Lorenc+Yoo worked with tvsdesign and CSS on the Hyatt’s recent renovation by integrating new wayfinding signage into this refined space. The goal was to update the look while also keeping the spirit of the original system.

The team developed a comprehensive way finding strategy to address confusing circulation through the two towers. To further assist, the team recommended new names for the hotel and conference center’s lower levels and for some of the meeting rooms. Additionally, they simplified ballroom naming and numbering to improve visitors’ ease of use.

Lorenc+Yoo designed new floor- and wall-mounted directories, overhead directionals, tower identity signs, and basic plaques. All the signs use aluminum painted to match the wall surfaces and/or stainless steel. They also made us of transparent surfaces, light typography, and interior illumination to contribute to the hotel’s new look.

The result is a clean, modern look in keeping with the new architecture and furnishings, bringing the hotel and convention center into the 21st century.

Lorenc+Yoo Design is proud to announce a number of ongoing projects for Vanke, China’s largest residential developer. Lorenc+Yoo is involved actively with Vanke and its architects in the creation of three exciting projects that are setting the standard for modern living in China: Opalus in Guangzhou, Vanke Plaza in Shenzhen, and Fish In The Garden in Guangzhou.

Vanke-Guangzhou retained Lorenc+Yoo to orchestrate the entire branding and storytelling for Opalus, a mixed-use art deco-inspired project that contains 1600 residential units, retail spaces, an elementary school, a kindergarten, and villas. Lorenc+Yoo developed the narrative storyline for the project, and evolved conceptual experiential images to illustrate the overall vision for the development’s marketing program, entries, and gardens. In collaboration with Opalus’s architectural and landscape architectural teams, Lorenc+Yoo is developing the design visions for the development’s entrance, street experience, sculpture, dining, and recreation. Additionally, Lorenc+Yoo is creating custom architectural jewelry, including canopies, awnings, banners, and light fixtures. This project is currently under construction and will open in early 2012.

Similar to Opalus, Vanke Plaza in Shenzhen is a large-scale mixed-use project with residential towers, an urban shopping mall, public facilities, and parks. But unlike Opalus and unique to Vanke Plaza is its historic Hakka village, which dates back to the last century. The Hakka are a distinct ethnic group in southern China whose culture and architecture have provided inspiration for Vanke Plaza’s design and allure. In addition to integrating Hakka influences, Lorenc+Yoo designed a beautiful art deco vernacular, giving the buildings a dynamic art deco look and feel. Sophisticated architectural jewelry such as canopies, culturally relevant decorative inlay patterns, and a strong retail base unite Vanke Plaza’s design and allow it to remain uncluttered and sleek even as retail tenants change. Lorenc+Yoo’s touch can be felt throughout Vanke Plaza in the building overlay design, garages, the sales center, elevator doors, lighting, and color palette. Vanke Plaza will open in December 2011.

In addition to Opalus, Vanke-Guangzhou retained Lorenc+Yoo to develop the storyline and vision for a new mountain villa resort community called Fish In The Garden. Nestled in the hills and adjoining a lake, Fish In The Garden contains retail spaces, a hotel, and a number of high-end residential villas. Lorenc+Yoo is developing project branding that is being applied on wayfinding signage, entry features, site sculpture, sales centers, children’s play facilities, hotel identity and signage design, and a temporary barricade design to allow visitors to see the amenities of the project during construction. Fish In The Garden will open in 2012 and quickly become a place where the busy people of Guangzhou can become refreshed and inspired.

Lorenc+Yoo’s major expansion into China couldn’t have reached success without a valuable addition to our team. Earlier this year, Mac Liu joined Lorenc+Yoo as its China Project Coordinator. Mac handles all of the firm’s Chinese communication, contracts, and project management to ensure it can respond to clients’ needs accurately.

