An inventive series of hybrid streetscape elements and identity designs for tenants at Universal Citywalk (Orlando) received a Merit Award in the Retail/Commercial Environments category of the Society for Environmental Design's (SEGD) 2001 Design Awards. The wayfinding system focuses and articulates urban spaces through freestanding streetscape elements, creating a place-specific design language that simplifies an otherwise complex venue.
Designers at Sussman/Prejza (Culver City, Calif.) conceived the signage as a porous layer of elegant, abstract structures. Distinctive sets of repeating vertical totems and towers amplify and dramatize the area by reinforcing paths, creating plaza-scaled outdoor rooms and punctuating the skyline. The signage is infused with regional rhythms and atmospheric qualities, such as lightning, hurricanes, dance-step patterns and architectural louvers. At night, timed and animated lighting programs transform the sleek, functional system into something exotic and exuberant.
Design Team: Sussman/Prejza & Co. Inc., Culver City, Calif. — Deborah Sussman, principal; John Johnston, senior designer; Robert Chacko, Paula Loh, Joy Sih, Paul Novcek, Paul Nagakura, Angela Lam, Maureen Nishikawa, John Colter and Julius Bhang, designers
Suppliers: Architectural Graphics Inc., Virginia Beach, Va. (graphics); Kaplan Lighting, Los Angeles, LightSwitch, Sausalito, Calif. (lighting); Carlson & Co., San Fernando, Calif. (signage fabricator)
Photography: Jim Simmons, Annette Del Zoppo Photography, Culver City, Calif.