The approach was to adopt the predominant building material (sandstone) of Parliament House as the sign panel and combine it with contemporary graphic panel detailing (stainless steel) to identify it as a new structure. The design had to go through a multi-level approval process involving the university Vice-Chancellor, Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, Old Government House and Brisbane City Council planning and engineering branches.

The base structure is in 2 x solid pieces of Helidon sandstone from the same 100 year old quarry used to restore Parliament House to give precise consistency but cut and finished in a contemporary manner to accord with heritage principles of differentiating old and new work in heritage environments. The project also involved installing a paved surrounding within the existing sandstone kerb-line.

Sitra (The Finnish Innovation Fund) is an independent public fund which, under the supervision of the Finnish Parliament, promotes the welfare of Finnish society. Since its establishment, Sitra’s duty has been to promote stable and balanced development in Finland, the qualitative and quantitative growth of its economy, and its international competitiveness and co-operation. Sitra was founded in 1967 and has been engaged in design-related activity since 1968 when it sponsored the first Helsinki Design Lab.

The State Government has today released details about the new government office that will be charged with streamlining economy-building medium to large-scale development projects.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Local Government Paul Lucas said the office would boost confidence in the local construction industry by ensuring the smooth and timely delivery of large-scale developments such as shopping centres and office blocks.

Media Statement

The finalists are:
• Second Nature Collaborative (Candalepas, Owen&Vokes, Richards&Spence Architects) with ARUP
• Shane Thompson Architects & LAT27 with ARUP
• Cox Rayner Architects / Alexander Lotersztain (Derlot)
The competition had received 65 Expressions of Interest from firms across the state, the nation and around the world.

From: Brisbane Architectural Professionals on LinkedIn

http://linkd.in/m4OAHK

Wayne Hunt from Hunt Design (USA) on SEGD Talk notes that “historically, vertical typography (that in which the base line has been rotated to vertical) was applied ‘reading up,’ in most European or classic  ’Swiss’ applications. Vignelli used the ‘reading up’ layout on his seminal NYC subway signage in the ’70s, and one can find numerous similar examples, including John Follis’ important 1973 Atlantic Richfield Plaza (on which I had the privilege of working, as a very young man). However, US applications have tended to be ‘reading down’ — I think it was tough enough to sell clients on vertical, let alone not having the name start at the top. As a parallel, back in the day, many European books had spine typography ‘reading up’ — check the older books in your library, but US books have historically read top to bottom.”

What is generally considered a definite sign design ‘no-no’ is to vertically rotate and stack the letters such as;