The Paramount Theater opened in 1927 with a marquee that was typical of other Midtown Manhattan signage of its day. The sign was made from steel and covered with bronze ornamentation. The message on the marquee was spelled out with letters that were changed by hand.
于1927年开幕的派拉蒙剧院是曼哈顿市中心的一个著名标志性建筑。该标识由钢制成，并覆盖着青铜装饰。标识上的展示信息是用可拆卸的手写体发光字拼出来的。
The historical signage alerted people in Times Square to new Broadway shows, symphony orchestras and community theater productions until the theater closed in the 1960s. The theatre and the marquee were demolished in 1967, and the theatre space was then filled with offices.
在20世纪60年代剧院关闭之前，这个伫立于时代广场上的古老标识每天都会提醒人们有新的百老汇节目、交响乐团演奏和团体戏剧的演出。剧院和这个大型的标识门牌于1967年拆除，随后剧院的内部空间变成了办公场所。

Today, the site is becoming an entertainment venue again. Paramount Leasehold owns the building. The current tenants WWF New York, Inc. a division of WWF Entertainment funded the historical sign’s replication as part of the owner’s restoration of the landmark building’s historical elements.
如今，该处建筑再次成为了娱乐场所。派拉蒙租下了该建筑并获得使用权。目前的租户是WWF娱乐公司的一家在纽约的分公司，他们出资协助了历史标识的重建。
From research and modeling to lighting and technology, project architects and engineers said replicating the original sign was one challenge after another. Designers started from scratch using limited historical photographs and drawings.
从研究、建模到照明和技术，项目建筑师和工程师表示重建历史标识将面临一个接一个的挑战。于是设计师首先对有限的历史照片和图纸进行了研究和分析。
Tobin Parnes Design Enterprises, a full-service architecture and interior design firm in New York City, managed both the replication of the sign and the restoration of the building. The entire building restoration took more than 10 years to complete. The new marquee itself took about 18 months to plan and construct. The marquee will light up in October.
Tobin Parnes设计公司是纽约市一家提供全方位服务的建筑和室内设计公司，业务范围涉及标识重建管理和建筑物修复管理。整个建筑修复工作需要10多年才能完成，新的标识本身需要大约18个月的时间进行规划和建设。因此新的标识将在十月亮起。

The First Step
第一步
The first step was conducting research on the original marquee’s specs. The three-sided marquee is 39 feet long, 18 feet deep and 16 feet high at its highest point. The front curved LED sign is about 30 feet long and the side rectangular LED signs are 12 feet long. Each sign is only 4’6” high, a landmark restriction to match the historical marquee signage specifications.
标识重建的第一步是对历史标识的规格进行测量分析。三面的大型标识均为长39英尺，深18英尺，宽16英尺。正面弯曲的LED标识长约30英尺，侧面长方形LED标识长12英尺，每个标志只有4英尺6英寸高，这非常符合当时时代的大型标识规格限制。
Since the original marquee was demolished, designers had to blow up old photographs to determine the details of the marquee’s historic elements. New York-based Architectural Molded Composites, Inc., had artists trace over the historical photographs to ensure the finer details were not lost in the replication. Then, they made full-sized clay sculptures and plaster molds of the marquee for designers to examine before molds were made.
由于原来的大型标识被拆除，设计师不得不凭借旧照片为参照来确定大型标识的历史元素细节。位于纽约的建筑模塑复合材料公司（Architectural Molded Composites，Inc.）让设计师仔细研究历史照片，以确保在重建的过程中不会丢失任何精细的细节。在模具制作之前，他们制作了以大型标识为原型的全尺寸粘土雕塑和石膏模型以方便设计师进行参考。

The Red Tape
麻烦的事情
Working with the New York City Landmark Commission was a prolonged challenge in replicating the historic sign. Purists on the Landmark Commissions often push for exact replications right down to the materials involved. But Tobin & Parnes had ideas for bringing the epic sign into the 21st century using new materials and technologies.
与纽约城市地标委员会合作是重建历史标识的长期挑战。地标委员会的纯粹主义者主张准确复制原始标识的模样，甚至连材料也要和原始标识的材料相同。但Tobin Parnes设计公司则是想通过使用新材料和新技术将这个历史标识带入21世纪。
The commission initially rejected the idea to use LED technology in 1996, but later approved the concept as more signs in the surrounding area started incorporating LEDs.
该委员会最初在1996年拒绝了使用LED技术的想法，但后来又批准了这一提案，因为周边的地区也有越来越多的标识开始使用LED。
“A hand placed sign would have been out of place,” said Robert Parnes, an architect and principal of the firm, “and too cumbersome for the tenant to make updates several times a day.”
该公司的建筑师兼负责人罗伯特·帕内斯说：“手动更新的标识本来就很不合适，而且租户每天要更新几次，太麻烦了。”

