Library with a Vision
Howe Library
Hanover, New Hampshire
Comprehensive Wayfinding and Architectural Graphics Program
Project Description
As part of a major expansion and renovation project that included the creation of a children’s wing, the Howe Library requested an environmental graphics program unusually broad in scope for a town library. In addition to an exterior clock face and main ID sign, interior components included donor recognition, wayfinding and regulatory signage, bookcase flags, special-event kiosks, an archival donor-plaque mural, Children’s Room entry sculpture, and a lobby mural.
Responding to the Library’s preference for subtle and transparent signing of major spaces and collections, an exhaustive materials/fabrication search was carried out, resulting in the selection of an extremely sheer, scrim fabric. Messages were set in the Library’s existing “house” fonts, Trajan and Gill Sans, and dry-transfer printed. Custom-machined, hand-fitted pole endcaps and ceiling fittings completed the space-identification banners. Where possible, banners were located just in front of existing coffered lighting, allowing the sheer fabric to “wick” illumination downward. At other locations, the play of background lighting through the scrim enhances their unobtrusive nature.