As part of a major expansion and renovation project that included the creation of a children’s wing, the Howe Library’s environmental graphics program was unusually broad in scope for a town library. In addition to interior components including 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, the project called for an architecture-specific exterior clock face.

In keeping with the unadorned front plane of the second floor gable, CGD designed a simple, three-inch thick aluminum-clad composite panel with a four-foot diameter face. A beveled return mediates the level change and aids in the effective shedding of water. Computer-cut Clarendon Roman numerals provide a reference point for the corresponding thick-thin contours of the CGD-designed hands. The resulting traditional look of the Library’s new clock face is enlivened by a ”sunburst” graphic in 23 Kt. gold leaf.