US-Singapore Sign Collaboration Delivers “Quay” to the City

Despite having been a sovereign republic for only slightly more than 50 years, and with only five million inhabitants spread across 63 islands, Singapore has become a powerful player. The city-state proudly stands as the world’s fourth-largest banking and financial center, the second-largest market for casino gaming, and a key international-shipping center and oil-refinery center. In a report published in October, the World Bank lauded Singapore as the easiest place to do business globally. Even amidst global economic chaos, the Far East has maintained strength, with Singapore remaining an essential cog in Asia’s economic engine.

High-rise office towers and high-profile residential buildings are constructed almost daily in Singapore, and opportunities correspondingly abound for signage and environmental-graphic-design (EGD) projects. Calori + Vanden-Eynden (CVE), a NYC-based EGD firm, collaborated with a pair of Singaporean vendors to create a signage and wayfinding program for One Raffles Quay (pronounced “key”), a 2-million-sq.-ft., multi-use development in the heart of Singapore’s central business district. Kohn Pederson Fox Assoc. and Architects 61 (U.S. and Singapore firms, respectively) served as the building’s architect for the clients, a joint venture of Keppel Land Intl., Hongkong Land Ltd. and Chueng Kong Holdings Ltd.

“Singapore’s hustle and bustle, and heat and humidity, are legendary,” David Vanden-Eynden, one of the firm’s co-principals, said. “It’s a formidable urban environment where the skyline seemingly changes every week. Such an environment can be dehumanizing at times. To counter the fast pace of Singapore’s culture, we sought to incorporate humanistic qualities by creating beautiful, simple and approachable signage.”
He said international projects represent approximately half of CVE’s business, although the percentage has slightly declined because of the economic downturn. According to Vanden-Eynden, project development differs slightly from U.S. practices.

“In Singapore, they emulate the British approach to project management,” he said. “It’s not so different [from the U.S.], but it seems there’s not quite the same stress level associated with completing a job. Their construction and safety standards are very high. And, whereas in China, they may bring on a U.S. firm to deliver schematics and nothing else, entities in Singapore tend to take a holistic approach and have one firm manage all pertinent job facets.”

However, Vanden-Eynden also noted certain components and materials, considered staples in the U.S., such as goldleaf and Matthews acrylic-polyurethane coatings, can be scarce or cost-prohibitive. SunSing Neon Signs & Electric Co. Pte. Ltd., a 40-year-old company, built the sign program.

The comprehensive program carried the identification through from the primary tower IDs to floor directories, egress diagrams and various architectural-graphic features. Notably, a series of mounted-glass channel letters distinguishes one of One Raffles Quay’s main entrances. Vanden-Eynden said the job required custom glass formulation. Synergraphic Design Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based provider of art glass, produced the letters. Vanden-Eynden said, “We interviewed five vendors, but only one could do the work. We made sure Synergraphic and SunSing were collaborating closely from the early stages.”

Advertisement

To produce the glass letters, which measure more than 3 ft. tall and 4 in. thick, Synergraphic used a hot-casting process. According to Synergraphic’s managing director, Florence Ng, the process had never been attempted.

“We created a test alphabet using the hot-cast process,” she said. “The letters were misshapen and filled with bubbles, so they weren’t acceptable. You can use UV lamination or kiln-fusing to create custom dimensions and effects, but you’re limited with the type of finishes you can use while still creating high-quality glass.”

Synergraphic devised a custom, metal mold that could withstand the glass-casting heat while also being easily dislodged as the glass progressed to the annealing process. Six workers scooped the glass, which had a honey-like texture, from the furnace to fill the molds, while two more used acetylene torches to keep the mixture hot before the cooling process could begin. The finished letters were fitted to a series of stainless-steel saddles designed to optimally bear the letters’ weight.

“It was a long, arduous process, full of sweat and heartache every time we had to discard a set of letters until it was perfect,” Ng said. “But it was well worth it.”

SunSing was invited by the client to bid on the project. Jacob Eu, the company’s managing director, said it was one of the company’s largest projects to date.

To make powerful entry statements that complement the cast-glass letters, SunSing bedecked a lengthy wall with waterjet-cut, granite forms in-filled with a series of waterjet-cut, glass letters laminated to translucent, white, glass backing panels. A double row of cold-cathode, fluorescent tubes internally lights the wall.

Advertisement

To create a series of overhead, directional signs, SunSing fabricated laser-cut, 0.06-in.-thick, stainless-steel panels with push-through, acrylic letters that are fitted to an aluminum, U-channel frame and lit internally with warm-white, fluorescents. Ribbed, cast-acrylic-sheet forms the rest of the panels.