The Materials
材料的选择
The marquee was constructed with fiberglass-reinforced plastic, or FRP, that has bronze metal bonded into it. Andrea Dibner, a Senior Associate and Senior Project Manager with Tobin and Parnes, says the FRP was sealed so that it would not age. They chose the material for its flexibility, durability and long-life span.
大型标识采用玻璃纤维强化塑料或玻璃钢制成，其中还参有青铜金属的成分。Tobin Parnes设计公司的高级项目经理Andrea Dibner表示，由于玻璃钢是密封的，因此不会轻易老化。他们在材料选择方面很看重材料的灵活性、耐久性和使用寿命。
From a maintenance perspective, the sign is completely waterproof, it can be cleaned with a pressure washer. And the marquee itself houses all the equipment necessary to run the sign, facilitating the diagnosis and repair of any elements of the sign.
从维护的角度来看，标识是完全防水的，它可以用高压清洗机清洗。并且大型标识本身就包含运行标识所需的所有设备，随时都可以对标识的任何部分进行诊断和修复。

The Historical Details
原始标识的细节体现
The next challenge was blending history with technology. The three faces of the marquee use the most up-to-date LED technology available.
下一个挑战是如何将新的技术融入进标识的历史概念中。大型标识的三面字幕均采用最新的LED技术。
Multimedia Signage Inc. in California manufactured the signage that boasts the highest resolution ever achieved. The LED pixels and cells have a .45 pitch. The highest resolution before this sign was created was .75 pitch.
加利福尼亚州的多媒体标识公司生产的标识标牌具有迄今为止取得的最高分辨率。LED像素点和单元板的间距为0.45英寸。此标识创建之前的最高分辨率为0.75英寸。
“In order to get TV quality resolution on these screens we needed to go with that .45 pitch, otherwise the resolution would only give you a clear image of someone from their shoulders to the top of their head,” said Ms. Dibner. “Using the .45 pitch we can get almost the whole person in there.”
迪布纳女士说：“为了使这几个标识屏幕能够达到与电视显示器相同的分辨率，我们需要这种0.45英寸分辨率的LED显示屏，否则普通分辨率的显示屏只能给你一个从肩膀到头顶的清晰图像，而使用0.45英寸分辨率的显示屏，我们几乎可以得到整个人的清晰图像。”
But how do you use technology without distracting from the historical detail of the sign? It was something that many were not sure could be achieved using LED technology because the sign curved up and down. But the Landmark Commission demanded that the sign’s original curvature be replicated.
接下来需要思考的问题就是如何将LED技术融合进标识的历史细节中。但是很多人不确定这个标识是否真的可以使用LED技术来实现，因为这个标识拥有向上和向下弯曲弧面。并且地标委员会要求重建的标识必须要复制原始标识的曲率。
The solution: using very small diodes and arranging them to match the curve. The result: any image on the sign curves with the curvature of the marquee with no distortion, another requirement of the Landmark Commission.
最后得到的解决方案是：使用非常小的二极管进行布阵排列以匹配标识曲率的曲线。得到的结果是：标识上的任何图像曲线都能够与大型标识的曲面相适应，并且图像也没有失真，这也满足了地标委员会的另一项要求。

