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Highlights Signaling project for two CNC entity buildings

Summary:

Signaling project of two buildings of the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC)¹. Creation, conceptualization and coordination of the signage project of two buildings of the National Confederation of Trade of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC), including analysis and survey of the spaces of the buildings of the entity (one in Rio de Janeiro and the another in Brasilia).

Process and concept:

The original signage project has done around 2000 (and is the present project), is basically simple:

The first type of signaling plate is a sheet of tempered glass with adhesive cut from above was used only for “VIP” spaces (areas where the board of directors and theirs guests transited);
The second type of signaling plate is an aluminum plate with a black printing process, used in all of the rest of kinds of utilities (from emergency signage till to door plates) is a higher cost than the same pieces of the project shared here, and very disposable.

The entity has had a rebrand in 2012 and become necessary to make a new project of signaling. In 2016, I have had already monitored and adjusted the institutional signage facilities² and made a project for all the selective collection of recycling and general waste.

After narrowly analyzing each space in one of the two buildings, and few of the another, I have created a report with photos and observations, in the highlighted image 3 (the report appears in the part below these image). I have held meetings with directors, administrative sector etc. and seen some places with similar solutions and projects (Sesc-DN, Senac-DN, CNI building in Brasília, the new building and the old). The project that the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) has been implemented to the new building using a modular board system and this has caught my attention, because one of the main problems of a confederation entity is the political issue – would be a leadership changing and changing the name of the departament etc.

I have created a basic briefing to be followed, I were analyzing the companies whose I had visited and analising to the CNC’s current project, comparing them and detaching the following criteria:

To create a signage structure fully connected with the new brand.
To develop a system that is easy to maintain, easy to replace and repair, to create a practical and modular metric for each type of board and situation with a chepear cost.
To split the both, numbers of the rooms and the names of the each sector – Employees request deliveries to the both addresses, Rio de Janeiro and Brazilia, and usually the deliverers look for the number’s rooms. Guest of the Confederation, as journalists, as external public in general, were looking for the name’s rooms.
To make the visitors of the buildings to visualize the information, the sign’s rooms should be as soon as possible the people were leaving the lift (the numbers’ board are perpendiculars to the doors, then they have obligatorily to be positioned above the doors).

After these early stages of depuration, I have looked for the company that has had produced the modular boards of CNI’s new building, studied their material and made a technical visits to the company. I have noticed new necessities of parameterization and conceptualization to this project:

The project of each board has as basic principle to reduce the number of parts each of those boards, to be lesser number of screws, small parts etc., to avoid a possible defects and fits, to be avoiding rework.
The design has to was the minimalist principle as a base. The attempt was to create parts with clear information and that do not pollute the mediations and spaces, because both CNC’s building in Rio de Janeiro and CNC’s building in Brazilia have corridors with a lot of information and variations of inteior design. The way was not to be conflicting, but to be informing a functional and a clear way, and to acclimatize the spaces with the new identity of the CNC in a subtle way.
Each board were needing to be used in the both, in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazilia, which one are two very distinct space. It was important to ensure a unique language for the entity.
To be creating a connecting element in each piece (each type of board) based on the curved line, each board should have in some way a curve.

The focus now turned to the concept, I have used a concept of “Object Theory” (a class I had had in my graduation): the dual question between physical products (sculptures and design product), an analogy between the “shell” and the “egg”, then closed and opened physical products. I have thought of all these boards in a concept to be a “shells”, openeds. The environments of those buildings are heavy and they are so necessary to think about to not create a more visual pollution. I have gone to the partner supplier and made some prototypes of some of the boards, but the entity (CNC) has been in a difficult moment of the transition of presidents, so the project has had to wait a little more.

The another point the Directors, the Administration Department (DA), represented by Marcus Fernandes head of the departament and I have needed to in this project to separete it in stages, to make the project easier to be done:

Emergency and warning signs.
Directive and space signs.
Digital signage (the monitor in the lift hall to give the directions of each room).

Each of these steps would be involved with differentiated execution, technical group and urgency. To the Emergency Signaling has been necessary to be hiring a consultancy to help with the allowance with the Fire Brigade (agreeding with the ABNT – Brazilian Association of Tecnical Normals) and this step has been extremaly urgency to be done. The Directive Signage would be involved with Administration Departament and I, while the Digital Signage would be involved with the Administration Departament, the IT Departament and I, it would just be actually a directive board on each floor, to be referring each rooms of each floor has had, and at the end a directory board in each lobby of the two buildings, Rio de Janeiro and Brazilia.

The Emergency Signage pieces in the Rio de Janeiro were installed at 05/2019. The directive and space signage have been very detailed on paper, with several prototypes, the same has happened with digital signage, but its implementation has not implemented yet.

Obs.:

Cristina Calmon has been the head of Press Office of the CNC (ASCOM) and was the my hierachy superior at the moment at this project, Ricardo Bruno is the Architect and Interior Designer for the Presidency of CNC and has helped me a lot with this project, the 3ds views have been made through his sector and they have based on the second floor of the building in Rio de Janeiro that served as a model for the presentation of the project to Directors.

1 National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC – cnc.org. br) – Patronal syndical entity, which groups 34 Federations in the whole Brazilian territory, 27 referring to their respective states in Brazil and 7 of these 34 at national level, there are more than five million companies represented in the commerce that generate around 25.5 million direct and formal jobs, it acts in order that the sector is always present at the formulation of public policies, following the progress of the proposals of interest in the National Congress of Brazil and in the defense of the Constitution of Brazil, always it having in focus the laws that may impact the segment.

The CNC was founded at 4th September of 1945, its current President is José Roberto Tadros, who succeeded Antonio Oliveira Santos, in an election that was held in 2018, and it is responsible for the administration of two institutions of great performances in Brazil and that form one of the largest systems of social development in the world, the institution of Commerce Social Service (Sesc – sesc.com.br) and the institution of National Service of Commercial Learning (Senac – senac.br), the first mentioned, with social projects, such as Mesa Brasil, Ecos Program of sustainability etc. (acts in the following areas: Alimentation, Culture, Education, Health, Leisure, Social Assisntence, Sports, Sustainability etc.) and the second in assisting the training and qualification of employees of the companies in the commerce sector (shopkeepers, waiters, chefs, hoteliers etc.).

2 A design company has created the new brand of the entity and the brands of Sesc and Senac, it has made projects to the installations of the signs to put the brand of the entity, such as the signs of the facades, the signs of the meeting rooms and the entrance hall of the buildings of the entity and I have been following those installations.

Contributions to Brazilian thought