Sig­nage Designs Become Real­i­ty at Kiewit Luminarium

Part work­shop, part muse­um, part sci­ence cen­ter, Kiewit Lumi­nar­i­um is a one-of-a-kind com­mu­ni­ty space and learn­ing envi­ron­ment for peo­ple of all ages. More than 125 exhibits are housed in Luminarium’s machine shed-inspired build­ing on Oma­ha, Nebraska’s River­Front park.

The dynam­ic entry­way is designed to wel­come vis­i­tors into a warm and engag­ing place where they can ​“explore the aston­ish­ing phe­nom­e­na that shape our world, our com­mu­ni­ties and our­selves.” The piece that pulls peo­ple in and sets the stage for the entire Lumi­nar­i­um expe­ri­ence? The donor recog­ni­tion display.

Cre­at­ing an Entry­way Show­piece With the Help of VR (vir­tu­al reality)

Dur­ing this process, the team made vir­tu­al real­i­ty (VR) ren­der­ings so Lumi­nar­i­um stake­hold­ers could expe­ri­ence how the final donor recog­ni­tion dis­play would look in the space. Envi­sion­ing a 3D dis­play when you’re look­ing at a 2D ren­der­ing can be tricky for even the most imag­i­na­tive indi­vid­u­als. Using this tech­nol­o­gy helped the Lumi­nar­i­um team get a clear­er idea of how all the pieces of the donor wall would come togeth­er in one inno­v­a­tive display.

The final result is a wave of disks in bright col­ors sus­pend­ed between two giant steel beams that nod to Nebraska’s indus­tri­al his­to­ry. The vary­ing disk sizes rep­re­sent dif­fer­ent lev­els of giv­ing. Blank disks are includ­ed in the dis­play to allow for any future donations.

Sig­nage That Adds Dimension

Larg­er donors have ded­i­cat­ed rooms and spaces in their names. Lumi­nar­i­um want­ed these names to stand out, so they designed inte­ri­or room iden­ti­fi­ca­tion signs with let­ters that were five inch­es thick. They want­ed the let­ters to appear clear, with paint behind them so a touch of col­or was com­ing through. 

The five-inch-thick acrylic let­ters were heavy, but stud mounts weren’t an option because they would be vis­i­ble through the clear let­ters. The install team used high-bond tape and sil­i­cone to get the let­ters to stick to the wall. Some let­ters had to be redone in cas­es where the walls were too light and the let­ters fad­ed into the back­ground. Those let­ters end­ed up being paint­ed black on the sur­face to pop off the wall. Col­lab­o­ra­tion was impor­tant through­out this process to make sure the designs were brought to life in a way that would work long-term for the facility.

Lumi­nar­i­um had our team man­u­fac­ture and install a com­plete inte­ri­or sign fam­i­ly and exte­ri­or wayfind­ing sig­nage. Bold col­ors were nec­es­sary to draw atten­tion and add to the inno­v­a­tive feel of the space. The result is a unique blend of vibrant col­ors, tex­tures, and shapes against a back­drop of wood, peg­board, and stark black walls.

Inspir­ing Minds With Inspir­ing Designs

Kiewit Lumi­nar­i­um is a first-of-its-kind cen­ter for Oma­ha and the region, offer­ing vis­i­tors the oppor­tu­ni­ty to exper­i­ment, dream, and explore. The Lat­i­tude team was hon­ored to lend sig­nage exper­tise to this pres­ti­gious archi­tec­tur­al project, which will inspire inter­est in sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math for future generations.

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Learn more about health­care sig­nage here.