The New School grew out of its original building in Greenwich Village, SOM reimagined the urban campus with a 16-story volume that uses stacked stairways and “sky quads” to integrate academic, social, and living spaces. (Photo: Martin Seck)
Ruedi Baur responded to the architecture typographically, beginning with a 5-ft.-tall, LEDilluminated dimensional primary identification sign behind the second-story curtainwall. The dimensional letters taper in depth from left to right. In what Baur calls a reflection of New York culture, each letter has a slightly different perspective, “so you don’t really know where the center is.”
niveau basis
Responding to
té de styles what he sees as the blight of “reductive graphic design,” Ruedi Baur creates an interpretive, three-dimensional wayfinding program for The New School’s 16-story vertical campus in New York City. By David Sokol
uedi Baur is feeling contrary. The acclaimed FrancoSwiss graphic designer says of branding, “I’m critical of this idea that limits an institution to one sign. I’m more interested in how we make systems that have potential for expression and evolution.” Genius loci is another concern. “I have a problem with a design solution that can function anywhere, instead of specifying the cultural difference of a building and its city,” he notes. If there is a theme that runs through his comments, it is that contemporary graphic design works too reductively. Where the discipline should celebrate or even enhance idiosyncrasies of client, program, or place, it glosses over uniqueness. Baur uses environmental graphics to suggest an alternative to present-day practice, and his most recent project, a graphics program for The New School’s recently opened University Center in New York City, embodies this approach. It is not minimalist in the least. The system’s visual language morphs according to location, and it can be expanded to accommodate new wayfinding
or identity initiatives by virtue of changes in color, shape, or material execution. The structure and placement of these graphics is unassailably site-specific, as well. Letterforms are inspired directly by the architecture, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. And their visibility to both occupants and public passersby reflects The New School’s history of training socially engaged professionals, many of whom will be learning and interacting in the new high-rise. The 375,000-square-foot building comprises dormitory as well as classroom spaces for The New School’s programs in art, design, and social research, as well as an 800-seat auditorium and other amenities. It is only the second building constructed by The New School in its 95 years. The University Center assignment is also Baur’s first commission in the United States. Officially the job was completed by Intégral Ruedi Baur, Paris, the oldest entity in an ever-growing consortium of European studios and think tanks that Baur has been overseeing since 1989. eg magazine — 29
1 variété niveau de styles basis
ariété de styles
variété de styles
niveau 1 basis
niveau 1 basis
variété de styles
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
Inspirations “Mapping is a little bit of an obsession,” Baur says. Yet ask this obsessive about mapping an urban campus like The New School, and the contrarian in him is the first to speak. Baur explains that academic campuses are oversaturated with wayfinding nomenclature. Besides physical addresses, campus wayfinding features “a building code, a building’s sponsor name, other donors’ names—you have all this complexity without really telling someone about the knowledge that’s transmitted somewhere.” For the downtown Montreal campus of Concordia University, in response he created directory walls seemingly splattered with these names and codes. A closer look at the Concordia signage, completed in 2010, discloses the answer to the saturation problem. Names of academic and administrative offices are included within the abstract expression. A spatial logic presents itself, too: Larger words represent nearby facilities, while smaller ones stand for farther-away places. “This is an important element to me,” Baur says of the correspondence between letter size and the impression of distance. “How can you navigate a school not only according to numbers and codes, but in a way that is your own? Three-dimensional effects make natural orientation a possibility.” In Montreal, Baur took on the condition he believes afflicts all building types—reductive branding. Baur accented the assorted wayfinding information with phrases like “Designing is not a profession but an attitude.” This motif was informed by a project for the Elisava School of Design in Barcelona, completed in the previous year, in which different interpretations of design and design practice were applied to a typographical entry wall. Both the Concordia and Elisava projects are precursors to the University Center. Baur’s response to the New York commission includes academic and other programming text embedded within wayfinding, dimensionality for natural orientation, and editorial phrases.
The Intégral team manipulated the type’s depth from one side or the other to imply movement.
30 — eg magazine
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
Letterforms and architectural form Baur’s first inspiration for The New School’s system was SOM’s design, which was substantially completed when provost Tim Marshall sought out Baur in early 2012. (The building officially opened in January 2014, and in the interim The New School installed an adapted version of Baur’s system at its Parsons Paris campus.) The 16-story scheme features a traditional dormitory tower for approximately 600 beds, placed over a 230,000-square-foot, seven-story academic base volume conceived as a vertical campus. Circulation is key to the campus mentality in this academic component. SOM connected classrooms, studios, and common spaces via double perimeter stairways, of which a fire stair works in tandem with skip-stop elevators to move occupants up and down the building efficiently. Meanwhile, a broader communicating stair provides a more leisurely means of travel, especially as students alight on “sky quads” that include lounge areas and resource centers. These open, ostensibly unprogrammed spaces are meant to support and even impel collegial exchange. SOM created an exterior equivalent to the interior organization. Hand-finished brass shingles, which evoke the cast-iron and brownstone facades of adjacent historic districts, enclose purpose-built rooms within the academic base. The bronze-colored walls are streaked in faceted glass that puts stairwell activity on public display. “The parti was interesting,” Baur says of seeing the stacked stairways for the first time, calling their placement at the building edge “absolutely contrary to most buildings. We tried to react to this exciting situation, and to find a way to narrate The New School identity within it.” His reaction is typographic. Working with Irma creator Peter Bilak, Baur superimposed Irma Light on Irma Black to create the effect of three-dimensional perspective—the contoured appearance of which he likens to “the glass boxing of the facade.” Initially the design team had proposed a similar layering with Gotham, but Bilak waived his licensing fee for the University Center project.
Baur layered and connected Irma typefaces for a prismatic appearance.
Q REEU TSEA L A I CA OT S I H F O YR S I SE A N D OC E R U TL LORTN F KNU NACI POHS CITEH
DNIM
SSE R P
EHT FO
R E WO
P EHT
N G I SE
NGISE
TA D NOI
CINUM
E TAT S FA DNA T SNOI RIVNE EMNO
TS D E GA
TN NA LA M OC D
SSE R P
NGISE
EHT FO
A D NOIT
RE
CINUM
M
Baur was inspired by the diversity of The New School’s programming in art, design, and social P U B O CIL research and thought OINIP DNA N P O R P : A L A D N A M G N I TA E R C A G A OH AT AD N ESOM CIRTN environmental graphics TA L P M S I H D D U B G : Y T I L A U X RUE AEPO HP DNA O A N Y F S R A E U I N R DU EL D I L A E R O Y H P O S OL N A I B S RC F NI STS should reflect it. He I STRA E L I X E E L O I V- N O N T D N A I R P D N A E M R U OY N H C E E : E TAT S DNAG IPPAM I EFIL L NOS N I AP F O G N E M A N I E F I N A E N I L N SIH DNA IHSS A L C D N A N DE SIGto GNITN co-optedCOcourse titles D I NA ICATIO ACIR EHT R O L O C T N E D E C E T M A N I TA L N MM UN SISIRC S OP AN D EHT ACIRE EW HT FO OC -T S E L NTAL O G B E N I NA ILA HT ON ME REN EN VI R use as graphic elements N A G E N R E T TAP D N I : S N O I TA T N I E F ,Y T G M , I I N T I O ET RE ,MS EG S OR D NS DOM F E G A- R D OSM O I TA N T N O C D N A KE N W N NRE TE NS IO C N R E T C I L F N O C I WA L L A N TSIH : T IPO E L RYH RO UP E DE SIG ET I A M OWA R T TIB O YR O ROPM G OIN ST inAGthe building. IN TE RG E M A N O TA E H T N C I T I R C Y R A C : E VOL R E T I T S N O C F E L I D R E H : N R Y H PPO F T AN D MSI OB LE MS AMM A CIM L A I CA SE N I H AG EC RA NOITU
One prime location for the reinvented typeface is the very stairwell that prompted it. Baur selected titles of old seminars and lectures to apply to the ceiling of the fire stair, not unlike the typographic wall at Elisava. “I think seeing course names helps you understand The New School,” Baur explains. “These texts really show the school’s longtime social and political direction, and the many different academic programs it has had historically.” The designer chose the ceiling for this historic ticker for its visibility from the street, so that even members of the public can engage in The New School’s legacy. He wants the ribbon-like element to make history, as well, so it will be painted by hand over the course of eight months. In the meantime, Brooklyn-based Signs + Decal executed the customized Irma throughout the University Center. Approximately 500 room markers hang next to class and conference spaces, as well as dorm units. Made of oxidized bronze sheet metal and rectangular bar stock, the signs were produced in two standard widths; some are machined, milled, and threaded to hinge open and shut to accept paper inserts. Signs + Decal President Babu Khalfan likens the prototyping and final development of these signs “to making a Swiss watch.” Project Manager Abbas Khalfan concurs. “It’s not an easy sign to fabricate, because of the three-dimensional prismatic effect.” To achieve it, the letterforms and corresponding Braille are reverseetched from the bronze sheets, which were oxidized for a vintage appearance that evokes the exterior brass cladding. The letterforms underwent multiple screen printings, so that negative space between the printed portions suggests extra contouring. For donor signage located in the main entry of the academic base volume, Signs + Decal etched letterforms with registration marks on bronze plate, and then waterjet-cut them inside a 6-by-12-foot tank. Characters— whose size corresponds with donation amount—were then mechanically fastened to bronze backers. Color was applied by paint, instead of via screen printing.
