The Minskoff Theatre (1,597 seats), one of the many major live performing venues along Broadway has recently undergone a signage transformation of its old blade / marquee and window display into a very modern and elegant sign package that was fit for a king: The Lion King that was.
明斯科夫剧院(Minskoff Theatre, 1597座)是百老汇大街上众多主要的现场表演场所之一，最近，它的老标识进行了全新改造，变成了一个非常现代、优雅的标识组合。
The Lion King being one of Broadway's top performing shows (winner of six Tony' awards) which originally opened in New Amsterdam in 1997, and after nine successful years of running, it was moved in 2006 into the Minskoff, as an ongoing 'must see' show.
《狮子王》是百老汇最顶级的表演剧目之一(曾六次获得托尼奖)，1997年在新阿姆斯特丹首演，经过九年的成功运作，于2006年被搬到明斯科夫，成为人们心中作为必看剧目之一。
As The Lion King was coming to the Minskoff, it was noted that the Minskoff's previous signage was very "last century." What were found were an old fashioned, back-lit theater ID sign, a marquee that had been hodge-podged together, and a window display banner that hung along the Broadway side of the building as an afterthought. With the Lion King set to launch at the Minskoff, the theater required a new sign package of equal stature that would dramatically transmit the excitement of the show with bold signage and graphics. The goal was to create viewable signage for both day and night letting Lion King audiences easily find the Minskoff along Broadway.
当《狮子王》来到明斯考夫时，人们注意到明斯考夫之前的标识已经非常破旧了。他们发现那是一个老式背光照明的剧院标识牌，就像一个搭在一起的大帐篷，旁边还有一个破旧不堪的橱窗横幅挂在百老汇大街上。随着《狮子王》在明斯可夫剧院的上映，剧院需要一套全新的、合适尺寸的标识，用醒目的标识和宣传横幅传达演出的激动人心之处。我们的目标是创造一个无论是白天还是夜晚都能吸引观众的标识，让观众轻松地沿着百老汇找到明斯科夫。
The Lion King is produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and the Minskoff is owned by the Nederlander, a theater management company that also operates eight other additional theaters throughout the Broadway district. In serving two masters, Spectrum Signs Inc. (Farmingdale, NY) had proposed a spectacular sign package which presented a complete make-over of all the existing Minskoff signage, which included the blade sign, the marquee, and its Broadway side window display. The Minskoff sign package was coordinated and design-assisted by Tom Morra, Spectrums Director of New York City projects who described the theater transitions. "Disney's Lion King got involved in a shell game of being moved from its opening theater (The New Amsterdam) to its new venue, the Minskoff. As the new home of one of Broadway's greatest hits, Spectrum and Disney Theatrical designed an equally imposing sign system. The new sign package not only gave the Minskoff a state-of-the-art sign system, but we increased the theater's advertising surface area by at least 85%." Minskoff's new signage now gave the theater a complete sign system and the ability that as the theater changed shows, so does the signage change along with the show.
《狮子王》由迪士尼戏剧制作公司(Disney theater Productions)制作，明斯科夫剧院由剧院管理公司尼德兰德公司(Nederlander)拥有。尼德兰德公司还在百老汇区经营着另外八家剧院。在为两位大师服务的过程中，尼德兰德公司(Farmingdale, NY)提出了一项壮观的标识方案，该方案对明斯科夫标识进行了彻底的改造，包括悬挂标识、字幕标识和橱窗显示。明斯科夫光谱标识公司由纽约项目总监汤姆·莫拉(Tom Morra)协调设计，他描述了剧院剧目的交接。迪士尼的《狮子王》(Lion King)需要从它的开场剧场(新阿姆斯特丹)搬到新的场地明斯科夫(Minskoff)。作为百老汇最受欢迎的剧目之一的新址，光谱标识公司和迪斯尼剧场设计了同样令人印象深刻的标识系统。新的标识为明斯科夫剧院提供了最先进的标识系统，而且还将剧院的广告面积增加了至少85%。明斯考夫的新标识现在给剧院一个崭新而完整的标识系统，它能够随着剧院的变化而变化，标识也会随着剧目的变化而变化。
Blade Sign
悬挂标识
On a day-to-day basis, David O'Connell, Spectrum's Project Manager, along with Tom Fitzsimons, Spectrum’s Shop Manager, coordinated all construction elements and on-site work at the theater. In approaching the Minskoff sign construction, O'Connell observed that each of the theater's sign components were very outdated and in the fast-paced action of today's Broadway entertainment, the theater needed signage with a lot more 'pizzazz.' In approaching the Minskoff sign construction, Fitzsimons noted that Minskoff's original blade sign was a back-lit, stencil-cut face light cabinet that identified the theater, but failed to equally promote whatever show was currently on stage.
