Scalloped Panel – Andreozzi Architecture (Part 1)

Andreozzi Architects in Rhode Island used Precision Board HDU to create a historically influenced scalloped panel that is the “base” to a window composition for a beachfront house in Narragansett, RI built by Suburban Renewal. They chose Precision Board because they knew from past projects that it carves well and paints up just like wood so it would tie into the adjacent wood trim without a visible difference. They also liked that it would hold up in the harsh beachfront environment.  In part-one of our two-part series, Sr. Associate and Project Manager Dave Rizzolo takes us through one of the many architectural applications for Precision Board- a scalloped panel.

scalloped panel

The team at Andreozzi Architecture designed this house from top to bottom and used PBLT-20 Precision Board HDU to create a scalloped window panel.  “This was a first for us in terms of doing something ornate for a window panel,” says Dave.

Rizzolo was concerned about how they were going to keep water out of the wall systems.  Given the extreme weather of the area and its impact on the house over time, having one piece was key- no joints.

“If it was going to be built out of wood, it would be fairly big pieces and be more vulnerable to water. You don’t want to get water behind your trim work,” Dave says.  “With the Precision Board HDU we were able to create one solid piece,” he adds.

scalloped panel

The scalloped panel wasn’t the only part of the home that they built using Precision Board high-density urethane.  The three raised panels on the dormer as well as the triangular gable over the front door were made using Precision Board.  Andreozzi Architecture founder David Andreozzi adds, “We used true Roman proportioned numbers for the address panel to make it look like they had been hand-chiseled or made out of wood.”

Dave worked with a local millwork shop on the design of the scalloped panel.

“The shop created submittals of the carving, done on their CNC, for our review and feedback. After the first submittal we made a few tweaks and changes and clarified the design intention which were further clarified in the second round of shop drawings,” Rizzolo adds. “The panel was installed along with the adjacent wood trim and painted with Benjamin Moore Exterior paint – you can’t see a difference between the materials.”

Andreozzi Architecture is a unique team of design-oriented architects driven by a passion for creating elegant architectural solutions that address their client’s needs and desires in ways that are innovative, respectful of tradition and craft, yet respective of budget. The size of a project or cost per square foot is irrelevant in their quest to produce successful projects and happy clients.  Founded in 1988, they specialize in historically based residential architecture expressive of its sense of place, attentive to its detail and proportion, and timeless in its beauty. A regional architecture: historically mastered, meticulously preserved, respectfully honored, and artistically reinterpreted; from city, to mountain, to ocean. Commissions exist from Commonwealth Avenue, to the shores of New England, to the Bahamian Islands.  You can give them a call at (401) 245-6800 or visit their website.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly high-density urethane material that has achieved a certified “Carbon Balance” of 3 to 1 and a “Rapidly Renewable Resource Content” of 23.9%.  Precision Board also assists in meeting LEED requirements for obtaining USGBC and ICC 700-2008 building credits.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samples, get a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.

Using HDU to Restore the Union Station Sign

Built in 1939, Los Angeles Union Station is the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States and is widely regarded as “the last of the great train stations.” The station’s signature Mission Moderne style makes it one of L.A.’s architectural gems, so when the people responsible for maintaining it needed to repair one of the iconic signs, they got in touch with Dave Dethloff with Kutting Edge Design. They were familiar with the work of Kutting Edge Design through The Irvine Company. They wanted to use HDU and when Dave looked into it, he discovered that Precision Board was the perfect fit for this historic restoration project.

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“When I was looking into HDU, I talked with an artist friend of mine in Santa Ana named Paul Courtney.  He told us about Coastal Enterprises,” says Dethloff.

Dave needed to match the dimensions and color of the broken sign pieces, so he got in touch with Coastal Enterprises President, Chuck Miller, who provided him with some PBLT-18 Precision Board custom cut to the dimensions he needed, which was 8′ by 1.5″ by almost 2”.

Dave used FSC-88 primer to prime the Precision Board rods. He then sanded them and put a layer of Vista Paint black primer over that.  He completed the painting with a finishing layer of Rustoleum Satin Black Spray Paint to match the existing colors on the sign.

He says the job took about two days in total because it was his first time working with Precision Board high-density polyurethane.

“HDU’s consistency is really nice.  When you buy plywood there are voids from the laminations of different layers.  Precision Board is consistent all the way through,” says Dave.

The whole project went pretty smooth and Dave says the best part was that he didn’t have to install it- they used bucket lifts to put everything up there.

He adds, “When we need HDU again, we’ll definitely use Precision Board.”

Kutting Edge Design LLC is a Professional Signage Service founded in 2011 by Co-Owners Kirsten Sketch and Kirk Meese.  The company is committed to providing timely, quality design and signs for the graphic industry and for small to large, manufacturing, corporate, retail, and property managing customers. Concepts and ideas turn into quality products that ensure the image of their customer is kept to the highest standards. Located in Santa Ana, California, they are a preferred vendor for The Irvine Company, Arnel Commercial Management, Simon Group Properties, Donahue Schriber, and more.  They specialize in quick response to inquiries and they specialize in matching existing specifications. You can call them at (714) 721-8795 or visit their website.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly effective for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samples, get a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.