E A N ARIT IES : PR R ST STAT E M S I L A N E T O P D N U TL U C DNO LETNI TO RY FO D T HE RUR AL MI U T CE L R O B A L ITI ES AI T L ALT MCU LA BO RA EC TUAL S AN A SLA S E I T I L I T I R O N ID TE NT IAL M ESS H T D N R O F Y R O TA LIS AN D PO L AN IN TE LL TH E PR P : SE S OR AG E EM MA ST ITU TIO NA : CH IN ES E ITI CIS M L BAP OP W ER OF HY RA CIA C E G AT M EGR N VE I SHO CR AT OM ICAM ER ICA N : HE R DIL CO N LO TH E PO E FU NK SH I R RY AN N OF TH TE T LIT P RA Y IN L RE BIT E EORN WOM PO IN : YR TDE H IST OR UORG L LAW E CO NF LIC T CU LT UR AN D CO NT RO CO NT EM N E T P OW N E K O P S MO DE RN AT IO NA , AN D AG SIS DR IN TE RN NS : IN TE R- TT ER N OF MO , ITS GE NE MI NI SM ND FE MI Y, OF NG LIT D PA OR Y NE RATIO TH E GA OLON IA L HI ST W EB ANICA TH E GE PO ST-C LBUP C ICIA ISI S OF TH EORA S AM ER SI GN TIC TH E CR R A NOINIP LATIN AN TE CE DE NT CO LO ES T H E IO N DE G DN D S AS S IN ER ICA A M F A QI TUAEEERRCA E AN UN IC AT PA IN TIN AP O REP IN: AAM AN D HI L A DIN LIN AN D CL N O D N A GN CO M M LIF T A STAT E NC E : GA ND HI UR LIF E INAPR PSPONMGO H G ISO C I R TTNHAEAM L AN D E B YO X L P E AN D U LE U A D T D L O VIO IH T S AG M EN TA ND TI NUE ILE A CR IM M S RA YA : Y VI R ON ERF DN AEPOR P AN Y OF NO LIS TS IN UEX N N EN D S PH A I D U B SO H R I R ES LA IBSEL PH ILO AN SU RR EA NAD N DI S T S I L A E F O Y H P O S OL AR AYS T FR EUN C GA :N I TTYD EU RO PE HI SME M I RAT O AN DE L I X E E L O I V- N O N UAELH BU DD PL Y E XM P DNA NT N O S I RDAN I E F I L R U O I H D N A G : E C N E TAT S O M OI PSP AA: TA I LRIC I E FOP I N G HO G N AG ENIL DNA ND AL I AP C DNA MA N A AN U Q A F MA C REEEAT DLPR GNITN E N ACIRE O C D N D E C E T N A S I HI TA L N I S S A L TSEA R RO IO N AN E RG EHT N I IN N T C T A CITEH R U S OP T I M D S H I E S ESS BL AR E ACIR A SA E PU I CIC TSOP HT FO W LA TH E PR N E G E H P O S O L I H P T I L A I N OL O C NA BE EHT OT S I H W ER OF Y T TAP D I : S N O I TA R E I GNAG F O YR ,Y SH OP TH E PO G S T I , O M F O N R E AP DNIM FU NK L INIMEF HY ETN ETN D S I SE N E E G A- R L A N O I TA N R OC D N A , M S C GR HO NT RO NO OM C D N A R U TL U C N R E T C I L F LIT D O CO N E H L N T I D R T A E S R N T M W I E AN LO HT NI RAROP R E T T I B N O C F O Y R O E H : N A M OW R G O H T I L EMA N D GE NE SIS NUF N A C I R A C I M O TA E M S I C I T I R C Y N I H C : E VOL OP EHT OF M IN HPA TITS L ID R POHSK NG , ITS EG E SE N O IIT U AMME A I CA R Y ST OR Y TH E GA LETNI M S I L A N E T O P D N A TL U C D N A L CI AL HI U T CE L L IT RU TH E RA ETIC N A S L A Y R O TA R O B A S E I T IL A T I R O N I M L A EH T D A ES T H E TAT S C E G AT S R O F P : SE I U E EURP R Q O B A NG L R E F TI FA SM GO CILB N I IN DNA T T N I PA APPIN NIPO E G AT S ORGRE S : Y R T E O P H E PMD NSA N O I M SIG N C N G I SE D ND T P NET PU S AA PO A D N A H G N I TA E R RRCLTAS TIO N DE SNOIS R O W N E K O G ATE N ART A :AL O AD N D M AS M UN ICA ES B I A DR UM IRT DN L A U X E S O M B CEU D CO M A NADOLTA L P D DDU FR UE RIVNE TI TA L AN G AY N HI SM M SOI HAN Y: E DDD EMNO AEPO R HP AG :Y I TD F N Y N L R T AT S ON M EN A A L U U PL N UA BU D LI X ERR EN VI R C DNA M O S E : TA NT RI C AN DA A N A I B S E L HPOSO TSILA O Y S H I O D F N G LA R OR IN T RC NW OPAG E L I X E E L O I V- N O N NS IO NS M AN DAAN D PR DNA S C R E AT A EMI : S PO KE UP TE DE SIG N : ECN NI P P A M E H T N O S I R P D N E F I L R U OY POET RYIN IN TE RG RO STAG E IN ION D N A G D N A E TAT S FIL NI P IC OP F T AN D MS NIA DNA IH A F O G IREMA NI E DNA ENIL I TLE LC PUEBL GN OB AG EC RA AT E N A S I H TA L N I S S A R EUQ AC IES : PR ST FO R ST EHT R OL O C T N E D E C E T I TSEA R C RIT I S I NO MA N S P RATO RY AL S AN D T HE T CITEH O SMI S OBO FAL T ACIRE EW ESS UR C -TLA H AR EH LT O TU E C I L G A EC CU O B E L TH E PR N I P T A E ND IN TE LL L RAN OT S I H Y TILA W ER OF A G E H R E T TAP D N : RA C IEL B U O I TA IN ES E M P OAG OP I F O YR IMEF , I S NCIA TI ,GN HY TH E PO I N I IC TN OOM AP ICA N C AT DNIM GR N R E T N D N A , M S I N TE R LOVE : CHRA RY CR ITI CIS N E G S E D O M F O NLITEHO -RE FU NK SHT R O L N AE N DTH M AM ER C GA C A S I SE P R N O I TA INM ED BIT E RE RO RO I H PO OWL AUR W N D NTAIN P T SEM LT LA D CO N OC D N E R U TL U C N N I T C I L F N O N I WA L L A R O P M E T N O T T I B NIT L ALIC R ONT I L: ANF A GA MN NA AIO H RNGCU OH D E O A ETTCO A NA F ODYCO LORTN F SIS AN T A : R DE R G AN M E N AT C H M L AG , Y R H T O N E O E E O A MO S R E C RRN R I N R V P SM A I R E G ND I S C HB TE :E OF IPDTE NU UX T I TNI E ITS NAC E LIN AN IMOT UMI A D:YUIN P EHT ER CNS M S I C I T I E S E N I H C LIT DR Y OF MI TA TIL AIIH O I TFE AM POHSK OM PORU ANG, : YTT S E GA C R E WO G PA MLTIO NA N ARA I L A NY, DN DA Y AD P L HI ST OR T H E G R R U S N A E OL ICIA M SIA C DNE L L E T N ST A AN RF EB OLON EHT FO EP E TO TLEUGE TIC W DN S RA H TH AU T C E ARU P OE SSE R P NATES IL B A L -C S E I T I L A I T ND U STHE IBSEL I MSLOF O Y HTH N A S L Y R O TA R OPO NISI CR EICSETDSE O ER AE RO A NA ETN I T IE EH T D NLOONRF M E R I C A F I SL IAXN A QUE A S T R N A E M I R C AYN D H E GP : S ETH NODI VCE TAT S C E G AT S R O EL A BOR G OF D I E LTIN HT DN NCENA MIN L :I E I FSE I N E M A P P I NP AG LT I LDRHU OLII H T FAR IN TA A M E F I L N O S I R PC EN:I GEAFN N I SPA N A E I P N D FE N P N O A I A D T S H I P I N N E T RA OG R N D TS E NI L UN GR I E -V I A R TFEO HD :YA D E GA ASNADL CP A R T S A N D LTA S S G N I T SQ P U O R E KEOEPU S M A NNO N O LE N E T N A S IYO N E I E T SI GN D O R E N M I C I N C H N G I SE L R C S F E N A TA EC IC IAN IO N DE SNOI H Y OR O L SEA R P TW D RO AI S ITRECR S T N E DA C I R E M A NA N D L E S B UTMF O MS TP UN IC AT LO S O C -T S O CITEH RH NE DE A IR E H CO M M EW I N OL O IPCH Y :A GBAY ENEG NORIV L AN D ,Y T I L A SIH LA G E HSTE X O I TA R U AALPI TD N AT N E M EN TA IMEF YR OT ,GNA O NRETT RETNI :SN NRETNI DNA L R ON M O ,MSIN OM M FO G S TNI G O F C I M VI H E A O N A O N A M N T D M D EN I E G D E S R UM A SI ECAT NIR E D C I L F N O C E WA L L A N