光谱标识公司的项目经理大卫·奥康奈尔(David O’connell)和商店经理汤姆·菲茨西蒙斯(Tom Fitzsimons)每天都在协调剧院的所有施工环节和现场工作。在接近明斯科夫标识的建造过程中，奥康奈尔观察到，剧院的每一个标识部件都已经老化，且在今天百老汇剧目的快节奏行动中，剧院需要更多的有特色的标识去吸引顾客。后细细观察明斯科夫标识建筑，菲茨西蒙斯注意到明斯科夫的原始标识是一个模板切割的背光灯箱，但这个标识只是用来宣传剧院的，未能起到推广正在上映的戏剧的作用。
Spectrum's solution was to create an entirely new blade sign that was also an internally lit, double-faced sign cabinet. More than just having a theater ID, the blade also gave over the majority of its sign face to promote the on-site show, this being The Lion King. The new sign cabinet, (25-feet tall by 8 feet wide) projected ten feet from the building and was fabricated from 1/8th inch thick, custom created, anodized "Dark Bronze" cladding covered with 'decorative elements'. With a more effective lighting design, the blade could now display both the theater ID and also had room for a very large, back-lit translucent vinyl graphic, which could be changed out from show-to-show.
光谱标识公司的解决方案是更换一个全新的悬挂标识，同时也是一个照明的双面标识。标识不仅仅是剧院身份的象征，还充当了推广现场戏剧表演的角色。毋庸置疑剧院选用了《狮子王》作为新标识。新标识灯箱25英尺高，8英尺宽，距离建筑物10英尺，由1/8英寸厚，定制的阳极氧化“深青铜”覆层制成，表面使用《狮子王》作为装饰元素。有了更有效的照明设计，标识现在既可以作为剧院的身份，也可以显示非常大的、背光的半透明乙烯基图形，可以根据不同的戏剧剧目更换标识。
In bringing this new sign box onto the building, its structural support connections were enhanced as well. The original sign box was connected to the building's interior structural steel with a pair of stub outs. To support the additional cabinet's weight, another stub out was added to the building frame.
在将这个新标识带到建筑物上时，它的结构支撑也得到了加强。老标识与建筑物的内部结构钢连接,带有一对短管为了支撑额外的标识重量,在建筑框架中增加了另一个钢柱。
To get to the steel column, Spectrum began by cutting out a square tile segment from the building's original limestone cladding. Once that was removed, an interior path was cleared to the structural steel and the additional horizontal stub out was welded in place. Once the stub out was attached, the limestone tile was modified (a hole cut in its center) to accommodate the stub out and then inserted back onto the building facade. With all the stub outs in place, the new sign cabinet was installed and hung on the side of the building.
为了绑定钢柱，光谱标识公司开始从建筑的原始标识位置的石灰石覆层中切出一块方形。一旦移除它，内部路径的钢结构就顺带清除了，另外的短管焊接到位。一旦连接了短管，就修改石灰石砖（在其中心切出一个孔）以容纳短管，然后插回到建筑物表面上。所有的短管都安装好后，新的标识就能安装在建筑物的侧面。
Marquee
字幕标识
The original Minskoff marquee was antiquated and had outgrown its use as a sign display. Like its previous blade sign, most of the territory of the marquee was a theater ID, but had left very little space to promote its resident show (this being Fiddler on the Roof). The theater had attached three light boxes on top of the marquee as a 'show promotion,' inevitably the marquee needed to be updated to a more suitable display.
