The Hollywood & Highland retail/entertainment complex emerged as the cornerstone of one of the most celebrated boulevards in the world. The obvious challenge was to create a fresh, conceptual, graphic statement for a project whose subject matter had repeatedly overused every cliché in the book. The design approach was to create a comprehensive system of unified identification and wayfinding elements to be used as navigational tools within the built environment, directing visitors as they circulate through the impossibly complex nine-level architectural maze.
The exterior and interior signage express a dynamic, creative spirit unique to the building's urban site and temporary function. Supergraphics painted on rooftop fixtures and on the building façade communicate a visual identity consistent with MoMA's home building in Manhattan. The large-scale logos make it easy for the visitor to locate MoMA QNS in the cityscape from a distance, especially important since Queens is not a traditional tourist destination, and most visitors approach via elevated subway train.
Two Twelve Associates, Base Design, Michael Maltzan Architecture
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Mural. This library houses one of the world's most extensive collections of resource materials on theater, dance, and music.
Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Donor Recognition
This piece was commissioned for a new museum addition and is located in the entry pavilion. It has three programmatic components: as a sculptural piece located at the head of the grand stairs to the lower level exhibit space; as a screen for the café area beyond; and as a donor recognition piece for the museum's capital campaign. Titled Fire Lodge, the piece evokes the images of the region's Native American cedar bark lodge and fire pit, symbolic of a gathering place.
In Silicon Valley, Nortel Networks built a new home for their optical switching enterprise. The six-story facility would come to house office, laboratory, and research supporting the evolving use of light waves to transport data and knowledge, hence the theme, "light makes vision possible." The experience of optical research is presented with references to the physics of light and color, as well as human sight and intellectual vision.
Set apart from the new casinos of the last few years, the Palms was built for the local Las Vegas visitor. Theming the property was far down on the list of priorities when this friendly and approachable desert resort was created, although out-of-town visitors also recognized the appeal. Patterns in combination with a color palette, inspired by Maynard Dixon's paintings of the Southwest, evoke the impression of palm trees as affected by sunlight and shadow, and form the core of the visual identity for the project.