O P M E T N OC T I B RU L OTSIH OW N O TA C I N T ID OC D N E R UC TL I T I T RO G WHOR F O Y R RE H : N A M P A D NOI RN NS IO NS GN LORTN F E H T N C I T I R C Y R A C : E V OL R E T I T S N O C PO KE EMA N NGISE ID UP TE R:YSH E DE SI RY T I CA N A C I R G A C I M O TA ITU KNU MMEL NIH RG RO L AET MSI D STAG OP EH POHS E N I E S E M S I L A N O T O P D N A A L U C D N A PO M S IN IN TE F T AN O REW T ELLET AL AG EC RA EHT F E AI T N E LARU B L AU T C PR OB LE SSE R P FO R ST D T HE STAT S E I T IL I T I R O N I M IT IE S: D N A S F Y R O TA R O RY T OR TO H S E E IN S AN IE : M ESS LA BO RA EC TUAL S E TAT S R C E G AT S R O L B O R P CU LT UR AL PO TE NT IA LIT E TH E PR M LL S A I SM TE I D D I N A TF W ER OF AG E ES E IN I ON AL M A AN SH OP R E T N : YRRA CIPAL AN T EO T S DN TH E PO OM IC IC AN FU NK L DI LE M CO N ST IT UT LOVE : CH INRY CR ITI CI SM U O R G K O PAP D E GA AM ER TH E AT R : HE R E GR S HY N E T P OW N P RO OF N G I SE B UNT BI T TE NT EM PO RA L LAW IN NF LIC T IN N CU LT UR EO CDI LCO SNOIS D R LIT HOER N WOM ANHI ST OR Y CO N I PAN O ISIS E NNE M OD ER D M OD AN D COTE RN AT IO NA TE R-AG E N , A IN V GE I OF N M R D ISM O IN C RN AP ONG IN R P, ITS AM A EYR OF FE M IN ON S: NEMN PAT TED N STI TOR AG E GA N AT : A L A D N O GN H HI A L AT NE RATI W EB AN D IA LIT Y, A TH CI AL OM OLON E SRA OC D N TH E GE XE B TCSI R T I L A U P IC A H DD UN TH DE E IC TA LER UMM PO ST-C IS IS OF :Y T P OTRHUE T MTSEI C E A YALO GR D NTIANOAMI S A N TA C I N A R F LA TH E CR S ENRAAEESOL I H P D NOI RU E D USE IN D ND CO I N AM ER IC AS ARQ NG OS S EEL AN LAE AND H NGISE LIN AIB NTGS IO FO N F O Y H P PA IN TI AN D CL N D H IS TLIF NPI I S N L I FE R A ENIN E P O C X S A R I I I N L M STAT E L E N C E : GTA D YO M A N E N UR D NAANED P Y D T H EG : E C N E L O I V S ON N DE SIG EH E UA -V IOP P A RI P I R M M N S S ILE L T R O I O A T A ICATIO F C N N N R T EX E G N I IN Y O F A FLIS A IHD A INE A I L IN I E F I L A EES MM UN I AP C DNA SOPH Q EA O CTS MA N GNITN ND L N EBT N A S I H D N NDI SFSRAELUD AN D CO E URR R E SU O C ADN A IRE T P H I LO E AAN TAALN R: OGLAY ME NTAL T SPE NTIO EDDHEICS ME M A RC EH I N ON Y S E HRO T I R T D S LA I S P T VI L U P C I TEU R O O EN E HUA C B ACI C -T S HT F CA ORS E X : TA N T R IH LA I N OL O T N D A P D N A B E W I TA R E N E G E OIM HH OR D E GA G PA O T S IG Y TILA KE N W NS IO NS NRAO DA LSA GP E T TA :SNO I F O YERAT I N IMEF , MA N DE SIG N RY: S PO RG RO UP TE NI D, O G AT FO NR R E T N I O I TA N R E T N D N A , M S I N DNIM C R POETD STAG E MIN TE OEN N S IISNEIN E D M F N O C E G AIN E O NA OP F T AN D N RMS L LAN TSIH UC R L E T N OC OC DI C W LE AG EC RA AM HTIL PROOB E R U TL E M A N I T C I E H T N I WA Y R A R O P M OL R E T T I B O Y R O E H IES L O R TPNUFB L FO R ST T HE STAT E N O C F E L INO RRIT : N : R Y V PARGO A IR RC I S E T U C H RY D : T T T I O I N A C H C T TO K I N D E M ES H I MI S I S M ITU M I C AITI OP EN AL AM POH L AIAL E GA C LA BO RA EC TUAL S AN AUR ANT NLT N I L A N O TO TE TNI ES D FO REW S D CU E P T ESS M L PO C D M H LL L U D E E L E TE T LIS TH E PR R UAN AU T C AL A I TLNAN MA SSE R P LA ES E IN TIO NA AG E T I LCIA EM OP W ER OF N A S L Y R O TA R O B GR AP HY S E IRA NIM N ST ITU R LOVE : CH INRY CR ITI CIS M E AT OM IC T I RRODIL ICA N EH T D TH E PO F FU NK SH : S E: IHE LIT HO Y OF CO R P AN IN TH LIC T IN AM ERLT UR E E TAT S C E G AT S R O BIT TE PO RA WOOM RO L ELB H IST OR L LAW S MRN CU NF FAR CO NT EM D CO NT N I DE DE RN AT IO NA TE R-AG E CO , AN D DNA T T N IMO P SIS AN E S RN MO O R SM T E NE G A T TE NI R OF G R GE IN MI :Y UO D E ER N , ITS NS : IN OF MI ND N E T P W NEKOP S LIT Y, FE N G I SE D PATT TH E GA NG P ST OR Y NE RATIO SNOIS OLON IA D RO ILB LUHI W EB ANICA TH E GE O C CIA PO ST-C I NEI PRA ER ISI S OF NE N OTH S IC TIN AM DE NTP NORIV TH E CR RN A D N A M P D C ES T H E T O RLO G S IN LA HI S AN TE CE TNEM G AD CO I TEAEERRA NU ER ICAO HAGQ ALA AN T :AM D EA D CL AS NA LA AD N PA IN TIN MO F E AIN RTN OG C ILIF M OC D AT E AN E : GA ND HI AN EPSI N P E IN LIN B X L M ST N U LIF U A U P D T A A D N ISO L O I UR I A NC S IDH PR UE Y TE M TA C AN A R F D N YOCR IM E M Y AEPOR P NGD :T H N-VIO LE DEX D NOI U EILE N A A E N S NO S S I D U T G H R R OF I L IN N ER OL SE N A PH Y I BI A AB LIS TS S TSILA N FO YHPOS ES A LN C PH ILO SOAN SU RR EA X EDN I A S ATNRD N L IEU AY FR A E M I R OYAN D E O I V- N O HYT: DGN D SM EU RO PE R PHI M LEI T UO E C N E L AT S S IDD L RAT F IPL BU NSI PEPXAUA L NO T GO DNAG : E F IRIC OM I NT IL NI E IH A N EN TA DNA IH SALC DNA E QGAHFO DA I AP E MA: E UI N NA AN I R AL C DAG GNITN E N AC I S ARREEAT ND TNA S L OOP MA TSEC R DOPR E D E C E M A N I TA L N RG EHT I N T C AN T CITEH R U S T I N D S H I E E S A R EIN IO ACIR BEW C AOP A IIC E H T F O S O L I H P A S N OL OC -T S O P BL H L O T S IPU RENEG AI G E H T E T TAP D N A YHPO F O YR I ,GNA F ,Y T I L R S N O I TA DNIM N E G S T E D O M F O N E G A- R E T N I : I TA N R E T N I SINIME A S I SE NA ,M O OC D N E R U TL U C N R I T C I L F N O C EDOM L L A N P M E T N OC D I B IH LORTN F N I WA T OW N R YR O T S RO A N L U C I R E M I M O TA E H T I C I T I R C Y R A C : E VOL R E T I T S N O C F O I D R E H : N A M H P A R G O H T I HT N E A K P S N O H PO MS REW E GA C E S E N I H S I L A N O IIT U T D N A A M M E L N A L A I C A R Y EHT FO LETNI M SSE R P U T CE L TL U C D N E TOP L I T IL AI T O N I M L A R U N A S L A Y R O TA R O B A E D S T H E ITIR E TAT S C E G AT S R O F R P : SE O B L R E A F SM DNA T TNI NI E G AT S ORGRE S : Y R T E O P N G I SE D P NET PU SNOIS R O W N E K O D RIVNE EMNO N T A L DNA M M OC ACINU D NOIT NGISE
EG
The titles were handpainted to cascade down the ceiling of the fire stair.
eg magazine — 31
1 variété niveau de styles basis
ariété de styles
variété de styles
niveau 1 basis
niveau 1 basis
variété de styles
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
