California Institute of Technology
This building on the Pasadena campus of Caltech was designed by Fredrick Fisher & Partners, who we’ve worked with on several projects. At first it had this very long name which we knew no one would remember, “Walter & Leonore Annenberg Center For Information Science and Technology.” So in the interest of getting the details right we suggested they add “IST” in very large letters to the glass at the top of the building. We also supersized the signage for the auditorium, so “auditorium” will be formed by drilling small holes into the bamboo wall. The greatest thing about working on environmental graphics is that it takes graphic design into the third dimension, and that’s what we really got to play with here, to great effect.