Madrid-Waddington Central School
At Madrid-Waddington Central School in northern New York, exterior signage became an extension of the architecture – and a more visible expression of school identity.
Working with SEI Design, Takeform helped bring the architectural team’s vision to life through illuminated Ethos dimensional letters and logos. The school’s colors and yellowjacket mascot provided the foundation, with Takeform helping translate those established elements into architectural signage through thoughtful material and color selections. Our team worked closely with SEI to ensure each element felt integrated with the building and the broader design.
LOCATION:
Madrid, NY
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS:
SEI Design Group
PRODUCTS:
Doing Our Homework
The finished signage integrates cleanly with the building, but achieving that simplicity required careful planning behind the scenes.
Existing concerns with water intrusion made penetrations into the gymnasium an important consideration. Meanwhile, electrical connections for the illuminated letters needed to be coordinated behind the building’s new blue architectural panels. That made the sequence of signage, electrical and façade installation especially important.
Team Effort
Takeform worked closely with SEI Design and the general contractor to plan the signage alongside the building work. Wiring was coordinated and put into place before the architectural panels were installed, with multiple site visits helping ensure each piece of the installation came together in the right sequence.
It’s the kind of coordination that largely disappears once a project is finished – which is exactly the point.
Identity at Scale
The completed Ethos signage gives Madrid-Waddington a strong, recognizable presence from the exterior. Dimensional school identification and the yellowjacket graphic bring familiar elements of the school’s identity onto the building at an architectural scale, while illumination extends their impact beyond daylight hours.
From Day One
The result feels less like signage added to a finished building and more like an intentional part of the architecture.
And behind that simplicity is an important consideration for any project: signage may be installed toward the end of construction, but planning for it shouldn’t wait until then. Attachment methods, penetrations, electrical requirements and installation sequencing are all easier to solve when signage is considered alongside the architecture.
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