Wayfinding signage, mostly screenprinted in situ by project fabricator Signs + Decal Corp., demonstrates the various iterations of the customized Irma typeface. Baur manipulated the letters’ depth distortion to signify the user’s location within the building.
“ Because the reimagined Irma indicates perspective, it can be manipulated in one direction or another to focus attention or suggest space.”
32 — eg magazine
THE NEW SCHOOL 3
Adaptations for wayfinding Baur says the dimensionality of the superimposed Irma fonts “understands the architecture.” A variation of the new typeface not only reflects SOM’s form making, but exaggerates its effect, to help University Center users orient themselves. Because the reimagined Irma indicates perspective, it can be manipulated in one direction or another to focus attention or suggest space. Whereas at Concordia, Baur employed size to indicate proximity of destinations, he intensified Irma’s perspective effect as it moves from the ground floor to the 17th floor. The stretched-out characters that flank the academic volume’s uppermost sky quad have a balancing-act quality, while those at street level feel flat. At the top of the University Center’s dormitory tower, they seem downright precarious. Not every wayfinding graphic sports this manipulation. Elevator directories, for example, portray the new Irma shapes straightforwardly, and employ a Sherwin Williams orange to indicate real-time location. (In another nod to Concordia, and to Baur’s desire for more programming information in general, elevator lobbies also feature academic directories.) On the other hand, this signage does share a production method. After a stenciling attempt that yielded jagged lines, Signs + Decal produced a sharper image by screen printing the signs on site. Because of the prismatic shifts, “We needed one screen set-up for stair C on a floor, and different set-up for stair C on the next. There are very few repeats,” Abbas Khalfan says. Moreover, “We had to field-survey each and every location to check for obstacles. In the stairwells especially, you can run across fire-hose cabinets and standpipes.” Even in uncomplicated locations, in-situ installation was defined by complexity. In the case of the 16-square-foot elevator directories, Khalfan says, screen printing “involved three people positioning the photo positive to match the elevation drawing. Each one of these signs would take two hours to screen print; we used hair dryers to speed up the
process a bit.” And because crews worked in strips, “Once you have a set-up, you have to go back exactly to where it was aligned.” Screen printing matches the vintage bronze color of the wallmounted signage or, on colored walls, appears like white knockout type. On stone, sheetrock, and tack-up Forbo, it was largely completed in Speedball water-based ink in order to qualify for LEED credit. A die-cut 3M vinyl film applied by heat gun, usually intended for digital printing, substituted screen printing on concrete surfaces, and a more typical die-cut vinyl was placed on glass. Because the project team and client eschewed graffiti protection for color consistency, The New School is considering archiving photo positives in case of a redo. On the second floor of the University Center, the faceted glass building skin frames a 5-foot-tall dimensional sign that spells out The New School. Plainview, New York– based Going Sign & Servicing shop welded eighth-inch aluminum sheets into individual letters, mechanically fastening them to the interior wall on aluminum backing via Z clips. A coat of red paint makes the installation appear truly integral with the architecture. Here, Baur demonstrates the versatility of his distorted Irma. Instead of indicating height, the letters taper in depth from left to right, from 30 inches to 9 inches, to appear as if facing southward. Yet each letter sports a slightly different perspective, “so you don’t really know where the center is,” Baur says. Outlined in LEDs, he concludes, “this strong effect has to do with the visual culture of New York.” As if this project’s architecturally inspired forms or its bright-lights centerpiece did not fully embody the spirit of the University Center already, there is this additional, quintessentially Big Apple aspect to consider: change. Already Baur and his collaborators are discussing expansions to the system, such as screen-printed words in the dormitory that effect an even stronger sense of New School identity. David Sokol is a New York–based writer and editor. His most recent book is Nordic Architects: Ebbs and Flows.
Client The New School Location New York Budget Confidential Project Area 375,000 sq. ft. Opened January 2014 Design Intégral Ruedi Baur
Design Team Ruedi Baur art director, David Thoumazeau, Alexandra Bauch, Lisa Kitschenberg, Stéphanie Brabant Fabrication Signs + Decal Corp. primary fabricator, Going Sign & Servicing Co, Inc. main identification sign Architecture Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Photos © Intégral Ruedi Baur
Wayfinding was integrated into the building’s communicating staircases, which mesh classroom, living, and social spaces. eg magazine — 33
SUSTAINABILITY
DURABILITY
Historic images digitally printed on glass let natural light and the Pittsburgh skyline beyond show through, allowing viewers to learn from the past as they look towards the future. For exhibitions, public art, environmental design, wayfinding, architecture, interiors and more, at GGI, we make your vision come alive, in glass.
FLEXIBILITY
World War II Memorial - Pittsburgh, PA
1.800.544.8428 www.PannierGraphics.com marketing@pannier.com
Superior Paint Color Resources Quickly and precisely match color and gloss.
Spectrum of Color Selection System
Color Panels
With over 1,580 colors and side-by-side comparisons of satin and high gloss finishes, this breakthrough card deck system makes choosing colors easier than ever.
Free to architects and designers, Matthews color panels allow you to present like a pro! These 3� x 6� color panels are available in over 70,000 color formulas and custom color matching.
