The Baltimore Harbor got a little brighter thanks to a new set of color-changing channel letters on the rooftop of Anthem House, a luxury apartment building in downtown Baltimore’s Locust Point neighborhood.
巴尔的摩市中心Locust Point附近的豪华公寓大楼Anthem House的屋顶上建造了一套新的变色发光字母标识后，巴尔的摩港口变得明亮了许多。
To bring their vision to life, Bozzuto Development (the management company for Anthem House) with Yount Design Inc., brought on Triangle Sign & Service, a Baltimore, Maryland full-service sign company that specializes in custom retail and architectural signs with fabrication, installation, and service capabilities.
为了实现他们的愿景，Bozzuto Development（Anthem House的管理公司）与Yount设计公司一起邀请了Triangle Sign＆Service，这是马里兰州巴尔的摩一家提供全方位服务的公司，专门从事零件定制和建筑标识制造、安装及服务。
“We have an existing relationship with the ownership, building management, and design team and had recommendations from all three groups to utilize our services on the project,” says David Shapiro, director of Business Development at Triangle Sign.
Triangle Sign业务发展总监David Shapiro说：“我们已经与所有权公司、建筑管理公司和设计公司建立了良好的关系，并得到了三个公司的建议，以便在项目中更好地利用和展现我们的服务。”
Yount Design had a clear vision of what they wanted the rooftop channel letters to look like—and do. “The original inspiration they gave us was a video where they had superimposed a twinkling star effect in the letters, and they asked if we could make the letters do something similar,” explains Shapiro.
Yount设计公司很清楚他们想要屋顶发光字看起来是什么效果。Shapiro解释道：“他们给我们的最初灵感是一个视频，视频里的字母中叠加了闪烁的星光效果，他们问我们是否可以给发光字制作出相似的效果。”
Triangle Sign searched for an LED manufacturer that could make the twinkling effect happen, and they chose Everylite. “They were the only ones that we were able to identify that had electrical engineering in-house and the ability to program the DMX-controlled modules in-house,” says Shapiro. “Everylite was able to take that video the designer had first set up of the twinkle effect and program the controller to do that. Then they asked if the client wanted the American flag on there for July Fourth, and they programmed the American flag.”
Triangle Sign搜索能够实现闪烁效果的LED制造商，他们选择了Everylite。Shapiro说：“他们是我们能够识别的唯一内部具有电机工程能力以及能够在内部对DMX控制模组进行编程的制造商，Everylite能够拍摄设计师首次设置闪光效果的视频，并对控制器进行编程。”
“They were able to give us not only the preloaded programs but then uniquely adjust the programming of that controller to give my client exactly what they wanted. The sign has over one hundred pre-programmed designs to run, and each module is addressed differently for each of those designs.”
“他们不仅能够为我们提供预加载的程序，而且能够独特地调整该控制器的编程，以便为我的客户精确地提供他们想要的东西。标识照明有超过100个预先编程的设计可供运行，可以让每个模组的运行方式都不同。”
Everylite’s Spectrum Series DMX LED modules were used inside of the channel letters. Everylite Smart iFlex, which serves as an LED alternative to neon lighting systems, was used as border tubing around the edge of each letter. “In the letters, it’s a DMX control signal, however, the border tube is a DMX converting out to an SPI signal,” explains Shapiro. “A master controller located inside the building controls all the lighting elements from one central file.”
Everylite的Spectrum系列DMX LED模组用于发光字母内部。 Everylite的Smart iFlex作为霓虹灯照明系统中的LED替代品，被用在每个字母边缘的边界管中。Shapiro解释说：“在字母中，它是一个DMX控制信号，然而，边界管是DMX转换为SPI信号。位于建筑物内的主控制器控制发光字中的照明效果。”
With the lighting chosen, Triangle Sign worked on building samples for Anthem House from conceptual design files that were sent over. They used a combination of CorelDRAW and SAi Enroute software to design and build the samples.
选定了照明效果后，Triangle Sign根据Anthem House的概念设计文件开始建造发光字样本。他们使用CorelDRAW和SAi Enroute软件相结合来设计和构建样品。
“We worked back and forth with the building designer on this project submitting working samples for review,” says Shapiro. “Somewhere along the line, the designer came up with the idea of using a perforated metal face.
Shapiro说：“我们就这个项目与建筑设计师反反复复提交工作样本进行检查，在某一环节，设计师提出了使用穿孔金属面的想法。”
“The way that perforation sits, it isolates the light coming out and really made the display ‘pop.’”
“穿孔的地方，阻隔了一部分散射出来的光线，真正让发光字呈现出时尚的视觉效果。”

