Product: Evacuation Maps (Vinyl Graphics with Non-Glare Acrylic Lens)
Location: San Francisco, CA
Client: O’Neil Langin Architects, P.C., New York
You can image our surprise when we were contacted by the New York based architects for Victoria Secret based on a local client referral! They had heard that we were very familiar with the San Francisco Fire Department Guidelines for evacuation map signage and the process for obtaining approvals. The store was housed within another building in downtown San Francisco and shared entry corridors, making it slightly more difficult to translate onto a map. While the project is still in progress it represents one of those where the local builder, the remote architects and the SignWorks design team needed to work collaboratively the get the project off the ground.
While the project is still on-going and fabrication of the maps is not yet complete, the picture above will give you a sense of the detail that must be contained on the finished evacuation maps.
One of the initial problems we faced was with the sizing of the evacuation maps, which needed to be larger than initially anticipated. The guidelines regarding the size of the map area and the specified text height meant that the finished maps would need to be 15” by 24”. This meant that in some cases the maps would need to be mounted on an adjacent wall because it would not fit in the intended location. The builder for the renovation also pointed out that one of the maps will be mounted to a mesh like surface meaning that we will need corner mounting holes for screws vs. the double sided VHB (very high bound) tape normally used to mount to drywall. We were extremely grateful for flow of information between ourselves and the contractor, Shawmut Design and Construction.
Shawmut Design and Construction is a construction management company with offices throughout the country, including Boston, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
The company is employee owned and their approach emphasizes partnering with their clients. This has resulted in a strong base of repeat customers across the many industry sectors they serve.
SignWorks also worked closely with the architect ensuring that our designer was able to translate the necessary detail to the eight maps and provide two copies (plus the required template), scaled to 11” X 17”. The builder took these to the Department of Building Inspection, as required for the fire marshal approval process. In some case SignWorks takes on this task but since only the builder or building owner can pay the permit fees, the contractor opted to fly in their project manager from the Los Angeles area to perform this task. The fire marshal walk through which occurs prior to our fabricating the maps, happened this week, so we will being making some minor corrections and moving the project to fabrication and installation over the next two weeks.
If you are a business in need of evacuation signage and need a sign company capable of interpreting the fire department guidelines, look no further than SignWorks! We serve the entire Bay Area and can help you to comply with guidelines. Call on us for guidance. We can be reached at (510) 357-2000 or via our website at www.signworks.us.com.