Dan Sawatzky’s Sign Magic Workshop

Coastal Enterprises, manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, is proud to announce a series of guest blogs written by Dan Sawatzky of Imagination Corporation, which will be posted on the Precision Board Blog each month. In this month’s entry, Dan Sawatzky tells us about the Sign Magic Workshops that he has been putting on for more than ten years now (and which Coastal Enterprises has been a proud sponsor of!) and the special name plaques each workshop participant gets fabricated from PBLT-30 Precision Board HDU.

As I came up in this business I found many I looked to for knowledge kept the ‘secrets’ hidden to those of us just starting out. I determined back then that when I was able I would instead share everything I knew. In the process I have found I learn much more than I can possibly give back.

One of the ways we share our knowledge is to host workshops a couple of times each year. Amazingly, we’ve welcomed hundreds of wonderful and talented people from around the world to our shop for these intense learning sessions. Each workshop is three long days of learning where we immerse our eager guests in everything we do in our shop. We do our best to answer every question, and share every technique we know. Through the three days of the workshop I give a series of talks about our design philosophy, pricing, marketing and so much more.

sawatzky

Each participant also has the opportunity for plenty of hands-on learning as we tackle a series of projects. We work with Precision Board, sculpting epoxy, welding steel, sculpting concrete and our unique way of painting. A whole lot of fun is crammed into the three days.

Coastal Enterprises has been a proud sponsor of our workshops since the first one, more than ten years ago. THANKS from myself, our crew and the hundreds of students through the years!

One of the ways we like to welcome our participants is to create a custom name plaque for everyone. Each name plaque measures about one square foot and is routed from a piece of 1.5” thick 30 lb Precision Board. These are painted up in magical ways by our expert crew. In the last week I’ve designed and routed the twenty name plaques for the next Sculpture Magic Workshop to be held this coming October. It’s still early but we like to be ready well in advance. This workshop sold out in only five hours!

The next Sign Magic Workshop will soon be announced for spring, 2019. For information you can check out this LINK.  Scroll to the bottom to see a gallery of this year’s routed plaques.

Sawatzky’s Imagination Corporation is a small family company that specializes in the design and creation of dimensional signs and environments. They tackle projects of any size from small signs to entire theme parks. Their work has garnered numerous national and international awards.

Dan Sawatzky is best described as a creative force and visual storyteller extraordinaire. His art career spans almost fifty years of magic. Dan’s passion is to design and create imaginative places that take people from the normal world to a setting of delight and wonder.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly effective for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samples, get a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.

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Brewing up the 3D Coffee House Sign

When Aversboro Coffee approached Steve Kolacz with GrafiXhouse Design Studios, they needed a 3D sign that could work both as an indoor wall sign for their business and as a trade show display.  The catch was, they only had a week to get it done, so they fabricated a dimensional sign out of Precision Board HDU, Corex and insulation foam, tossed a few lights in and a smoke machine.  The result?  A happy customer and a multimedia sign that doubles as a trade show display.

3d

The sign is made out of PBLT-15, Corex and expanding insulation foam and stands 6′ tall, 3′ wide and 1.5″ thick.  “They were going to a trade show and wanted something they could use for the trade show and then hang on the wall,” says Steve. “They wanted the sign to look like their coffee cup and originally wanted it to be 360 degrees, but we only had a week.”

The main body of the cup was routed from 15 pound Precision Board HDU on their ShopBot CNC using Adobe Illustrator and ArtCam Insignia.

Steve scanned the coffee cup sleeve, digitally printed it and attached it to Corex. He flipped the material so that it would bend like cardboard and put slits in to let it take some bends and curves.  The Corex was then attached to the Precision Board and a red light was added behind the coffee sleeve to backlight it.

The top part of cup that appears to be a frothy foam was actually expanding insulation foam secured on top of the HDU. “I tried out expanding foam to give the froth some texture,” Steve added.

Because the sign also had to work as a trade show display, Kolacz added a back piece it that could be folded out or also hung up on a wall.  Steve says, “I made a French cleat that could be opened up into an a-frame.”

Steve used One Shot and Createx Colors airbrush paint on the high-density urethane.  It wasn’t a super labor-intensive project, but Steve says it took them about a week to rout, paint, airbrush and light.  Just in time for the trade show, but he had one more trick to complete the effect.  They hooked up a smoke machine behind the sign to give the appearance of steam.

Steve and GrafiXhouse Design have done a lot of 3d work with Precision Board HDU and there’s a reason for that.

“I like the ease that you can cut, rout and shape it.  You can use grinders, all kinds of dremels and tools to give it different looks.”  He adds, “try using really heavy grit sandpaper and you can get into some very unique shaping.”  Above all, he likes the uniformity of surface when working with high-density urethane.  “You don’t get knots.”

GrafiXhouse Design Studios is located in North Carolina and is staffed by professional artists that have degrees in fine art and advertising.  They do everything from logo design, company branding and marketing to 3d signs, tradeshow props and banners.  We are very impressed with their work and highly recommend them.  Give them a call at (919) 329-5743 or visit their website.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly effective for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samples, get a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.