Checking out the Roland printer in action
Not content to just discuss theoretical applications, we brought an actual project to discuss with the Speedpro team. Nick, Mike and Carolyn were very helpful in trouble-shooting our project and we left with a viable solution!
Lewis Integrative Science Building will conjoin three adjacent buildings into an integrated complex beautifully expressing the very paradigm of Integrative Science: bringing together content experts from varied fields to study complex problems in collaborative ways. The results are multifaceted, complex and beautiful, as is THA & HDR Architecture's collaborative design for the new building.
We were onsite last week for a design workshop and site walk with Amanda Petretti and Laurie Canup of THA Architects, shown above with Abby Alway from AK. It's always exciting to be in the building after knowing it only from architectural drawings!
With construction in full swing, we were able to visualize locations and sight lines for signage and graphics and then study adjacencies within the volume of the newly conjoined buildings.
The signs in fabrication!
Design concept photo simulation
Montreal exploded when Expo 67 came to town. It brought the world to Montreal and contemporary architecture too. Above, Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 heralded a new era for Montreal and most of the newer buildings in the city today date from that period. Above, the site glows from the setting sun's reflected light.
The 1976 Summer Olympics brought more lasting architecture to Montreal and a beautiful Olympic Park which today welcomes visitors to the Biodome (above left), an observation tower (right) and many beautiful gardens, including Japanese and Classical Chinese.
Montreal's classical Chinese Garden has many of the classical forms we recognize in our Portland garden only they are much larger and more spread out. It was a thrill to see it after visiting very similar, much older gardens in Suzhou, China last year.
Bixi Bikes! The zip cars of Montreal. Slide your credit card, get 40 free minutes, then pay by the hour. These line ups are all over the city, often with few bikes - everyone's riding!
Montreal's newest design excitement is the "Quartier des Spectacles" in the center of the city. Created by closing streets to vehicular traffic, a large event plaza is still in construction. The most significant design feature, however, is illumination that changes nightly to spotlight the cultural activities within the quarter. Venues are illuminated only when something's happening. Above, an LED light display changes colors on the facade of the art museum.
Settled by the French in the mid-seventeenth century, Montreal expanded when the British won the city in 1759 and English, Irish and Scottish settlers followed. At the summit of Mont Royal, a crest represents all countries equally: fleur de lis for France; rose for Britain, thistle for Scotland and shamrock for Ireland. At the bottom, Montreal's motto: "concordia salus" - well-being through harmony.
British presence in Montreal is illustrated at the waterfront, where the country's maritime influence is reflected in the architecture.
In the center of Vieux Montreal (the old city), Place des Armes is anchored by Notre Dame of Montreal, spiritual home to the City's French Catholics.
Delightful hand crafted shop signs in the traditional French style.
Layers of architectural history outline the facades of Old Montreal where stone walls of earlier buildings are part of later buildings.
SEGD's Montreal Conference broke into "workshops on wheels" Thursday afternoon when participants from all corners of the globe explored Montreal. EA joined the group hike on Mont Royal (Mont Real), after which the city is named and where we enjoyed panoramic views in all directions.
Begun in 1874, Mont Royal features a lookout and park design by Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of New York City's Central Park.
The city of Montreal is an island located at the confluence of the St. Lawrence (shown above) and Ottawa Rivers.
Parlez vous francais? In Montreal, as in all Quebec province, French is the official language - and that means no bilingual signs!
Elizabeth and Lynn toast AK's 20th Anniversary in Montreal where we are attending the SEGD (Society for Environmental Graphic Design) international design conference. It's hard to believe it's been that long since EA and John Krygier combined their talents to form Anderson Krygier, Inc. and even more astounding that six years have passed since we lost John to cancer and continued his legacy
Abby travelled to Moscow, Idaho on Wednesday to present our 85% CD submittal for the University of Idaho's sports arena, Kibbie Dome. Scale is everything in a big arena, as you can see from our mock-ups of 24" and 36" letters (see inset) inside the dome.
We go a long way back with the Vandals. The guy on the right is Chace Anderson (EA's dad) on the field with his football buddies in the late 40s.
