Architectural Signage

Architectural signage is a broad term used to describe signage that identifies a building and, possibly, provides direction for visitors. Often specified by the architect, it typically meshes with a building s architecture. Architectural signage can include wayfinding systems, interior room identification and exterior monument or I.D. signs.

Such signs add to the architecture and complement a building without distracting from the surroundings, said Ron Quarles, president of Signcraft (Nashville, TN), which specializes in architectural signage.

Architectural signage doesn t advertise and typically isn t placed on a pole, said Rick Weidner, president of Weidner Architectural Signage (Sacramento, CA). He said much of it is viewed up close, but it can also include monument signs.

Here, we take a look at three case studies from three different perspectives — an architecture/environmental-graphics firm; a sign company that handled every detail of a sign project; and a sign company that served as fabricator and installer.

Peddie School science center

Forty-year-old Hillier Architecture (Princeton, NJ) designed the science building at the Peddie School (Hightstown, NJ), and Hillier s environmental-graphic-design studio (Philadelphia) created the new facility s graphic elements.

Peddie, a private boarding and day high school, features a campus of mostly brick, colonial-style structures. The contemporary-style Annenberg Science Center is the campus showpiece. Because both the architecture and the graphic elements were created by Hillier departments, a close collaboration provided a seamless integration of the signs and graphics into the building, said Amy Rees, a Hillier associate and graphic designer.

Rees said her team worked closely with the school administrators, who had envisioned extending learning beyond the science-center classroom through museum-type displays in the common areas.

We worked with them to find things that would work with their space and work in a school environment, Rees said.

The school wanted to surround the students with science throughout the building, she said. For example, graphic designers placed a large, antique Civil War telescope in a common area; it was positioned so that students could look out across campus and view a panel of information about the telescope.

Each of the building s three levels is separated by sciences: physics, biology and chemistry. The biology level features a 16-ft. DNA model, suspended between two floors, in the atrium, which is visible from the building s exterior. The physics level features a solar-system model cut and stained into the concrete floor. On the chemistry level, the molecular structures of chocolate, coffee, aspirin, caffeine and orange juice are routed into a bamboo wall.

Each of the 14 classrooms is named for a famous scientist pertaining to that level s discipline. Signage marks the room name, and large, printed images of that scientist decorate a neighboring wall. Even the bathroom signage features science — the chemistry-level bathrooms have molecular structures of estrogen and testosterone; biology bathrooms feature chromosome charts; and physics bathrooms are marked by astrological symbols.

Translucent acrylic and brushed-aluminum, donor-recognition plaques are placed throughout the facility. A donor wall is integrated into a paneled bamboo wall in the central lobby using inlaid and applied letters and screenprinted text.

Throughout the six-month project, Rees said, the graphic design team met frequently with the client and architects to ensure the materials, color choices and sizes of the images, signs and exhibits integrated seamlessly into the building. Nothing seemed like an add-on.

They also visited the site through-out the building s construction and walked through with the sign and display fabricators before installation.

Stanford Cancer Center

Although 50-year-old Weidner Architectural Signage typically avoids projects that require an extensive bidding process, company president Rick Weidner said they couldn t resist throwing their hat into the bidding pool for a recent, prestigious project. Their competitive presentation was selected for the more than $600,000 signage project at the new Stanford (CA) University Center for Cancer Research.

The company served a design/bid/build capacity and handled all details of the project, including design, scheduling, permits, budget, fabrication and installation.

That gives them [the client] just one neck to grab, Weidner said. He prefers having all the responsibility and being held accountable for all aspects of a project.

Weidner contracted Ross/Luthin Creative (Santa Rosa, CA) to collaborate with them on design.

The initial design presented to project decisionmakers survived mostly intact, Weidner said. Being brought on board a year before project completion, Weidner said, afforded the advantage of working closely with the interior designers, architect, facility administrator and department heads, all of whom provided unique input on the wayfinding and signage system.

Often times, signage, because we re the last trade on the project, is usually the last item to be procured on a job. This client, knowing that signage was a participatory type of purchase — meaning that the interior people had a thought, the architect had a thought, the people that were going to work there had thoughts — brought us in early on, Weidner said.

California s codes are tighter than many other states, so careful attention ensured all signs met state and federal codes and ADA requirements.

Flexibility and changeability were key project components because the doctors who serve the clinic change regularly. Weidner provided LCD displays for the main directory that can be changed remotely as needed. Also, many wayfinding signs are encased digital prints that can be changed when necessary.

Flaget Memorial Hospital

Signcraft, in operation since 1957, switched its focus solely to architectural signage when new owners took over in 1996. Company president Ron Quarles said 75% of their work is for the healthcare industry; they manufacture and install signs nationwide. Working directly with architects, environmental graphic designers, sign designers and general contractors, Signcraft fabricates mostly interior signage, but also exterior monument or channel-letter signs.

For the Flaget Memorial Hospital, a recently opened hospital in Bardstown, KY, Signcraft fabricated and installed more than 600 interior and exterior signs, including overhead directionals, room-identification signs, exterior monument signs, a 15-ft. decorative cross, directories, HIPAA required signs, ambulance and emergency signage, and decorative cafeteria signs, said Jared Dorris, project manager.

Grehsham Smith and Partners (Nashville), an architecture, engineering and interior-design firm, provided the sign designs and specified materials to Signcraft. Dorris said the eight-month project went smoothly and offered the chance to work with wood for many of the sign frames, which featured a complex, arched top that added time to the manufacturing process. He said wood isn t frequently used because it s more expensive than other signmaking materials.