A Simple Sign

A Simple Sign Universal Electrical Displays handles an unorthodox installation. Joel Petrocy

One day in November 2004, I got a call around 4:30 p.m. from an established New York City real-estate developer. He asked me to come to his office to potentially design and fabricate what initially appeared to be a simple, halo-lit, channel-letter sign for a new building near Lincoln Center.

To my surprise, some of New York City’s top architects and the building’s owner filled the room. They were anxious to see how I would wire these letters. The building’s architect had created no leeway to get behind the wall to wire the letters, and, understandably, the owner didn’t want exposed wires between his halo-lit letters.

After briefly discussing obvious (and not so obvious) wiring techniques, I was very distressed over how quickly they rejected my suggestions. Before I arrived, some of the Big Apple’s most accomplished engineers had attempted all of my proposed solutions.

As a last resort, I used my Notebook