For more information, call Jamie at 1.800.323.6593 ext. 6718 or visit www.matthewspaint.com
The Complete Matthews Paint System:
800.323.6593 www.matthewspaint.com
S MART E DGE
TM
Sma rt Wa y | S m a rt Fi t | Sm a r tPa n e l LED Way f i n d i n g & S i g n a g e S y s te m s
Many companies will tell you that they have an LED signage solution....However, when it comes to back lighting graphics for signage there are few companies who have INSIGHT’s experience in edge lighting with LED platforms. Our custom engineered SmartEdge acrylics offers an integrated solution that has earned us a PIA award for excellence in architectural design in 2012. From conception to delivery, no product can offer you a brighter or more uniform light panel for illuminating graphics or images. INSIGHT’s SmartWay system is a completely engineered, modular wayfinding solution, with plug and play components for easy maintenance and replacement. INSIGHT SmartFit brings our engineered lighting solution to its simplest form, allowing for SmartFit light panels to be inserted into generic box designs. Whether it is a brand new installation or an upgrade of existing signage, let INSIGHT give you the best advantage in the illumination of your wayfinding message. SmartEdge is smart business.
SmartWay | PHX Sky Train
RoHS COMPLIANT
AHEEEHAPNOINDNKOECGJMBBHJPAHEEEHA BNFFFNBPBKMGEPMCBGBDFKFGBPBNFFFNB JEMLAJFOGNPBMPCHPEOHFEEAFEMDHJDJO HFLICKFCMHDLNGKGDOEIGAFAMIGPFCJNP DLEILGFNEEEDHLMEONCPGAEJGOFPHJLAP MIPMKKFPNDOEFHMCIGELJGDAGIGLHBNBP MNNFFFEPDJDOHDDIBACHGEEOAHFHAMLBP APBBBPAPGJCKKAGINPKAGIMKGEAEBHJLH HHHHHHHPPPPHPHHPHPHPPHHHHHPPHPPPH
SmartPanel | Baylor College of Medicine
SmartFit | DFW Terminal A
TM
insightlighting.com / 505.345.0888
A SCOUT’S TREEHOUSE How do you make an exhibit on sustainability as much fun as ziplining? At the Boy Scouts adventure camp in West Virginia, a new five-story treehouse makes conservation cool. By Naomi Pearson
38 — eg magazine
Client Boy Scouts of America/Trinity Works Location Mount Hope, W. Va. Budget Confidential Project Area 5,000 sq. ft. Open Date July 2013 Design Volume Inc. Design Team Adam Brodsley exhibit design/ principal; Eric Heiman creative director/principal; Brett Terpeluk exhibit design joint venture (Studio Terpeluk); Bryan Bindloss, Brice McGowan, Daniel Surgeon designers; Ragina Johnson production; Brian McMullen, Michael Rigsby copywriters; Natasha Fraley content developer; Erin Kemp, Hanna Thomson project management
Fabrication Pacific Studio Architecture Mithun design architect, BNIM architect of record/executive architect Consultants Red Gate Films main theater film Photos Joe Fletcher
A white painted “crest” at the entrance employs merit badgeinspired graphic symbols to depict the building of the treehouse.
The five-level, 8,000-sq.ft. Sustainability Treehouse was designed by Mithun architects to Living Building Challenge standards. It sits atop a former strip mining site. The message on the treehouse stairway sets the tone for the exhibit. Pacific Studio created the waterjet-cut letters in galvanized steel.
W
hen the Boy Scouts of America decided to build a five-story treehouse at its new 10,000+ acre high-adventure camp in West Virginia, the goal was to create a living model reaffirming its conservation heritage. The Sustainability Treehouse opened at the new Summit Bechtel Reserve in Summer 2013 just as the Boy Scouts introduced a new sustainability merit badge. Designed by Mithun architects to Living Building Challenge standards, the treehouse was intended to “tell the story of sustainability in a way that is authentic to the Scouts and to West Virginia,” says Allison Schapker, director of design and sustainability for Trinity Works, the Summit site developer. It also had to compete with the camp’s zip line, climbing wall, skate park, and other fun activities available to the scouts. So when Volume Inc. (San Francisco) was tasked with developing the exhibition for the treehouse, its first question was, “How do you engage kids who just arrived at an adventure park to learn about sustainability?”
Audience and story Collaborating with architect Brett Terpeluk, Volume set out to create exhibits for 5,000 square feet on five levels. The exhibit goals were to emphasize the role of natural systems in our lives, encourage an understanding of the interconnectedness of things, and inspire scouts to become change agents. That’s some serious material for a young and active audience, so the Volume team knew it would need to abandon the “tried and true, formulaic approaches” such as text panels on walls or obligatory videos, says Adam Brodsley, principal and creative director. Active versus passive learning was key. A Rube Goldberg-esque contraption called the Net Zero Recyclotron is activated when visitors pedal a stationery tricycle to power a ball along a track, triggering videos, interactives, and messages about how a sustainable building should function. Where there is text to read, the tone is irreverent and words are mixed with icons and colors from the Boy Scout palette. “We wanted the content to be funny, but
eg magazine — 39
A SCOUT’S TREEHOUSE The 20-ft.-long Net Zero House Recyclotron is activated by visitors who pedal to power a ball along a track, setting off triggers that illustrate how a Net Zero building works.
Volume used simple, lowtech devices to tell the story of systems thinking and interconnectedness. Collected rain water travels along a Rain Chain of stainless steel camping cups.
A hand-painted wood wall introduces humor mixed with icons, typography, and a color palette drawing directly from the Boy Scout vernacular. Volume kept text panels to a minimum, and where they are present, they are meant to be read in passing.
40 — eg magazine
“ We wanted to compare the Net 0 house building system to a tree’s Net 0 system: water, rain, roots, leaf litter, and compost material,” says Brodsley. “A Net 0 system creates and manages everything it needs. The Net 0 house is a model of how we should be building the homes we should be living in, and not burning through resources.”
not like your dad’s jokes,” says Brodsley. A wall filled with calls to action such as “Close the damper, camper” are meant to be read in passing. Inspiring change is the ultimate goal, and Volume and Schapker agreed that leaving scouts with just a couple of take-home ideas was better than preaching. Their approach was, “Now that you’ve gone through the exhibit and learned things, what will you do?” The Living Building Challenge Mithun designed the treehouse following Living Building Challenge sustainability standards that set high benchmarks similar to LEED. One such standard was a clearly specified Red List of (prohibited) materials that applied to the exhibit fabrication as well as the architecture. Volume included the LBC requirements and the Red List in the instructions to bidding fabricators. “These requirements can impact pricing, so it was important to have those included from the beginning,” notes Schapker. Red List materials include added formaldehyde, polyvinyl chloride, and phthalates. Temporary exceptions can be made only when there are current material limitations. Meeting LBC standards required fabricator Pacific Studio (Seattle) to provide Trinity with a manual listing major materials and sources. Marc Burns, sales/project manager for Pacific Studio, says specifications included low-VOC Sherwin Williams latex paints and locally milled lumber and wood scraps. Material decisions were also made mindfully around minimizing waste and keeping as much of the exhibit as long as possible. Pacific Studio used reusable packing blankets to transport the exhibit elements from their shop to the site. Materials were packed onto one truck for a single trip, reducing energy consumption and pollution. Where possible, Pacific Studio sourced local materials and hired local labor for installation.