When the final design was approved, Triangle Sign immediately got to work on fabrication, as there was a tight deadline. However a few challenges set the shop back a bit.
当最终设计方案获得批准后，Triangle Sign立即开始制作，因为截止时间很紧迫。然而，一些棘手的问题让他们的工作进度延后了一些。
For one, the LED lighting had to be manufactured in China, but factories were closed for two weeks because of the Chinese New Year.
举例来说，LED灯必须在中国制造，但由于中国农历新年，工厂已关闭两周。
“On this particular application, there was so much border tubing that I wanted them to seal everything at the factory in China rather than seal it in the United States,” says Shapiro. “Your failure rate is only like a one percent difference, but when you have that many pieces, it’s significant.”
Shapiro说：“在这个特殊的应用中，有非常多的字母边界管，我希望它们能够在中国工厂里密封好，而不是在美国。你的失败可能就是那百分之一的差异所导致，所以把控好每一个环节，是至关重要的。”
In addition to delays on the lighting, an engineering change in the middle of the fabrication required Triangle Sign to go back and make changes to the letters.
除了制造进度延迟外，制作过程中的工程变更不得不让Triangle Sign对字母安装做出新规划。
“The sign hovers above a raised portion of the roof, and due to the shape of the roof, the wind is really intense at that spot overlooking the harbor. The engineers significantly upgraded the requirements for the structural supports once we were already in production,” explains Shapiro.
Shapiro解释说：“标识安装在屋顶的凸起部分上方，由于屋顶的形状，在可以俯瞰到海港的那个地方风很强烈，一旦我们投入制作，工程师就会大大提高对字母安装结构支撑的要求。”
Triangle Sign had to stop what they were doing to fabricate the “beefier” supports the engineers called for by welding one-half-inch-thick-by-twelve-inch-wide steel match plates onto the bottoms of the letters.
Triangle Sign不得不停止他们正在做的工作，通过将半英寸厚，12英寸宽的钢制双面板焊接到字母的底部来制造工程师所要求的“更强大”的支撑。
The letters, which spell out “Anthem House,” measure six feet-by-three inches tall and are one-foot deep.The letter cans are made out of aluminum. Because the letters are so thick, they were formed by hand using letter breaks.
“Anthem House”标识的字母高6英尺3英寸，厚1英尺。字母由铝制成。因为字母很厚，所以它们都是人工使用机器制作的。

The perforated metal faces were cut on a MultiCam 5000 series router. Cut Lexan faces were inserted underneath the perforated metal to help diffuse the light and make it pop more. All the metal surfaces of the letters were finished with a gray AkzoNobel paint.Overall fabrication took about three-and-a-half months, with Triangle Sign keeping the client updated on delivery times throughout.
在MultiCam 5000系列修边机上切割穿孔金属面。切割的Lexan面孔被插入穿孔金属下方，以帮助光线扩散并使其更加流畅。字母的所有金属表面都漆上了灰色的阿克苏诺贝尔涂料。总体制造工作花了大约三个半月，Triangle Sign让客户在整个交付时间内都保持着期待。
One would think with a high-flying installation like this one that bringing the letters up to the rooftop would be the hardest part of the installation, but that wasn’t the case.
人们会觉得在如此高的建筑上将发光字母安装在屋顶是一项很难的工作，但事实并非如此。
Triangle Sign lifted the letters to the rooftop using its 110-foot Manitex crane without a problem. “We had a great pivot point on one side of the building,” explains Shapiro. “We hoisted at that one side of the building, and then we walked each letter individually across the roof.
Triangle Sign使用其110英尺长的Manitex起重机将字母抬到屋顶，没有任何问题。Shapiro解释说：“我们在建筑的一侧有一个很好的枢轴点，在建筑物的一侧悬挂，然后我们就可以将每个字母分别安放在屋顶。”
“Then we hoisted a couple of lifts up to the top of the building and used those to help stage the letters at each location while we were doing our drilling and fastening. Most of the install was done with hand tools and a magnetic drill press.”
“然后我们将几个升降机悬挂在建筑物的顶部，并在我们进行钻孔和固定时使用这些升降机帮助在每个位置放置字母。大部分安装都是用手动工具和磁力钻床完成的。”
The letters were mounted via match plates to an eight-foot-tall steel structural support that is directly imbedded into the building structure. The steel was so thick that the drill bit could only get halfway through on one side, so the install team ended up having to drill the steel from both sides.In total, the actual hoisting and setting of the letters took about a week.
这些字母通过双面板安装在一个8英尺高的钢结构支撑上，该支撑直接嵌入建筑结构中。钢的厚度很大，钻头只能在一侧进入里面，因此安装团队最终不得不从两侧钻钢。总的来说，字母的实际安装和固定大约需要一周时间。
Where the real challenge came into play though was the wiring and programming of the letters.For one, Triangle Sign had originally specified for the controller to be located in a control room directly beneath the sign. “However by the time we got up there to do the installation, the general contractor had already filled that room with other components for the building—the power box, air conditioning controls, etc.,” says Shapiro. “So the only place we could find room to put the controller was four-hundred feet away.”
真正的挑战是字母的布线和编程。举例来说，Triangle Sign最初指定将控制器安装在位于标识正下方的控制室中。Shapiro说：“然而，当我们到那里进行安装时，总承包商已经在房间里装满了建筑物的其他组件——电源箱，空调控制器等，所以我们唯一可以找到能放置控制器空间的地方就在四百英尺外。”
A lot more wire was required to reach this new location, and at this point, everything was closed in on the building. The conduit to reach the other room was very small at only two-and-a-half inches.  
需要更多的电线才能延伸到这个新的位置。电线的导管直径非常小，只有两英寸半。

“The wiring we used was a little different than typical sign lighting wire—this was geared especially for the lighting controls—and the wire was thick,” says Shapiro. “We barely had enough room after we bundled all those wires together to get it through the conduit. It was an intense pull.”
Shapiro说：“我们使用的电线与典型的标识照明线稍有不同，特别是用于照明控制，电线是厚的。我们把所有的电线捆扎在一起，使它穿过导管，管道空间几乎不够用，我们需要强力地拉动电线。”
In working in coordination with the construction schedule on wiring to the control room and working with the management team to teach them how to control the sign, Triangle Sign was on site every day for about a month.
管理团队要协助控制室配线的施工进度，还要教施工队如何控制标识，Triangle Sign的管理人员大约一个月每天都在现场。
In the end, the sign company hurtled over all the challenges, and Anthem House now has a unique set of channel letters that does much more than twinkle over the Baltimore harbor.
最终，Triangle Sign标识公司攻克了所有的难题。Anthem House现在有一套独特而耀眼的发光字，在巴尔的摩港上空闪烁不止。