The LED Systems
解析LED系统
This took some doing on the part of the LED designers. LED systems are typically made in square modules. Multimedia Signage had to create special modules which were approximately 1-1/2 to 2 inches in width and six to eight inches in height in order to produce the historic curve.
LED设计师同样会遇到一些挑战。LED系统通常由方形模组制作而成。多媒体标识公司必须要制作一些专用的模组来匹配历史标识表面的曲度，而这些模组的尺寸一般为：宽在1.5~2英寸之间，高在6~8英寸之间。
“The module had to be much thinner in order to allow the curve to look very smooth and to follow the curve that was defined by the decorative elements of the marquee,” said Dibner.
迪布纳说：“模组必须要非常薄，才能使标识的曲面曲线看起来非常平滑，并根据大型标识的曲面来为标识添加装饰元素。”
All the LED systems are self-contained. Maintenance workers could pull out those signs without affecting the decorative elements.if technology improves the sign can be upgraded without damaging the marquee.
所有的LED系统都是独立的。维护人员可以在不影响标识装饰元素的情况下取出标识损坏的部分。因此，如果技术提升，标识在升级的同时不会损坏标识框。
All the fiber optic light drivers and LED boards are hooked up to separate DMX systems. That allows operators to preprogram how the lights will work. Each box is about 2-2 1/2 feet wide. The LED modules are on the face of the door. The doors swing open to a box with all the electronics that run each section. There is even an integrated HVAC system that feeds and cools the signs.
所有的光纤照明驱动器和LED板都连接到独立的DMX系统，这样操作员可以对灯光的工作方式进行预编程。每个灯箱宽约2~2.5英尺，LED模组位于灯箱门的正面。当门被拉开时，我们可以看到灯箱内部所有的电子元件都运行在每个部分上。甚至还有一个集成暖通空调系统可以供给和冷却标识温度。

The Fiber Optics
光纤的应用
Another challenge was the lighting itself. The marquee originally used incandescent “G” lamps. Tobin and Parnes and Image Lighting, Inc., the project lighting consultant, were tasked with finding a way to disperse the light so that it resembles a “G” lamp when people are standing underneath it. Fibre Light US, a Genlyte Thomas Company, in Union, New Jersey, manufactured the fiber optic lighting.
另一个挑战是照明本身。大型标识最初使用的是白炽灯“G”灯，因此，Tobin Parnes设计公司以及项目照明顾问图像照明公司的任务是寻找散射光线的方法，以便当人们站在标识下方时它能够拥有与白炽灯一样的效果。位于新泽西州尤宁郡的Fiber Light US公司制造了光纤照明。
“We used a custom designed fiber optics system,” said Dibner. “The system uses acrylic bulbs made from two elements. These are solid acrylic frosted bulbs with a special insert piece. When the fiber optics hits that insert piece it disperses the light similar to that of the original “G” lamps. The fiber optic light drivers have the ability to dispense four different colors of light.
迪布纳说：“我们使用了定制的光纤系统，该系统使用由两种元素制成的亚克力灯泡。这些是带有特殊插件的固体亚克力磨砂灯泡，当光纤元件撞击插件时，它就会散发与白炽灯‘G’灯类似的光。光纤光源驱动器能够分配四种不同颜色的光源。”
“We went with five fibers per bulb to get the right amount of light and to give the right amount of flexibility for the DMX system to control the lights,” she said. “To chase the lights, to flash the lights, to change colors rapidly, all hinged on many very technical aspects of the fiber optics systems.”
她说：“我们每个灯泡均使用五根光纤以获得合适的光线，并为DMX系统提供适当的灵活性来控制灯光、追逐灯光、闪烁灯光、迅速改变灯光颜色，所有这些都取决于光纤系统的许多特色性技术方面的能力。”
There are more than 2,000 bulbs on the marquee and approximately 50 light drivers. Each driver feeds about 40 bulbs, so if a driver goes out it only takes 40 lights with it.
大型标识上有超过2000个灯泡，50个左右的光源驱动器。每个驱动器控制40个灯泡，所以如果驱动器损坏，只有40个灯泡会失去控制。
“If we went with the historic incandescent lighting, the actual energy loads would have been immense,” said Dibner. “The maintenance issues would have been a large concern.”
迪布纳说：“如果我们采用传统的白炽灯照明，那么实际的能源负荷将是巨大的，维护问题将成为一个巨大的负担。”
The Paramount Theater marquee is a strong example of historical design with modern technology. The lighted sign is reminiscent of days gone by, an era when Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey performed at the Paramount. But the technological enhancements have brought new life to a Times Square landmark.
派拉蒙剧院大型标识是现代科技融入历史设计的强效示范。重新点亮的标识往往勾起人们的回忆，这是Frank Sinatra和Tommy Dorsey在派拉蒙演出的时代。但技术的更新为时代广场带来了新的生机。