原来的明斯科夫字幕标识已经过时了，对路人来说也不在具有吸引力了。和之前的悬挂标识一样，戏剧门面的大部分区域都是剧院的旧标识，无法推广其常驻剧目。剧院在大屏幕上方安装了三个灯箱，作为“剧目推广”，大屏幕不可避免地需要更换到更合适的位置。
In rebuilding the Minskoff marquee, Morra noted how Spectrum redesigned its shape where its longest side was at least 2/3rds the length of the entire marquee. This meant giving the Broadway marquee side a longer length to give more viewing exposure to the Bow Tie (where 7th crosses Broadway) area that passed the marquee.
在重建明斯科夫的字幕标识时，莫拉注意到光谱标识公司重新设计了它的形状，其最长边至少是整个选框长度的2/3。这意味着观看标识的距离变长变广，在百老汇广场上会有更多的人可以看到标识。
In designing the marquee, it was also fabricated with 1/8th inch, anodized aluminum 'Dark Bronze,' cladding with its own decorative edge elements. To complete the design, the marquee also had in place a series of incandescent chaser bulbs lining its bottom perimeter. The marquee sign face was translucent flex material, also from a specially adopted printing process provided by Pointer Crosse (Danbury, CT).
为了突出设计，字幕标识还安装了一系列白炽灯条，在其底部周边排列。标识是半透明的弯曲材料，也是特制的。也是Danbury, CT提供的一种特别的印刷工艺。
Broadway window display
百老汇橱窗展示
Within the Minskoff lobby area on its Broadway facing side, previous to its now predominant light box displays, theater shows were presented by printing promotions on vinyl banners that were hung from the lobby ceiling with aviation wire. The use of these banners was problematic as during the day they restricted daylight into the lobby area and at night, were not illuminated. This in turn was a contradiction of use, as the evening Lion King audiences making their way to the Minskoff had to work a little harder in finding the theater, which was around the corner of Broadway, on 45th Street. The solution that Spectrum proposed was to create a series of large light box cabinets that would replace the banners in the Broadway lobby windows.
标识灯箱展示还没有现在这么普及的时候之前，在百老汇对面的明斯科夫大厅区，剧院的表演是通过在乙烯基横幅上印刷宣传信息来进行的，这些乙烯基横幅用悬挂在大厅天花板上。这些横幅的使用是有问题的，因为白天光线进不到大厅地区，而在晚上照明光线不足，所以那些横幅不能很好的展示给顾客。这就给剧院造成了困扰，因为《狮子王》的观众在前往明斯科夫剧院的路上，不得不更加努力地寻找剧院，它坐落于百老汇45街的街角。光谱标识公司提出的解决方案是制造一系列大型灯箱标识，取代百老汇大厅橱窗上的横幅。
For the new Broadway window displays Spectrum was charged with building a series of double-faced, interior lit sign cabinets (22 total) with front and rear graphics to be accessible for mounting from the lobby interior side of the light box. Additionally, Fitzsimons added that he designed the cabinets so that each box would also provide full lobby side access for all lamp and ballast change outs, cabinet and window cleaning at regular service intervals. Each cabinet was dimensioned at almost 15-feet high by nine feet wide, with each cabinet weighing about 700 pounds.
关于剧院的橱窗新标识，光谱标识公司计划建造一系列双面内部照明标识灯箱（共22个），灯箱可从大厅内侧安装。此外，菲茨西蒙斯还补充说，他设计的橱窗空间，能够满足每个灯箱和镇流器更换。每个柜子的尺寸大约是15英尺高，9英尺宽，每个柜子重约700磅。
The light cabinets were to be installed within the second floor lobby area, with one unit to each window bay. That in itself presented two big challenges; getting the light cabinets from the street level to the second floor lobby, and two, lifting and installing each cabinet into its own window bay. At that point, the light cabinet installation became a show in itself. To allow for easy maneuvering of getting the light cabinets into the second floor lobby area, the boxes were fabricated as two-part modules. Once delivered on-site, each 350-pound component was physically carried up the 75-step stairs using tried and true 'man power.'
