SignWeb | signweb.com

(June 2011) posted on Tue May 17, 2011

A team of sign and lighting companies repurpose a popular NYC waterfront destination.

By Jeff Petersen

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Jeff Petersen is president of American Signcrafters (Islip, NY).

To boost NYC’s profile as a cruise-ship destination, NYCruise and the NYC Economic Dev. Corp. (EDC) commissioned the development of a brilliantly lit façade for Piers 88 and 90, the primary docks at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The piers were originally built in the 1930s to accommodate cruise ships, but hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. The facades previously conveyed an industrial, almost sterile, appearance, with painted numerals on the entrance elevations. Clearly, these didn’t provide the face the NYC tourism industry wanted visitors to see. Although several cruise lines use the Terminal, the Carnival and Norwegian lines are its primary customers.

Understandably, such a high-profile, large-scale project required close collaboration. Two Twelve Assoc., an NYC-based, environmental-graphic-design firm, developed the original design intent with the project’s architect, Bermello, Ajamil & Assoc. Two Twelve also specified the lightsource and materials. American Signcrafters produced the construction drawings and worked with our engineering firm to create engineering drawings. We reported to Turner Construction, the general contractor, during the project. Focus Lighting (NYC) developed the lighting system, which WSP Flack + Kurtz engineered.

-->

Having been in business since 1979, we’ve undertaken such high-profile projects as Miami’s Dolphin Mall and numerous bank-sign changeovers – Wells Fargo, TD Bank and Capitol One, among others. NYC-based King Displays and Eagle Master Signs contracted us to build the sign components and manage their installation.

Both pier signs measure 30 ft. long, and the vertical sections average 13 ft. 4 in. tall. The letters and numerals comprise 3⁄16-in.-thick, white Sheffield Makrolon® polycarbonate, which we specified because it’s more forgiving to the letters’ required twists and bends as they follow the canopy’s surface. We fabricated the faces on our Gerber Scientific Products AR-600 CNC router, and detailed the shapes with rubber mallets, pliers, snips, cordless drills and screwdrivers.

Building the 3-D radius contours in the letterforms created the project’s greatest challenge. We worked within very tight tolerances; the forms had to fit the canopy support structure that was fabricated by another vendor. To do this, we manufactured custom, wood and plywood forms that were based on the steel canopies’ structure. Then, we shaped the letters as they were constructed to their contours.