Systems thinking Systems thinking is encouraged throughout the exhibit, says Schapker, “not by explaining what systems thinking is, but by highlighting the interconnectedness of things.” For example, the Net Zero Recyclotron House and other exhibits encourage visitors to think about the impact of their decisions. “We wanted to compare the Net 0 house building system to a tree’s Net 0 system: water, rain, roots, leaf litter, and compost material,” says Brodsley. “A Net 0 system creates and manages everything it needs. The Net 0 house is a model of how we should be building the homes we should be living in, and not burning through resources.” High up in the treehouse, there are also places for scouts to sit, look out onto the woods, and consider their own relationship to the woods and the many different types of homes. Visitors can also see a 9-foot section of earth core taken during the geotechnical site survey undertaken to determine how stable the earth was for building the treehouse. The camp is built on the site of a former strip mine, and a coal seam still exists 230 feet beneath the campers’ feet. It also became part of the story of sustainable planning for the future. “We’re dependent on the ability of future generations to understand the interconnected relationships of systems thinking; this was a major underlying goal,” says Schapker. With that understanding, young visitors are instilled with a sense of agency. “Changing the behavior of their families and friends is the biggest role kids can play. Showing kids what they can do today to make that happen was another major goal.” After all, says Brodsley, “Scouting is all about DIY (Do it Yourself ).” It’s up to the scouts to become change agents, and the treehouse certainly makes getting started fun. Naomi Pearson is a designer, illustrator, and consultant who also works for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Center for Global Conservation at the Bronx Zoo. She is a member of the SEGD Sustainability Forum.
eg magazine — 41
No Place Like
Home
Hat-Trick Design’s wayfinding system celebrates the rich cultural mix in one of London’s inner-city social housing estates. By Pat Matson Knapp
42 — eg magazine
Client Network Housing Group Location Stockwell, near Brixton, South London Budget Confidential Project area 40 acres
Design Team Gareth Howat, Jim Sutherland creative directors; Gareth Howat, Alex Swatridge, Laura Bowman, Tim Donaldson designers Fabrication Spectrum Architectural Signing primary fabricator, Workshop2 Chameleon sign system
Open date February 2014
Consultants Futurecity cultural placemaking and arts consultant, BPTW Partnership architects, MESH Partnership landscape architects
Design Hat-Trick Design
Photos Phil Starling
L
ondon’s inner-city social housing estates may unfortunately be best known for the gang violence and other crime that have plagued them in recent decades. But to those who live there, the estates are more than just headline news. They’re home. Like other housing estates across the country, Stockwell Park—a 40-acre development near Brixton in South London—is undergoing a long-term regeneration that replaces old towerblock housing with new, smaller residences and celebrates the rich history and cultural diversity of the people who live there. A new pedestrian wayfinding program created by Hat-Trick Design (London) is the latest sign of the regeneration. Inspired by the Victorian tiles found in some of the estate’s oldest buildings, Hat-Trick conceived a signage system that would reflect the visual and cultural influences of the estate’s residents in an artful way. The signs incorporate custom tile patterns created by local artists—from a graffiti artist to type and textile designers—commissioned to create patterns that reflect the residents’ cultures and history. “We wanted to create functional art that was decorative and showcased the history of the place,” says Gareth Howat, Hat-Trick co-founder and creative director.
Hat-Trick commissioned 60 artists—from a graffiti artist to graphic and textile designers— to create custom tile patterns reflecting the cultures of estate residents.
Hat-Trick simplified the existing estate map for the directional signs.
eg magazine — 43
Hat-Trick created the slim directional totems using an offthe-shelf sign system and customized it with the bespoke tiles.
Cultural connectivity Hat-Trick entered the project through Futurecity, the consultancy tasked with developing an arts and cultural strategy for the estate redevelopment. In 2007, Futurecity undertook a four-week consultation with residents that identified ways that art could be used to create a unique sense of place and inspire community pride. “In London, where many inner-city areas are being regenerated, culture is quite a toolkit for placemaking,” says Mark Davy, Futurecity founder. “In the past, this might have taken the form of public art in a square, but today we’re using more of an embedded approach. You’ll find art integrated into street furniture, signage, and architectural elements. It’s a way to ensure that the cultural heritage of the residents is part of the DNA of the place.” Hat-Trick collaborated with Futurecity, architects BPTW Partnership, and landscape architects MESH Partnership to integrate the signage program into the overall project. Hat-Trick’s central idea was to create a palette of tile patterns based on the historical, architectural, and cultural history of the area, especially the cultures of the diverse population, which includes Europeans, Africans, and Asians, many of them immigrants. The area was once part of a Roman trade route out of the city, and has seen many changes in population and cultural diversity over the years. With a small arts committee made up of local residents, Hat-Trick selected a mix of local designers and artists to create a range of patterns, all with links back to the residents. “We felt that rather than doing a ‘corporate’ design, it should feel vibrant, like the area itself,” Howat explains. The artists and designers created more than 60 patterns, ranging from a depiction of the Empire Windrush, a ship that brought immigrants over from Jamaica in 1947, to work by graffiti artist Boyd. Modular and accessible Working with a modest budget, Hat-Trick’s goal was to start with a flexible off-the-shelf signage product that, combined with the tiles, could be used to create a bespoke look. Hat-Trick and fabricator Spectrum Architectural Signing chose Workshop2’s Chameleon system, built for tough urban environments. Hat-Trick designed the modular system to appear in a variety of configurations, from building identification to freestanding totems. Its simplicity allows the signs to adapt to the eclectic architectural styles and building materials found on the estate. The tiles will also eventually be incorporated into landscape architecture, and Hat-Trick created a series of bird boxes with tiled roofs to help encourage local birds to nest. The system needed to be accessible to all, so HatTrick chose a “clean and clear” typeface (ITC Avant Garde) high color contrast, and simple, clean layouts for the information. “We simplified the existing estate map to make it as clear as possible.” 44 — eg magazine
“ We felt that rather than doing a ‘corporate’ design, it should feel vibrant, like the area itself.” Gateposts marking the estate entrances are also adorned with the vivid tiles.
To encourage local birds to nest, Hat-Trick also designed bird houses with tiled roofs.
To withstand weather and a tough urban environment, the tiles are made of 10mm aluminum plate, digitally printed and radiused to look like ceramic tile. eg magazine — 45
N o P l ac e L i k e H o m e
The tiles are 125mm and 250mm square, and can be affixed to the wide variety of building surfaces found on the estate.
An enduring legacy Because the signs need to withstand the weather and years of urban wear and tear, fabricator Spectrum Architectural Signing (London) advised using solid metal rather than ceramic tiles and a robust hardware system. “Stockwell Park is an inner London housing project and we were informed by the client that vandalism was an issue,” says David Gerrard, Spectrum director. “The Chameleon system is very robust, with no visible fixings, and we used 10mm-thick aluminum plate for the tiles, so we were confident the hardware would be vandal resistant.” Both wall-mounted and freestanding signs were given a tough clear lacquer coating. For optimum reproduction of the vivid tile patterns and to replicate the look of ceramic tiles, Spectrum chose digital printing directly to the metal surface. The aluminum plate was polyester powdercoated and the graphics were digitally printed direct to media using UV hardening inks. Tight tolerances and compatibility issues with the coating materials, inks, and lacquers made the job challenging, says Gerrard. “Digital printing lends itself best to printing photographic images rather than areas of flat color, where you can get ‘calendering,’ or lines in the color,” he notes. “To mimic the look of ceramic tiles, we had to put a lot of ink down. Finding a printer who was prepared to deliver the quality we needed was a challenge. I don’t know how many control samples we produced to get everything right.” Howat says the project was a long time in coming due to changes in client and the financial downturn impacting the housing market. In the end, though, he feels the solution is an enduring and beautiful one. “We had to be determined to see it through and make sure that we kept the original design principles in place. We think it was worth the effort and the wait.”
Graffiti artist Boyd created tile patterns for the estate’s skate park.
Building identification signs come in a variety of configurations.
46 — eg magazine
Hong Kong Feature Wall, Hong Kong
e!! t i bs m we m.co w ne efor t ou orfir t u s k o .win c e Ch www
NanoLumens
速
DISPLAY
YOUR VISION
NanoLumens LED solutions. Brilliant displays for every space.
Nano_NL004_AD_Display_Final.indd 1
1/13/14 12:17 PM
ARTCR AFT DISPLAY GRAPHICS INC.
Extremely durable environmentally friendly graphics since 1965.
1.800.994.9451 artcraftgraphics.com
InspIratIon (52)
tools of Engagement
New and emerging digital tools are helping raise the [experience] bar in museums and other exhibition environments. (60)
sketchbook
Michael Courtney is an equal-opportunity sketcher. (64)
Up Close
Per Mollerup on wayfinding, wayshowing, and why waylosing is not so bad.
TOOLS OF ENGAGEMENT Visitors don’t come to museums for technology; they come for experiences they can’t get at home. New and emerging digital tools are helping raise the [experience] bar. By Wayne LaBar
Yasushi Matoba and his team at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo developed AquaTop, a projection system that uses white water as a screen surface. In this literally immersive experience, users move their hands through water to manipulate projected objects. (Photo: Yasushi Matoba)
52 — eg magazine
J
ust a few short years ago, museums were limited to a somewhat narrow and familiar palette of digital technologies: perhaps a looping or timed video to tell a linear story, or an interactive kiosk for deeper investigation. Since then, technology has changed at warp speed, and visitors’ expectations have changed along with it. The Internet and wireless and cellular data networks have been major game-changers, bringing an explosion of information, stories, and experiences. Mobile devices provide instant connection and easy capture of images and video, including high definition. Today, museum-goers don’t even have to leave home to experience highresolution and large-scale display devices. And gaming systems that offer engaging and realistic simulation experiences are now moving into full-body motion control.
