Times Square Sees the Light

What’s old is new, if you look at Times Square’s latest signs and spectaculars. Familiar, international brands have returned, or have been refurbished, in new, spectacular forms. After a two-decade absence, Toshiba has returned, having modernized the former Discover sign space. Chase Bank refurbished and embellished its existing sign. Finally, the New Year’s Eve Time Ball celebrated its centennial with a new, high-tech, multicolored sphere.

One Times Square transformed
One Times Square, one of NYC’s international icons, has again dramatically changed its famous north face. The Discover sign has ended its rooftop reign (1999-2008), and Toshiba has acquired (leased) the sign space and installed its own high-definition, LED videoscreen.

In gaining the top sign position, Toshiba also inherited the two Discover sign cabinets, minus the original LED display. Toshiba’s modernization merged the two cabinets to house the new screen.

Barry Winston, Winston and Co.’s (Teaneck, NJ) project manager who handled the Toshiba spectacular, said the new, 55-ft.-square cabinet configuration houses a Toshiba HD LED, full-color, 12.5mm, virtual- (or 25mm-) pitch display. From the ground, the Toshiba rooftop sign rises 340 ft.

In an impressive sign removal, Landmark Signs (NYC) lowered the previous Discover LED screen from the rooftop to the 17th-floor roof/landing and removed it through the window. To successfully manage this egress, Landmark cut the sign into manageable parts that easily fit through the window. The sign parts were stacked into a mini-dumpster, moved into the freight elevator and brought groundside for disposal. Installation of the Toshiba LED signs reversed the same route.

Advertisement

Chase Bank
Chase Bank solidified its Times Square presence with a two-floor location at Three Times Square (the Reuters Building), at 42nd St. and 7th Ave. Previously, a series of curved sign cabinets, mounted to window bays, circled the building’s rotunda. The ribbed cabinets had enclosed neon, backlit, closed-face channel letters that spelled “Chase” and backlit, closed-face replicas of its corporate, octagonal logo. Directly over the main, ground-floor entrance hung a larger, flush-mounted, backlit, neon version of the corporate ID and bank-logo motif.

To modernize its entrance signage, Chase Times Square commissioned Spectrum Signs (Farmingdale, NY) and Ribbit Designs (Hartsdale, NY) to create and fabricate a new sign package. Tom Morra, director of Spectrum’s NYC sign projects, coordinated the Chase sign project from design to fabrication.

Morra said, “In an effort to achieve a more distinct look, Chase sought a sign package that would be more dynamic and visceral.”

First, the sign cabinets were removed, refinished to accommodate the bank’s new corporate identification and reinstalled at the same location, the second-floor rotunda window bays. New, internally illuminated letters and logos, plus new electrical components, transformers and controllers, were installed. Blue neon backlights each sign cabinet’s horizontal rib sections.

Advertisement

The most elaborate component of the Chase sign package is an 8-ft. spectacular that projects above the ground-floor entrance. A complicated, single-arm, steel-support system is attached to the building’s column, which was engineered and covered by a sophisticated, stainless-steel prismatic design to impart a stealth-like effect.

Tom Fitzsimmons, Spectrum’s shop manager, said, “The angular panel design covering the steel support was one of the most challenging projects I’ve had in years.”

To add further difficulty and drama, the main center unit houses a heavy-duty, rotating motor and a 6-ft.-high, Chase octagonal logo sculpture, which comprises five layers of ¾-in.-thick, low-iron (or extra-clear) glass sections, provided by Glass & Mirror Craft Industries Inc. (Wixom, MI). Internal blue LEDs light the glass logos’ etched edges. On the sign structure’s left and right wings, two sets of illuminated, 24-in.-high Chase channel letters are faced with ½-in.-thick, rear-frosted glass.

Morra said, “The visual elegance of the Chase sign package gives Chase corporate’s flagship branch a distinctive look. Along with the artistic, angular, stainless-steel design, the custom-designed glass elements crown the structure to give it the glittering, jewel effect the client was looking for within Times Square.”

Spectacolor HD
Despite astronomical costs, demand for a Times Square location, the world’s most effective, direct-market, outdoor-advertising space, exceeds availability. No one knows this better than Clear Channel Spectacolor (CCS), the NYC-based media conglomerate that manages many Times Square billboards and spectaculars.

To accommodate demand, CCS introduced Spectacolor HD, an electronic billboard (on Broadway and 48th St.) that gives advertisers a prime location and interactive access to Times Square passersby.

Advertisement

Spectacolor HD’s interactive and audience-capture capabilities make it a hi-tech billboard. The basic LED screen offers a 40 x 40-ft., high-definition output, with a 1,984 x 2,016-pixel resolution.

The display is divided into two parts. The 30-ft.-tall x 40-ft.-long upper screen, available for third-party advertising, can display seven spots within an eight-minute loop. Below that, the 10-ft.-tall x 40-ft.-long, bottom LED display reports news, weather and sports updates, provided by CNN, the board’s anchor tenant.

Tony Sinodinos, CCS vice president of operations, described many of the billboard’s second-generation features: “Spectacolor HD is a simulcast display of both advertising and news. It also has an audio feature where passersby can tune into an on-screen advertisement via their cellphone [dial (888) 773-2443] and hear the audio while the visual appears on-screen.”

The sign also has a Bluetooth component that allows text files to be downloaded to compatible cellphones. As a public service to the surrounding Times Square community, Spectacolor HD also provides a free, WiFi zone for Internet access to laptop junkies sitting in the soon-to-be-open Duffy Square, across from the sign). The display also offers cellphone-based interactive gaming.

The Signs of LoveNightclubs, Lofts and KaraokeThe Remarkable CBS Cube