Upstate University Hospital

Complete Interior and Exterior Signage Solution for Children’s Hospital Expansion

To accommodate the needs of the community, Upstate University Hospital underwent a multi-million dollar, 250,000 square foot expansion. Because surrounding critical care facilities and services could not be shut down during the expansion, the solution was to vertically-build six floors onto the existing hospital footprint. Included in the expansion project is the new 71-bed Golisano Children’s Hospital, which provides specialized services for the younger patients and their families.

The architect and designer for this prominent project was Karlsberger, a nationally recognized leader in planning and design for the healthcare industry. The lead signage designer for Karlsberger was pleased with the selection of ASI as the signage subcontractor for both the interior and exterior signage packages because of successful project partnerships with ASI in the past. The hospital expansion required ASI to be intensely involved in the design process with Karlsberger, including design consultation and value engineering solutions for the interior and exterior signage. ASI teamed with various contractors and subcontractors, including crane operators and scaffolding supply companies to make this project a reality.

About the Solution

Throughout the project, the exterior signage design underwent many changes, including the illumination of the exterior signage. The original design specified neon illumination, but due to local codes, the change to LED illumination was a necessity. ASI submitted energy efficiency studies and cost analysis between neon and LED to help promote the usage of LED illumination. When the final design was ready for engineering, the architect was comfortable with ASI’s abilities and knowledge and incorporated suggested structural changes before the designs were approved and released for manufacturing.

Once the exterior signs were ready for install, coordination was of the utmost importance due to the multiple crews and much of the work involved working around the hospital’s emergency department entrance and closing off access to a major street. A 300-ton crane was required to hoist the 7 foot high letters, which spell “UPSTATE” to the top of the 12-story addition, into place and facilitate installation. The glyph of the child on the brick portion of the building was in two pieces but overall measured 13 feet high x 14 feet wide. A 90 ton crane was used to reach the 14 story installation height required for the glyph and letters.

The custom interior signage solution utilized 3form’s Varia Ecoresin material, a green-friendly product, in multiple colors and textures to coordinate with the unique environmental graphics on each floor. ASI was given strict timelines when each phase had to be turned over and through organization and planning ASI worked hard to ensure that each phase of the project met the strict deadlines.