Lorenc+Yoo’s 34 years of experience in the United States, Middle East, and Korea have allowed the firm to provide its clients with thoughtful narrative development and beautiful visual designs, and set the stage for these exceptional opportunities in China. “The Vanke projects are the most challenging in our firm’s history and also the most creatively promising,” says Jan Lorenc. “We are proud to be on these design teams and grateful to have such dynamic and demanding clients who continue to push and stretch our creative abilities in this most exciting and growing country.”

At ICSC’s RECON show in May 2011, Lorenc+Yoo–in collaboration with longtime partner Journey Communications Inc.–created a sleek, corporate space for national commercial real estate company Brookfield. Brookfield’s property portfolio spans the United States, Canada and Australia, allowing it to claim many of the most prestigious buildings in the skylines of New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Toronto, Melbourne, and elsewhere.

Lorenc+Yoo designed Brookfield’s exhibition to immediately indicate its high stature in the real estate industry. The design team showcased Brookfield’s projects via a series of unified video monitors at the front of the space accompanied by casual, comfortable seating for visitors to use while waiting for a meeting room to become available.

Three separate meeting rooms for private conversations exist within the space, each expressing a consistent, minimalist, and high quality design vernacular–a rarity for trade show exhibits. Television displays are sunken into the wall in an effort not to disrupt the sleek lines of the space. Additionally, overhead lights shine from a canopy above, providing the illusion of a ceiling within the tall convention hall.

Rather than directing visitors’ attention to any particular elements of the space, the Brookfield exhibition provides a noninvasive backdrop. This allows Brookfield associates to cater to their visitor’s business needs exclusively and avoid needless distractions.

The design team kept the exhibit’s overall material palette simple: a metallic laminate to mimic metal architectural panels, Carrera marble for table and desk tops, and Coach leather fabric for the seating. Additionally, a glowing glass reception desk identified the Brookfield identity gracefully.

“We are very proud of the design for the Brookfield exhibition at ICSC,” says Jan Lorenc. “This is one of the first major real estate exhibitors for whom we’ve had the honor to create a successful project, and we are looking forward to continue work for these sorts of dynamic clients.

To achieve the project’s goals, Hines retained Lorenc+Yoo to design the Atlanta Financial Center’s new signage program along with signage for two tenant club facilities.

The challenge was to clarify the center’s spaces with simple lines, clean materials, and clear wayfinding. The signage system needed to compliment the interior and exterior spaces, giving the appearance that every element emerged from the same design vision.

Lorenc+Yoo is best known for responding to context and making design moves that stand the test of time. The team designed the interior signage so that it integrated into the millwork and finishes. Three-dimensional directional pieces provide additional texture and appeal.

In addition to the signage throughout all of the public spaces, Lorenc+Yoo designed new signage for the City Club of Buckhead, a private dinner and lunch club. Located at the very top of the building and with a reputation among Atlanta’s business elite, the club’s signage required a more traditional approach. Classic materials such as brushed metal and earthy colors characterize the new system that also appears at the club’s new 19,000 square foot athletic club and spa.

Lorenc+Yoo is proud of its three-decades’-long association with Hines with whom we are currently working on One Horizon Center in New Delhi, India and an Energy Headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Lorenc+Yoo has recently completed signage systems for the Pokagon and Sycuan Casinos.

The firm has also completed a new signage system for the 999 Peachtree Garage for Cousins properties. With the deck’s expansion, the owner wanted an upgraded wayfinding system improve visitors’ orientation and navigation.

The next issue of Experiential Storytelling will feature our new signage design for John Portman’s Atlanta icon: the Hyatt Regency. Lorenc+Yoo created a brand new signage system that pays homage to the original design in a more beautiful, more functional way.

To provide casino customers with a more rounded experience, Lorenc+Yoo recently completed a rustic and warm signage and wayfinding system for the new Four Winds Hartford Casino in Hartford, Michigan.

Hnedak Bobo Group chose Lorenc+Yoo to design the exterior and interior wayfinding signage as well as the signage for the restaurant and amenities throughout the casino floor. The design team worked with the casino’s interior designers to develop an integrated, dynamic identity system that features wood tones, natural shapes, and prairie-style flourishes.

