BOA Winners
Winner of Bloom Award (Overall Best of ASI) and Best Complete Solution
University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, IA
Hancher Auditorium, the premier performing arts venue in Eastern Iowa, was destroyed in 2008 in a historic 100-year flood. The new home for this premier performing arts center opened in September 2016 with a highly efficient and sustainable design. The interior signage was designed with complimentary stainless steel and wood that carried the custom environmental graphics heavy package. Donor recognition also played a key role in this facility. Through careful negotiations and value-engineering recommendations, ASI was able to offer solutions for high-end performing products that also meet a very tight timeline for installation before their public open house.
Winner of The Bloom Award, Runner-Up: Children’s Home Levine Family Health Center, Cincinnati, OH
The Children’s Home of Cincinnati, founded in 1864, began as a shelter for poor and abandoned children throughout Cincinnati and has since expanded to more than 20 centers and community-based programs throughout the city. Today, it provides social, mental, and behavioral health services for children and families throughout the region. The Levine Family Health Center opened in 2016 as part of a partnership with the Cincinnati Health Department, Cincinnati Public Schools, Interact for Health and Growing Well. To recognize the many donors who brought the project to fruition, the Children’s Home chose ASI to design, produce, and install donor recognition signage.
ASI’s donor signage for the Levine Family Health Center incorporates the existing purple and yellow color scheme of Children’s Home brand while also adding other bright and vivid colors to the palette. The generous donors were recognized in several ways: on the individual door IDs, as dimensional elements, and as silkscreened copy on the glass above the seating area.
Winner of Best Interior Solution: Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA
Des Moines University looks to improve lives in their global community by educating diverse groups of highly competent and compassionate health professionals. To give the students and visitors to the school clear direction they choose to work with RDG Planning and Design to ensure proper wayfinding on their campus which includes five buildings with multiple floors.
The product they chose was Infinity as it was a changeable modular system, giving the clean and modern look they were after. The University included their logo throughout the system, replacing the antiquated overheads and wall mounted directionals. The overhead signage was a custom construction of Chemetal over MDF, with acrylic on the sides, and mounted with aircraft cable. They will also use the Online Ordering System (OOS) to update signage with future changes. Installation was scheduled to be completed by the beginning of classes in August and had to be adjusted to allow access to tour groups and student orientation visits.
Winner of Best Exterior Solution: Catholic Health Initiatives, Various Locations
Catholic Health Initiatives is a nation-wide health organization focused on a nurturing healing, supporting education and research to create healthier communities. This initiative was a national re-brand that included not only large and small campuses but also clinics. Monigle Associates surveyed each location and provided the design work for an exterior signage program which included exterior letters, wayfinding and monument signs. ASI provided a turnkey signage program including permits and production drawings with a dedicated project manager for the 35 locations located in Nebraska and Iowa. ImageFirst, LLC, our partner in manufacturing and a UL listed exterior manufacturer provided custom exterior monuments and exterior letters within the tight time frame.
Winner of Best Donor Recognition Solution: Gallagher Center, Niagara University, NY
Niagara University was founded in 1856 and is a NCAA Division 1 school. They are proud to have fostered the talents of many influential alumnae in the fields of academic and sports including NBA legends Calvin Murphy, Frank Layden, Hubie Brown and the late Larry Costello.
When the University choose to renovate Gallagher Center (the heart of the campus and athletic program), they turned to ASI for help in designing and manufacturing a recognition solution! The recent renovation of the space will serve as a cornerstone recognizing the history, tradition, talent, and opportunity that the school offers students and alumnae.
ASI was asked to help bring the University’s vision to life. We brainstormed with numerous departments from athletics and marketing to planning and design, listening to their needs and ideas. Once we had a true understanding of their vision, we began to design the new environmental graphics and signage. Wallpaper was chosen as the medium used for photo collages showing the history of the University, sports, and academic programs. Dimensional letters, vinyl, and digital prints highlight key phrases and provides flexibility and future growth. The signage program exceeded expectations and delivers a wow factor that compliments the renovated space.
Winner of Best Innovative Solution: Watermark Hotel, Baton Rouge, LA
Built as Baton Rouge’s first sky scraper in 1927, the Watermark Hotel was originally the home of the Louisiana Trust & Savings Bank. Listed on the National Historic Registry, the hotel features original murals, painted by celebrated artist Angela Gregory, that were painstakingly preserved and refinished. ASI, Louisiana was brought on as a design-build contractor, working directly for the building owner. Every aspect of the signage design required an innovative solution. The ADA room signs were designed around the hotel logo and brand elements, and ASI, Louisiana utilized its 3D printing capabilities to create custom logo panels for every interior sign. The design team wanted to create the illusion of a giant safe door on all the meeting room glass doors, to beckon back to the building’s former history. ASI, Louisiana created custom images from frosted vinyl to replicate this effect. At the elevators, ASI, Louisiana was asked to provide new call button plates in brass. Upon final wall completion, the old boxes were left sticking out of the wall, from 5/8” to 2” on some floors. ASI, Louisiana had custom call boxes fabricated in solid brass that covered the existing boxes and held to consistent hotel branding. The exterior signage, however, was the truly innovative part of this project. The main street sign was designed to be a 36’-high by 6’-wide flag-mount cabinet. ASI, Louisiana worked closely with architects, engineers, city officials, installation team members, and the contractor to get the sign approved and installed. The contractor had to remove 24” of brick to expose the concrete supports. The engineer helped design steel supports that were anchored to the concrete column. Once the brick was reinstalled, ASI, Louisiana had the sign cabinet erected over the support tubes. Similarly, a 40’-long panel sign with 42”-high channel letters, was installed at the top of the building on the 13th Floor Penthouse wall. A commercial crane and multiple street closures were required to complete the final installation.