灯箱将安装在二楼大堂区域，每个窗口有一个单元。这本身就带来了两大挑战：第一个挑战是如何将标识抬到大厅的橱窗处。工作人员将照明柜从街道一层搬到二楼大厅将每个柜子吊装到窗户隔间。为了便于将灯箱放入二楼大厅区域，灯箱被制成两部分。工作人员们用人力把每个350磅重的部件抬上了75级楼梯。
Once the cabinet components were all in place within the lobby area, they were all reassembled. The next challenge was how to lift them up to be installed within each window bay. The first part of the installation was very demanding as it involved attaching each light box to a corresponding vertical building column that was positioned between each bay window. To get at the columns, Spectrum workers cut into the aluminum cladding to expose the vertical column steel. There were only two connections per cabinet at their sides in the centers which presented the potential for a great amount of torque there. After careful calculations by engineer Scott Lewis, this mounting system was given the blessing to proceed.
一旦所有的橱窗标识组件在大厅区域内全部到位，它们都被重新组装。接下来的挑战是如何将它们抬起以安装在每个窗口隔间内。安装的第一部分要求非常高，因为它涉及到如何将每个灯箱准确的连接到位于每个窗户之间的垂直建筑柱上，光谱标识公司工作人员切入铝包层，露出垂直柱的钢结构。每个灯箱两侧的中心只有两个连接，这样可能会产生很大的扭矩。经过工程师斯科特·刘易斯的精心计算，这个安装系统获得了继续进行的许可。
Forty-four double plate steel stub outs were manufactured and installed to provide a bolt connected mounting surface from the “I” beams’ web out past the thin column sheet-metal cladding surface. The “as built” random large tolerances between existing columns required precise layout and a need for each of the 44 steel stub outs to be custom manufactured in length in order to provide only 1/8” space between each light box and it’s the existing window bay cladding.
制造并安装了44个双板钢短管，以提供从垂直柱出来的螺栓经过薄柱板金属覆层表面。立柱之间要求精确的布局44双板钢短管每一个都需要定制长度，以便在每个灯箱和现有橱窗之间提供足够的空间。
As for lifting each light box in place, O'Connell, who is also a NYC licensed Master Sign Hanger and Master Rigger, recommended a unique rigging system that hoisted each light box into its own window bay where it was securely attached. Because of the tight quarters within each window bay, it prevented any normal lifting process of grabbing the box from its outside surface and hoisting it in place. To get around that challenge O'Connell noted, "we created a custom lifting system where we inserted a cross beam which was bolted inside of each sign cabinet. Using the cross beam as a lifting bar we were able to grab each cabinet and properly position it."
装灯箱时，奥康奈尔建议使用一种独特的索具系统，将每个灯箱吊到合适的位置上，并将其安全地固定在那里。由于每个窗框内的空间都很密集，这就影响任何正常的提升方法，比如，从它的外表面抓取灯箱并将其吊起到位。为了解决这一挑战，奥康奈尔说：“我们创造了一个定制的升降系统，我们在每个标识箱中插入了横梁，该横梁用螺栓固定在每个标识柜内。使用横梁作为升降杆，我们能够抓住每个柜子并正确定位它。”
The lifting process was also a sight to behold because the interior lobby area didn't actually allow for any kind of a crane to be positioned inside for lifting up the light boxes. Furthermore there was the additional challenge of dealing with two rows of light boxes, with the upper row 44-feet in the air, at ceiling height. To accomplish the box lift, Spectrum relied on the already in place painting scaffold system (provided by Eagle Scaffolding Company) that was in use for redoing the lobby decor.
