Prudential unveiled a state-of-the-art, $ 400 million, 20-story, 675,000-square-foot headquarters in downtown Newark, New Jersey—home to the financial institution’s headquarters since the company formed in 1875. Revitalizing the area surrounding nearby Military Park, the new tower accommodates 4,000 employees, relocating hundreds of Prudential staff members from other locations around the city into 1 facility. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, the LEED Gold certified building features a 500-seat conference center, retail podium, health and wellness center, fitness center, a plaza featuring a green wall and a water wall, a 1,400 capacity parking garage, and a 500-seat cafeteria with access to a roof garden. The facility also boasts a glass-enclosed atrium running the height of its core, allowing natural sunlight into the heart of the building.

Poulin + Morris created a comprehensive environmental graphics and wayfinding sign program for the new headquarters, encompassing exterior branding and identification, as well as all building, floor, and reception area identification, office/workstation identification, conference identification, directional, informational, and regulatory signs relating to building, health, accessibility, fire, and ADA codes.

The exterior components of the program consist of a 12-foot-high, dimensional, stainless steel logotype spelling out Prudential, paired with the company’s iconic “Rock” symbol on LED-illuminated signs found at the top of the building, above the main entrance, and at the plaza level. The LED lighting features RGB compatibility allowing flexibility to change the illumination color of the signs seasonally. The “Rock” signs are also prominently featured on the building’s third floor where the Conference Center and the executive offices are located.

The interior sign program includes high polish stainless steel, glass, and bronze sign panels identifying various business units, trading floors, floor levels, and room numbers. The designers also developed environmental graphics for the building’s health and wellness center using Prudential’s signature blue color palette to create serene, water-like wall murals interspersed with motivational text. A branding program for the Parkview Café, the employee dining facility, was also developed for all printed materials and graphic sign elements, including a digital template to display the café menus on iPads. To disseminate company information in an efficient and consistent manner, the designers created design standards and templates for electronic display monitors located at all elevator lobbies throughout the building.

While bringing staff together into one centralized, modern facility, Prudential’s new headquarters also strengthens the core of its longtime neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey.