Northgate North, Seattle WA, 2000
Published:
Outsize Large Scale Graphic Design, 2004
Communication Arts magazine, 2001
Unlike the traditional big box retail surrounded by acres of parking, Northgate North is stacked vertically with an eight-level open-air parking garage located across a pedestrian plaza. wpa inc. developed a strategy for a comprehensive signage plan that would promote the unusual retail arrangement. This required the retailers to abandon their typical signage approach of internally illuminated plastic signs attached anywhere on the building. Large welded wire and chain link mesh signs identify the primary tenants by composing the facades of those spaces. Materials were chosen which were simple and inexpensive, but which could be used in sophisticated ways to achieve a subtle look for the super-sized graphics. The metal fabric serves as the clothes of the building, which are transformed by the process of layering and illuminating. wpa further developed a visual hierarchy to the signage for smaller tenants by establishing zones with a series of open metal frames which support the tenant signs. All tenant signs were required to be open pan channel metal letters with exposed neon. In addition we established a primary color palette used in the signage as well as the architecture.
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