升降过程也是一个值得注意的点，因为内部大厅区域实际上并不允许任何类型的起重机定位。此外，处理两排灯箱还要考虑天花板的高度。为了完成箱式升降机，光谱标识公司依靠已经安装好的喷漆脚手架系统（由飞鹰脚手架公司提供）。
Spectrum's solution utilized an aluminum Out Rigger beam clamped on top of the scaffold at the 44-foot height that ran perpendicular to each window bay. Mounted on the ends of the beam were a set of pulleys, one on the window side, the other on the lobby area side. This in turn allowed Spectrum to mount an electric winch down at ground level with the cable going up to the lobby pulley, along the beam to the street pulley and back down to the ground, where each sign cabinet was placed for hoisting into its window bay position. One by one the light cabinets were lifted up, bolted in place and once tested, had both the Broadway side and then lobby area side graphics installed from the lobby side of the cabinets. It should also be noted that while Spectrum designed and fabricated all parts of the Minskoff Theater sign system, Service Sign Erectors (NY, NY) assisted Spectrum during the Minskoff installation.
光谱标识公司的解决方案采用了铝制外支架梁，夹在支架顶部，高度为44英尺，垂直于每个窗台。安装在横梁两端的是一组滑轮，一个在窗边，另一个在大厅一侧。这样一来，光谱标识公司就可以在地面上安装电动绞盘，电缆向上连接大堂滑轮，沿着横梁连接街道滑轮，然后再回到地面，每个标识灯箱都被放置在地面上，以便吊装到窗口的位置。灯箱被一个接一个地吊起来，螺栓固定到位，经过测试，百老汇街道一侧和大堂侧的图形都能安装在大堂的橱窗里。还应该注意的是，虽然光谱标识公司设计并制造了明斯科夫剧院标识系统的所有部分，但标识安装服务工程（纽约州纽约市）在明斯科夫安装期间给予了光谱标识公司很大的帮助。
Once the Minskoff Broadway light cabinets were completely installed, O'Connell stood across the street to take it all in and appreciate it, both as Project Manager and as another pedestrian walking along Broadway. "The inclusion of the Minskoff Broadway window display not only puts the Minskoff Theater and The Lion King on the Times Square map, but it's become a significant part of the signature look of Times Square."
明斯科夫百老汇的灯箱完全安装好以后，百老汇路过的人就能欣赏这一切。奥康奈尔说：“明斯科夫百老汇的橱窗展示不仅让明斯科夫剧院和《狮子王》出现在时代广场的地图上，而且成为时代广场标志性景观的重要组成部分。”
Beyond the design and installation, service and maintenance of any sign is always considered by Spectrum as the job is first planned. To implement maintenance, Spectrum had included a pair of 'service lifts' to allow workers to get at sign cabinets for cleaning and graphic change outs. The big challenge of course was getting the lifts up the stairs from street level. O’Connell devised the cable hoist rigging to pull two 1,000-pound aerial work platforms up the 75-step grand staircase. “Those units are fixtures there and were sold to the theater for the sole purpose to access these signs for this and to do placements for all future advertisements.”
除了设计和安装之外，光谱标识公司的工作计划也把标识的服务和维护放在考虑的范围内，为了进行维修，光谱标识公司还安装了一对“服务升降机”，让员工可以在标识前进行清洁和灯箱外形的更换。当然，最大的挑战是让升降机从街道上升到楼梯。 奥康奈尔设计了缆索提升索具，将两个1000磅重的高空作业平台拉上75级的大楼梯。“这些都是在那里的固定装置，出售给剧院的唯一目的是为了方便使用这些标识，并为未来的所有广告做位置装置。”
Speaking of being on the map, Morra noted The Lion King again reigned supreme in part because of Spectrum's Minskoff signage had met its goal of giving The Lion King a great street-side presence, proving once and for all, that indeed, the Minskoff was fit for "The King."
莫拉注意到《狮子王》在百老汇占据了至高无上的地位，其中一部分原因是光谱标识公司为明斯科夫剧院制造了一系列很有“存在感”的《狮子王》标识，也间接性地证明明斯考夫剧院是《狮子王》的不二归属。
