Farnsworth Art Museum Identity and Environmental Graphics. The challenge at the Farnsworth Art Museum was to design a new identity and a comprehensive environmental graphics system that balanced the aesthetic of the original art museum with new additions and renovations.
Grand Central Terminal, the landmark Beaux Arts transportation hub in the heart of New York City, was undergoing a $175 million renovation to clean and restore the building. Envisioned to be more than a railway station, the terminal houses more than 100 new retail stores and restaurants. To create a sense of excitement and anticipation about the restoration program, Two Twelve designed a system that expresses near completion of construction and gave pedestrians a sense of what was to come.
The 11,000-square-foot Hall of Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History was created to celebrate life's great diversity and beauty. As well as focusing on living species, the exhibit also tells the story of mass global extinction, and how species are being lost at alarming rate through human activities. Located within a softly illuminated space are three main areas: The Spectrum of Life, the Rainforest and The Resource Center. The challenge was to explain an extensive story with different messages within a compressed space.
The airport signage for Laredo International Airport was inspired by the modern geometric forms and materials found in its architectural setting. The building's forms were adapted for the signage, creating an interesting and unique sign type palette. The use of local colors from Southwest Texas' Hispanic heritage provides excellent contrast for legibility of wayfinding information. The interior overhead directional signs are cantilevered from the stone columns with three steel tubes and incorporate the angular geometry found throughout the architectural detailing.
The Moveable Museum of the American Museum of Natural History brings interactive education to remote locations throughout the New York City area. Inside, children travel through the Gobi Desert and into a paleontologist's laboratory, all within the confines of a customized Winnebago. Every educational opportunity has been maximized through design. Exterior graphics include actual-size dinosaur renderings (allowing children to measure themselves against their favorite Jurassic creature). Simple interactives are combined with high-tech activities to engage varying ages and skill-levels.
As part of the renovations to an existing service station, Sunoco commissioned Susan Maxman & Partners and artist Michael Webb to design murals for the end walls of two rowhouses adjoining the property. The problem was to transform the graffiti-covered walls into a visually exciting but subtle depiction of the historic neighborhood. Research revealed that St. James Episcopal Church, designed by Fraser, Furness and Hewitt, occupied the site in 1870 and stimulated construction of the elaborate townhouses nearby.
For Chermayeff & Geismar, the challenge was to create a permanent exhibition that celebrates the history, collections and public programs of one of New York's most important cultural institutions.
For her graduate thesis, the student explored the use of texture as a medium to deliver a visual message. By emphasizing that vision exists as a result of the imagination rather than as a result of functioning eyes, the intent of this project was to challenge the discipline of visual communications to include the blind community. The author demonstrates to visual communicators that the use of texture and the sense of touch improve the process of seeing, both for the blind and the sighted.
