Poulin + Morris designed a comprehensive environmental graphics and wayfinding sign program for this elliptical, 40-story, multi-tenant office building, designed by John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson. The project provided the designers with a unique opportunity to work with one of the premier architectural firms in the world, as well as to create a sign program that would appear to be an extension of the architectural design vocabulary of this decidedly unusual building.

The program includes the design of main identification, lobby identification, tenant directory, tenant identification, and service-related signs. By far, the greatest challenge was the design of a main identification sign, as there was no appropriate location for one on the exterior of the building. Poulin + Morris designed a curved marble wall that functions as a visual barrier for the security desk located in the building lobby. Fabricated in individual marble monoliths, the wall is capped with individual hand-cut numerals and letterforms. The designers also worked closely with the project team’s lighting designer to ensure even illumination of this building identification at all times of the day.

Poulin + Morris has continued to work with Hines on numerous real estate development projects since 1983 including Columbia Square, Washington, DC; Five Hundred Boylston, Boston, Massachusetts; 450 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York; One Detroit Center, Detroit, Michigan; Providian Center, Louisville, Kentucky; 7 Bryant Park, New York, New York; and 300 North LaSalle, Chicago, Illinois.