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Museum Display “Line Around an Idea” Embodies Compelling Exhibit Graphics

Floor display, wall graphics integrate in exhibit that extols design by hand

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The “Line Around an Idea” exhibit, which was featured at the City College of New York’s Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture from September through April, showcased architectural hand drawings by James Newton Wines, who was formerly principal of SITE, an influential architecture and environmental-art firm. The exhibit’s focus speaks to the “man vs. machine” debate ongoing among many in the sign-design community.

“The purpose of the show was to illustrate the advantages of hand-rendered content, working in concert with computer technology’s precision,” Wines, now a professor of architecture at Penn St. Univ., said. “These overlapping means are essential for conceptual development. Hand rendering creates a direct response to the thought process, and digital technology offers the capacity to confirm and communicate your original ideas. The limitations of computer drawing, which are determined by digital-grid patterns and prescriptive line, tone and color choices, represent the polar opposite of an organic flow of instinctive creative processes.”

To emphasize the exhibit’s contents, SITE enlisted NYC-based NRI/Rethink Color to develop a 2,500-sq.-ft. floor graphic that supersizes a monochrome scan of one of Wines’ pen-and-ink drawings, which was installed on a polished-concrete floor. According to literature that promotes the exhibit, “This massive, digitally produced sketch … by James Wines can be appreciated as pure calligraphy when experienced underfoot. It can also be seen as a panoramic work from multiple positions above the exhibit space.”

After having prepped and tiled the client-supplied .TIFF file using Roland DGA’s VersaWorks RIP, NRI/Rethink Color generated the graphic using 3M™’s Controltac™ IJ162, a 4-mil, temporary, floor-graphic film designed for sealed surfaces, which it decorated on its Roland SolJet Pro III XJ-740 printer with eco-solvent inks. To prevent scuffmarks and abrasions, they applied 3M Scotchcal™ 3645, a luster-finish overlaminate designed for floors. A sponsor of “Line Around an Idea,” 3M donated the materials to demonstrate the material’s versatility in an architectural context.

For the exhibit’s entry foyer, NRI/Rethink Color fabricated a 52 x 134-in., wall-mounted sign that summarizes the exhibit’s contents. The sign comprises 3M contour-cut vinyl, which was directly applied to the wall, and is protected by a Scotchcal 8519 luster-finish overlaminate.

“Because of the .TIFF file’s enormous size, tiling the floor graphics’ pattern was challenging, but our experienced team developed a nearly seamless result,” Curt Rowell, NRI/Rethink Color’s account executive, said.
 

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