Architectural signage

This is the signage a building is known by: the monument at the drive, the letters across the parapet, the pylon that has to be legible from the far lane of a five-lane road. It is also the signage most likely to be constrained by something other than design intent.

What governs the design

Before drawing anything we establish four things: the maximum sign area and height your zoning district allows, the setback from the right of way, whether illumination is permitted and to what level, and what the landlord or campus design guidelines add on top of the municipal code. It is common for the binding constraint to be a private design guideline rather than the code, and equally common for a client to be unaware of it.

Structural design follows. Sign area, height above grade and exposure category give the wind load, and the foundation is sized from your geotechnical report. Where no soil report exists we assume conservatively and say so on the drawing, because a monument that heaves in the third winter is a more expensive problem than an oversized footing.

Construction

Cabinets are welded aluminium, typically 0.090 in or 0.125 in sheet over an internal frame, seam-welded and ground rather than riveted. Faces are either routed aluminium with acrylic push-through copy, or flat polycarbonate with second-surface vinyl. Push-through gives a crisper night appearance and does not fade the way surface-applied translucent film does, and it is what we recommend where budget permits.

Illumination is white LED modules on a regulated power supply, specified for the depth of the cabinet so the face lights evenly rather than showing hot spots at the modules. Every cabinet is wired, closed up and run on the bench for at least twenty-four hours before shipping.

Masonry-clad monuments are built as a steel and aluminium sign assembly with a separate masonry surround, so the sign can be serviced or replaced later without touching the brickwork. We have inherited too many monuments where the cabinet was laid into the wall and could only be replaced by demolishing it.

Finishes

• Polyurethane enamel over etch primer, colour matched to a physical sample rather than a printed swatch
• Anodised aluminium in clear, champagne, dark bronze and black
• Dimensional letters in fabricated aluminium, cast aluminium, cast bronze or acrylic
• Reverse-channel letters with standoff mounting for halo illumination

Colour matching is done against a sample under the light the sign will actually live in. A navy that reads correctly in the paint booth can read black on a north elevation, and the only way to know is to look at it outdoors.

Related: channel letters and storefront, and the Riverside Medical Center project, which combined exterior identification with a full interior programme. Material options are listed on the materials page.