Karen spent the first part of this week in Everett WA with a team who reviewed, analyzed, approved (or corrected for approval) every installed piece of signage in the new hospital tower at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett (PRMCE). From the roof (above, with a view to Puget Sound) to the basement, a team of five walked every corridor of the hospital and looked at every single sign. When something didn't pass inspection, it was corrected on the spot.
Jenae Goldfinch , Mortensen Construction,Vicki Scott , PRMCE Facilities and Scott Hoffman Trade-Marx Signs & Display (left, above) each take notes while walking. Along the route, Scott (right photo) pulls out his tools and installs a sign in a location that was previously inaccessible.
The best part of all - Jenae typed in every location and created a "real time" punch list - saving what is often a couple of days effort back in the office following a walk-through.
Exterior signs had just been installed - plantings to come!
A beautiful sample arrived in our office today: a section of aluminum mounting channel we specifically designed to capture glass panels without penetrations. Digitally printed graphics will be subsurface laminated to glass and recess mounted in Chemeketa Community College's new classroom building at the Yamhill Valley campus in McMinnville, OR. Above, Cherry and our intern, Mike Sauer, break into smiles as they review the sample.
Above, the yellow arrow points to the 2.5" mounting channel in drawing. At bottom, the channel is 4", to align with baseboards throughout the building.
We have a new intern at AK and he seems to be a natural when it comes to wayfinding. Mike Sauer, a senior in the interiors program at Marylhurst University, discovered Environmental Graphic Design when Abby and Karen made a presentation to his class earlier this year. His first assignment at AK: improve wayfinding through the skybridges of Chemeketa's Salem campus. Abby took these photos while Mike made notes during his first visit to the campus.
Karen traveled to Seattle Wednesday to review exterior signs-in-progress for Providence Regional Medical Center campus in Everett, WA. Illustration shows placement of a vehicular directional sign at campus perimeter. In background, the new medical tower slated for completion May 1 of this year.
Trade-Marx Signs & Display is fabricating the signs. Photos above and below: housings and illuminated cabinets for parking signs.
Housings for illuminated cabinets reference the medical tower's modulated forms. Above, a study for vehicular wayfinding signs.
Also on the floor at Trade-Marx, a 12' wide x 15'-3" tall cross - part of the Providence logo to be mounted atop the towers.
Early collaboration makes all the difference when integrating environmental graphics with architecture. Elizabeth and Karen met Tuesday with ZGF Architects David Staczek and Mark Booth in their Portland office to review floor plans and elevations and discuss sign locations within the new additions to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital in Fort Campbell, KY.
We all noted that side-by-side patient room entries, while efficient in terms of sink and utility placement, made for confusing wayfinding when patient information stacks in close proximity. Especially so when nurses depend on colored flags in corridors to signal patient issues and room conditions.
We were able to include ZGF architects and planners Dena Cook and Dave Fisk in the conversation and within minutes, all agreed that the sinks could move.
A happy win for legibility, clarity and patient safety through early collaboration and wayfinding!
Another issue arose when we looked at placement of changeable insert holders on framed panels next to entry doors. With protruding frames, recessed panels do not accommodate both a sign and someone's fingers to insert a changeable message. Voila! Frames are flush with the panel and insert holder will sit proud of the surface.
In coordinating locations for ceiling mounted signs, we saw that sprinklers sometimes occurred at decision points for wayfinding. Thanks to our early collaboration, the sprinkler plan will be adjusted for signage.
Always of interest to the project, we also looked at how sign background colors might coordinate with the building palette.
"Getting it right" with color palette is often a multi-tiered process at AK. Jay Cole of Center Pointe Signs has just stopped by our studio with yet another set of color options - each subtly different - for donor recognition panels at UO's Ford Alumni Center.
Donor panels will mount above room ID signs of 3form made with ecoresin and sporting raised numbers and braille. Digitally printed colors should echo the room ID palette in a more subtle, timeless fashion. It took another visit from Jay and a series of 8 more options before settling on just the right hue and value for the donor panels.