Visitors come to institutions for experiences they can’t get at home or on the street. These new advances effectively raise the bar for what constitutes memorable and impactful design. In addition, some of these technologies have become such an integral part of our daily lives that, at times, visitors are expecting to engage with the familiar technological “dimensions” that surround them—so if they don’t have an expected experience, they could perceive the museum as being out of touch. So where does this leave museums and exhibition environments? Fortunately, new technologies are also an advantage, because they expand what’s possible in creating and delivering a museum experience. Indeed, they spur even more technological innovation that we can then expect to use in future designs.
Digital technology and old-fashioned tactility are a winning combination. At the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington, Vt., visitors can play in an actual sandbox that uses projection and 3D visualization technology to explain how watersheds work. (Photo: Š ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain)
eg magazine — 53
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, visitors have been lining up to try their hand at writing their names in the Korean Hanguel alphabet. It’s part of a suite of interactives Bluecadet created to introduce visitors to rare artwork from the Joseon dynasty. (Photo: Bluecadet)
Physical/digital Interfaces A growing area of development—with some engaging and creative examples already deployed—is the blending of the physical and digital worlds. In these cases, either real objects or materials are manipulated to alter a digital world, or a digital world is used to alter a physical object. These experiences are powerful because they allow visitors to interact with unique physical objects only available at museums. And museums have the ability and resources to create physical interfaces that might not be found at home. At the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center (Burlington, Vt.), visitors can play in an actual sandbox that uses projection and 3D visualization technology to explain how watersheds work. As visitors create mountain ranges and other topography changes on the table, the technology shows how water, projected on the surface of the sand, behaves and flows. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and created by UC Davis KeckCAVES, UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Lawrence Hall of Science, and ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center. Visitors can also get their hands dirty in the children’s area of Le Centquatre cultural center in Paris. The DIRTI tapioca interface designed by User Studio combines a “real” tactile experience with an iPad app. When young visitors dip their hands into a small basin filled with grains of dry tapioca—or, in some of their experiments, ice cream—they change the transparency of light being detected through a sand-blasted dish, creating light and sound effects on the iPad. 54 — eg magazine
Projection Experiences in art, science, and other interactions where visitors use their bodies to control the activities on a large display are somewhat common. A limiting factor in the past has been the technology and cost to pull these off. However, this is changing rapidly due to the technological adaptability of the Kinect system, part of the Microsoft Xbox system, and easily programmed software. A company called Ubi now allows any surface, using a Kinect and a projector, to become an interactive touchscreen surface. Certainly, this offers the opportunity to expand interactivity to signage as well as to other text surfaces that are often static. Another system that uses the same technology is the work of Yasushi Matoba and his team at the University of ElectroCommunications (Tokyo). His project, called AquaTop, is a projection system that uses white water as a screen surface. In this literally immersive experience, users move their hands through water to manipulate projected objects. Matoba used a Kinect system, a projector, and a depth camera to detect input on and over the water surface. The system can detect when someone is touching the water or even when an object is emerging from beneath the water. These act as control points dictating what is shown on the display. This system won the Grand Prize at the 2013 Laval Virtual. Another example is an augmented reality user interface developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, which can accurately detect the user’s finger and what it is selecting, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system using off-the-shelf cameras and projectors. Using their image-processing technology, real-world information such as text from books or printed images can be imported from a document. The system allows a user to trace a finger across a document on a table, copy it as digital data, and display it virtually. This example suggests that it might be possible to use projection as a way to reveal deeper information layers without overburdening a graphic panel or forcing visitors to select information on a panel to save to a cloud account.
Mobile devices The use of mobile devices in museums already has a long history, starting with audio tour technology that preceded cell phones. Now, though, museums are increasingly supplying visitors with opportunities to engage with bar codes, audio codes, QR codes, and other digital tags as common ways to use their own mobile devices in the museum setting. In the future, mobile devices will become an even more integral part of the museum visit. A simple example of this was developed for ALSO!, an exhibition created by students in the School of Visual Arts’ Products of Design MFA program in 2013. Here, the mobile device was an integral part of several exhibition experiences the students created. For example, visitors set their devices to record video and then used a small, hand-operated hoist to lift the device high above the exhibitions to facilitate a different perspective. In another intervention, visitors used their devices as elements in a kaleidoscope. In yet another example, visitors attached their mobile device to a portable video magnifier. Each of these points to a new direction in which the mobile device becomes an integral piece of the technology that makes an experience successful, personal, and memorable.
ALSO! was a set of “roving mobile interventions” created by students in the School of Visual Arts’ Products of Design MFA program. In this series of experiences, visitors used their mobile devices as tools of engagement. Here, they attached their phones to a kaleidoscope for a completely customized viewing. (Photo: Kathryn McElroy)
Low-tech interaction can also be a beautiful thing. The ALSO! exhibit featured a station where visitors could look through old-fashioned Viewmasters. (Photo: Kathryn McElroy)
“ Museums are increasingly supplying visitors with opportunities to engage with bar codes, audio codes, QR codes, and other digital tags as common ways to use their own mobile devices in the museum setting.”
eg magazine — 55
Gaming Gaming experiences in museums have been around for a long time. But times have changed since the days of scavenger hunts with printed sheets. Games are still a great mode of engagement, but the arrival of the mobile device has completely changed the gaming possibilities for museums. A perfect example of this is the recent launch of the company and project Capture the Museum. Here, in an event or after-hours mode of operation, people are divided into teams and, using their mobile devices, work together to complete puzzles and challenges. This requires visitors to explore the museum to find the answers to the puzzles, much like an old-school scavenger hunt. Often, though, the puzzles and the game bear no connection to the design or storyline of the exhibitions. This is where digital interfaces could play a role. With what quite possibly will be a digital “cloud” beneath the experiences in an exhibition, it could be possible to concurrently design the exhibition and related gaming layers so the games actually work with the intended storyline of the experiences.
Hidden experiences A final area of technology innovation worth considering is those built on surprise—where the experience is hidden and not evident at first glance. These offer new opportunities to foster inquiry and exploration in a museum experience. An example of this is the Talking Window developed by BBDO Germany as a marketing campaign for Sky Go mobile services. The system transmits high-frequency vibrations to public transportation vehicle windows and uses bone conduction technology to send ads or other messages to passengers when they lean their heads against the windows (whether actively or as a result of falling asleep). Due to the bone conduction technology the sound is heard inside one’s head—almost like the proverbial voice of God. Obviously, this technology could be used in a variety of ways in a museum. For example, imagine transmitting sound through a vitrine around an object. These are just a few examples of the emerging technologies that can help designers and developers create educational and emotional impact in museum experiences. But remember: Use technology when it is appropriate to the design and the story, not technology for technology’s sake. Wayne LaBar is the founder and principal of ALCHEMY studio, an exhibition design and museum planning firm. He also writes a blog that can be found at alchemystudio.com. Contact Wayne at wlabar@ alchemystudio.com.
“Games are still a great mode of engagement, but the arrival of the mobile device has completely changed the gaming possibilities for museums. ”
56 — eg magazine
Gaming technology has dramatically changed the traditional “scavenger-hunt-at-the-museum” experience. In Capture the Museum, people are divided into teams to explore the museum after hours, using their mobile devices to find clues and answers to puzzles. A similar concept could be used to tie games to actual exhibition events. (Photos: Capture the Museum)
A PROVEN PARTNER
Museum Corporate Healthcare Higher Education Sports A&D Community Producing Exhibits and Environments that Inform, Educate and Inspire
Design by: Design360
Design by: HKS
Design by: HOK
Design by: Downstream
Design by: Kahler Slater
Design by: Populous
Design by: Gensler
Design by: Hornall Anderson
Design by: Perkins + Will
www.xibitz.com
TRUST MATTHEWS. PREMIER MANUFACTURER OF CUSTOM CAST AND ETCHED METAL PRODUCTS.