The character of Four Winds Casino’s signage is that of a wilderness lodge with all the amenities, including the signature Timbers restaurant.

Stone and wood characterizes the exterior signage, while illuminated signs inside provide the appearance of stained glass. The exterior and interior aspects of the system relate seamlessly, and provide guiding light–literally–to the relatively dark interior lighting.

In addition to working on Four Winds Casino, Lorenc+Yoo is currently involved in other projects with HBG in California, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Alabama, which will be announced as they are completed.

Lorenc+Yoo Design was retained by EDSA and KEO of Abu Dhabi to develop an integrated wayfinding and identification program for MBZ City, including area gateways, bus shelters, and directional signs. The challenge is to integrate this new wayfinding system into the predefined streetscape design by adopting local materials and colors in modern ways.

Making use of the rhythm of the light poles, LYD attached decorative and informational elements to identify and direct visitors and residents alike. They contribute to creating a memorable and distinct sense of place within the five distinct developments that constitute MBZ City.

Partnering with EDSA, LYD developed design standards that will guide development into the future. The standards establish the city’s unique brand and present a unified visual language for the street network. The system is resilient and easily maintained due to the kit of parts LYD developed.

Mohammed bin Zayed City is already open for business, and, like any dynamic city, will continue to evolve. LYD is proud to have had a part in setting the stage for this new desert oasis to grow and prosper.

The 15-year-old, 55-story building, designed by Philip Johnson, has recently installed a new canopy over the rear entrance to add both practical value and bring that side of the building to a human level.

Similar to the front entrance canopy also designed by LYD, the rear canopy addresses directly the problem of the many rainy days in Atlanta. The firm designed it to include the classical elements of the building and the modern touches expected by tenants and Commerce Club members. The canopy has a series of cross column elements that anchors its form into the colonnade. Elegant but strong rods connect to it to hold the canopy in place structurally.

LYD also designed the lantern at the street side to match the canopy lanterns and to provide a demarcation between the street and driveway entrance. LYD recommended the installation of new paving to turn the previous nondescript blacktop into something more fitting. A new latticework on both sides of the large wall adds texture and allows future planting to make a classical topiary form.

This canopy was detailed structurally by Cooper Carry & Associates, which, like Cousins, is also a longtime LYD collaborator and client since 1982. LYD believes that longtime relationships are critical to our success over 34 years, and is pleased at the results of these collaborations every step of the way.

Impressed by the Georgia Aquarium’s growth, LYD enthusiastically took the opportunity to partner with Heery to design a series of new feature signage for the aquarium’s individual venues. LYD brought the venues to life by animating the preexisting three-dimensional logos with innovative lighting effects.

Signs for exhibits such as River Scout and Ocean Voyager have been transformed from relatively static pieces to animated title cards that draw people into each exhibit. This approach is similar to that the firm uses in retail signage, where logos may be predesigned, but require an additional level of enhancement to serve not only as a label, but also as a true marketing tool.

The next time you visit LYD, be certain to visit the wonderful Georgia Aquarium.

Lorenc+Yoo Design was recommended by LS3P Architects of Charlotte, North Carolina to design an integrated identity and signage program for the Blakenley branch of Elevation Church, a unique religious institution that merges the Christian gospel with popular culture.

LYD integrated the interior signage into canopies and walls to provide a modern feeling for a new generation of Christians. Monitors feature past sermons in ways akin to a movie theatre poster. LYD worked with the interior designers on the colors wall of applications with biblical quotes and key visual vocabulary along corridor walls. Just as sermons spread the Christian word through sermon and teaching, the walls make it ubiquitous in a visual sense.

LYD has collaborated with LS3P since 1984 on projects in Charlotte and Raleigh and is pleased to have participated in a project to guide churchgoers physically as they seek guidance spiritually.