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A Jazzy Design

A marquee’s subtle color change sets the night to music.

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Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC), one of 12 constituent organizations of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is the world's largest, nonprofit arts organization dedicated to jazz. Simply put, the New York City-based organization's mission is to play, teach, write, sing, present, photograph, film, archive, record, broadcast and celebrate jazz music. By inviting artists and audiences worldwide to its "campus," J@LC brings people together to have a good time. In fact, "Welcome" is the center's motto.

The organization's new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall (FPRH), which is scheduled to open this October, will serve as the cultural centerpiece of Time Warner Center, a new, 2.8-million-sq.-ft. landmark development at Columbus Circle. Some FPRH components include Rose Theatre, a 1,100- to 1,231-seat performance space designed for jazz, but also capable of accommodating other musical and artistic performances, and the Allen Room, a 310- to 550-seat area reminiscent of a Greek amphitheater. FPRH's architect is Rafael Viñoly Architects, P.C. (New York City).

Earlier this year, Visual Graphic Systems Inc. (VGS) completed the design engineering, fabrication and installation of J@LC's brushed, stainless-steel entrance canopy and signage. Located in New York City, VGS, an innovator of visual-marking systems, designs, engineers, manufactures and installs high-quality, creative and functional sign systems, display fixtures and menuboards.

The design firm overseeing the project's signage, New York City-based Pentagram (which also has offices in London, San Francisco, Austin, TX, and Berlin), sought VGS' design, engineering, production and installation expertise.

VGS president Milton DiPietro commented, "While we feel our craftsmanship and commitment to meet tight deadlines was a key factor in Pentagram's decision to choose VGS, we're also pleased that Pentagram selected a New York City manufacturer to develop these signs."

Paula Scher, a principal in Pentagram's New York City office, served as the project's lead sign designer. She recalled, "I was asked to design an identity for Jazz at Lincoln Center. A member of its board of directors recommended me for the job; he was familiar with some work I'd done for other cultural institutions." Scher noted that her sign-design goals involved creating something beautiful and contemporary that would take J@LC's spirit out into the street.

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Not surprisingly, design challenges occurred when "politics" came into play. Scher commented, "Jazz at Lincoln Center, now in its new home at Time Warner Center, is really a subtenant of the building's developer. In projects like these, there are always politics between the city and developers. But in this case, there was an additional layer of relationships within the development."

City ordinances posed the most challenges. Due to the building's high-profile location and proximity to a residential area, zoning wouldn't allow signage comprising color changes and/or movement. However, the J@LC marquee required color and movement to complement the identity Pentagram had created.

The solution involved programming the logo's colors to endure a cycle of "imperceptible" changes.

Scher explained, "Each color appears for 20 seconds. The color change is slow enough that, if you were staring at it, you can't quite see it changing. You might look away and look back to find a new color appear. The color shift is quite graceful and almost musical."

The sign's 65-in. "JZZ" letters are individually backlit via white LEDs; the letter "A" is backlit via red, green and blue LED modules. Each color in each module is individually programmable.

VGS' DiPietro explained, "Pentagram wanted the letter 'A' to change through the entire color spectrum. By using the latest LED technology and computer programming, we achieved [Pentagram's] objective. The program is designed to make the color change subtle and fluid, rather than abrupt and obvious. We believe the variety of colors — red, orange, yellow, green and blue hues — shown in this smooth transition, reflects much of the essence of jazz."

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Scher concluded that the marquee maintains a distinct identity within Time Warner building's huge development and announces jazz as a major cultural institution.

Companies Mentioned

Pentagram
New York City
(212) 683-7000
www.pentagram.com

Visual Graphic Systems Inc.
New York City
(800) 203-0301
www.vgs-inc.com

Rafael Viñoly Architects, PC
New York City
(212) 924-5060
www.rvapc.com

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