Communicate… B R A N D I N G
Commemorate… T R I B U T E S
Celebrate! A W A R D S
& SIGNAGE
& MEMORIALS
& RECOGNITION
$BMM VT UPEBZ r MatthewsID.com ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS
Michael Courtney Michael Courtney Design Where do you sketch? I sketch in meetings, at my desk, and on planes. For some reason, classical and chamber music concerts really get me thinking, so I always take a few blank 3x5 cards and a pen so I can discreetly sketch if the mood strikes me. Why is sketching important to you? I love being able to create a “you mean like this?” thumbnail sketch in a meeting with clients because we get an immediate yes/no/maybe response. Being able to do sketches helps keep the conversation going and get the idea on the table, discussed, and resolved. What do you sketch on? I’m an equal opportunity sketcher. I’ll draw on anything that’s handy: sketchbook, grid paper, blank copier paper, tracing paper, post-it notes, and even the back of an agenda in a meeting. A couple of years ago, I finally bought some sketchbooks and consolidated them into one place.
I also like adding sketches to presentation documents. When we developed the environmental graphics for the headquarters of global health organization PATH, we proposed using a folk art technique I’d seen while traveling in South Africa—wrapping their logo with colorful wire or attaching everyday objects. Our presentation drawing showed their logo and photos of the folk art, and our marker sketch helped them see how their logo would appear.
60 — eg magazine
“ It’s a quick way to work out thoughts,
details, or ideas with the clients, teammates, or partners at the table.”
Do you have any sketching tips to share? I try to get out of the way and let the idea in my head get onto the paper. One breakthrough for me was to give up the idea my thumbnail sketches needed to be “perfect” or even “really good.” They just need to be good enough to get the idea across. A second breakthrough was to learn to leave good thumbnail sketches alone. You may think you need to redraw them, but usually I don’t. There’s something about capturing the moment that gives them energy and character. The third breakthrough was acknowledging the value of talking through the idea with the client, with the sketch in front of us.
I’ll draw on anything that’s handy: sketchbook, grid paper, blank copier paper, tracing paper, post-it notes, and even the back of an agenda in a meeting.
Sketches don’t have to be perfect, they just have to get the idea across. This was a quick “How about like this” sketch in a meeting with our University of Washington EGD Master Plan client. We were discussing the need for an element that would serve as a landmark, be photogenic, and align with UW’s new brand initiative. FYI, that little sketch helped them sell the idea and eventually find donors for the “W.”
eg magazine — 61
Rethink digital. Powerful. Flexible. Dynamic. Outdoor LED displays offer the most visually stunning messaging solution for businesses and organizations. Whether you want to make a powerful statement or achieve seamless integration, Watchfire's customizable displays offer the best picture quality and durability in the industry.
To learn more, visit watchfiresigns.com.
Adaptable signage and display systems www.systech-signage.com Contact us for your local Systech dealer Email info@systech-signage.com Call 800 807 1931
Ad index APCO Graphics 48 archetype 20 ArtCraft Display 48 GraphTec IFC Color-Ad Signs and Exhibits 8 Design Communications Ltd 1 Daktronics BC Designtex 37 GableSigns IBC Gemini Inc 18 General Glass 34 Harmon Signs 62 Insight Lighting 36 iZone 2 62 — eg magazine
LEDConn 63 L&H Signs 59 Marcel Machler 18 Matthews International 58 Matthews Paint 35 NanoLumens 47 Pannier Graphics 34 Renze Display 63 SH Immersive Environments 49 Systech Signage Technology 7, 62 Visual ID Source 63 Watchfire 62 Winsor Fireform 47 Xibitz 57
+
SEGD Ad vol 8-print-bleed crop140227.pdf 1 2/27/2014 9:33:49 AM
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
WHEN IT’S
COMPLEX UNIQUE STRANGE AMBITIOUS & FULL OF THINGS WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT... THERE’S RENZE.
ESTABLISHED 1895
ENVIRONMENTS
•
EXHIBITS
•
EVENTS eg magazine — 63
UP CLOSE
Per Mollerup Per Mollerup, Dr. Tech., is a writer, design thinker, and professor of communication design at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. From 1984 to 2009, he was owner and principal of Designlab, a Copenhagenbased design consultancy specialized in wayshowing and branding. He is the author of four books, including Wayshowing>Wayfinding (2013) and Wayshowing, A Guide to Environmental Signage (2005).
Why did you coin the term “wayshowing”? When Kevin Lynch coined the term “wayfinding” in The Image of the City, 1960, he talked about the activity where somebody is finding his way in unknown terrain. In Wayfinding, 1992, Paul Arthur and Romedi Passini used the word with the same meaning. However, when assisting wayfinding, designers practice wayshowing. Wayshowing enables wayfinding. To use “wayfinding” about the work of professional designers is mistaking the sender for the receiver, the writer for the reader, the chef for the guest. The title “Wayfinding Director” is a misnomer. Would you trust a chef calling himself “Eating Director”? In your two wayfinding books, what did you intend to say about the topic that hadn’t been said before? When I wrote Wayshowing in 2005, my company had among similar commissions done wayshowing programs for the Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm airports. I identified nine wayfinding strategies we all practice when navigating in
64 — eg magazine
terra incognita. Most of us don’t know that we know and use these strategies. They are unknown knowns, in Donald Rumsfeld’s parlance. To wayshowing designers, they are essential knowledge. Usercentered wayshowing design builds on knowledge about wayfinders’ intuitive strategies. The time was ripe for Wayshowing>Wayfinding (2013) when Wayshowing had been out of print for some years and reached shamelessly high second-hand prices on Amazon. Also, some designers apparently thought that “wayshowing” was a new fashionable term for “wayfinding.” Some corrective action was due. Finally, the development of interactive wayshowing and wayfinding knocked on the door. How are digital technologies changing the way we find our way? Unfortunately, this new man-machine alliance tends to hinder the user’s creation of a cognitive map, which otherwise provides a temporal advantage of scale: it becomes easier to travel an area as the cognitive map is developed. Also, until now the new technologies primarily worked in outdoor
areas while a fair part of our wayfinding problems happen indoors. Finally, not all of us carry a digital wayfinding assistant all the time. It is a safe prediction that we will not dump the traditional wayshowing media, including signage, in a foreseeable future. Some designers will work on improved user interfaces of digital devices, and some (most) will work on environments that assist unplugged wayfinders directly. You suggest that “waylosing” may not be such a bad thing. What do you mean by that? I am not advocating waylosing on the way to the maternity ward, but in less stressed situations it can be great fun. Waylosing is the stuff mazes are made of, and it is one of the great attractions of Venice (Italy) and many other places. Also, we should not forget serendipity, the luck of finding something unexpected and useful when looking for something else. After all, America was found by some guys who lost their way to India.
City of Nashville Designer: Informing Design (Pittsburgh, PA)
Nemours Children’s Hospital Designer: Stanley Beaman & Sears (Atlanta, GA) Perkins + Will (Boston, MA)
CCBC Designer: Ayers Saint Gross (Baltimore, MD)
Inspired by Design. Powered by Innovation. Committed to Perform.
Let’s traveL together Building upon our 34 years of award winning performance and experience, GableSigns understands what it takes to make a great project. We have been working with EG designers since our beginning days, and never underestimate or compromise what a great partnership can achieve. From custom signs & architectural graphics, to dynamic digital displays, our team is here and ready to help on your next project. For more info, contact us at 800.854.0568
Cabana Bay Beach Resort Designer: WrenHouse Design Debra Wrenhouse
www.GableSiGnS.com
NO. 09, 2014
NO. 09, 2014
eg EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal Integrated Environmental Media System
YOUR DESIGN PARTNER We’re more than just a digital media manufacturer. We team up with leading architects, designers, integrators and media experts to help transform public spaces into some of the world’s most iconic digital media destinations. From design concepts to in-depth technology sessions, we strive to deliver a high-quality digital media solution that lives up to your vision.
888-325-7446
commercial@daktronics.com
WWW.SEGD.ORG
www.daktronics.com
OUTDOOR
ENVIRONMENTS
SOCIAL HOUSING SIGNAGE
BOY SCOUTS TREEHOUSE
EXHIBITION TECHNOLOGY