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![]() Allianz Tops Off Skyscraper with Corporate ID
By Louis M. Brill
Allianz, a global investors company had recently relocated its North American headquarters to 1633 Broadway, a 48-story building in Manhattan.
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In acquiring that office space they were also awarded signage rights to the top of the building. Allianz decided that they would locate a sign with their name and logo on the top of the building, with an identical sign on each side.
Spectrum Signs channels Allianz ID
As the Allianz signage was designed, as described by Mike Gyscek, Spectrum Vice President, "the final display was completed as a closed face channel letter sign back lit with Sloan Great White 3Y Series (6500 k) LEDs. There were a total of 12,000 LEDs used to illuminate the four signs. Each 12-foot high channel letter had painted aluminum returns with a ¼" clear Lexan face covering it. Matching each Lexan face was a white 3M diffuser film behind the Lexan. On the Lexan surface was a 3M Dual Color film. During the day the sign face appears blue and at night when illuminated, appears white." Once finished, each channel letter was mounted on its own aluminum background panel (22-feet tall and various widths, depending on letter width it held in place). Altogether each Allianz sign face required ten panels (total sign face was 22-feet x 100-feet) to fully present its corporate name and logo on each side of the building.
"We, in turn not only fabricated the sign system, but also figured out the engineering to hang the signs from the sides of building," stated Gyscek. "Essentially we came up with the concept of placing a series of steel beams horizontally along the building columns and hanging the sign segments like a giant billboard clamped in place on the side of the building."
Hanging out on Broadway
R. Scott Lewis who engineered the solution for installing the Allianz signs on 1633 Broadway, had suggested using a series of horizontal square steel tubes (ten-inch square) which would span from building column to building column. "Each side of the building had a set of three horizontal steel rails inserted in place for each Allianze sign to hang from the building. Each selected column had its outer sheet metal aluminum enclosure removed at its point of entry so the horizontal steel tubes were able to be permanently attached to the building column. On the steel tubes were welded a series of angel iron plates upon which each sign segment was connected to."
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Empire Erectors creates sign lift-off
To do so involved a series of very clever custom-built hoisting systems incorporating several unique rigging components, including a custom designed winch, a custom-built carrying rig which locked up and lifted each sign panel segment up the side of the building. Finally, on the roof was a custom-built trolley rail system which was set up to move each sign segment to a specific location to be lowered for final placement on the side of building.
Rooftop lift without a crane
"Our biggest challenge was getting the signs to the top of the building, as there was no crane available or capable to provide a 750 + foot lift to the building top. And even if there was, once each sign segment was in motion, it would have proven impossible to control the effect of the wind on the panel and its natural swaying tendencies as each sign segment was hoisted towards the roof."
Inevitably the solution for lifting the signs to the roof was right in front of them. Already in place along the sides of the building was a vertical track system used by the building's window washing scaffold. Empire Erectors took advantage of that vertical track, and built a custom designed winch and rigging system that also worked from the window washing track. They further built a custom designed hoisting rig upon which each Allianz panel sign segment was clipped into and that in turn was connected to the rooftop custom winch. The rig was designed to be locked into the window washing tracks to carry the channel letter panels up the side of the building with no worries about sway or wind to affect the sign panel's passage to the rooftop.
At the proper moment each sign segment was winched up, and followed by a small Empire crew in Empire's electric scaffold. The scaffold crew then supervised each sign lift session to make sure the sign panel harness rig never snagged on the building and safely reached the top.
Once on the roof, the sign segment was transferred from the winch to a custom-built rooftop trolley with chain falls, which is a rigging device to help lift and lower the sign segments in place. The trolley was then moved along the rooftop to the sign's proper roof position where the sign panel was lowered in place. Once positioned properly, the sign panel was attached to the steel structure by bolting the panel to the sign structure on side of the building. As each part of the Allianz sign project reached completion, sign inspector John Carmona, who reported to R. Scott Lewis reviewed each completed section. Inevitably it took approximately 20 plus inspections to look at each part of the install process, with several different visits to each side of the building. "Altogether there were three types of inspections," stated Cormona,
1) An inspection of the skybridge for each side of the building
2) Inspections of all the welds and boltings of sign components being attached to
structural steel.
3) A final inspection of entire sign once it was fully attached to horizontal rails.
Skyline presence Louis M. Brill is a journalist and consultant for high-tech entertainment and media communications. He can be reached at (415) 664-0694 or louisbrill@sbcglobal.net
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