The Layered Bear Lair
Belmont University built a new practice facility for the Belmont Bruins athletics division. Any good practice facility will not only provide the necessities of sport, but create an atmosphere that develops a sense of school pride and team spirit. In pursuit of that atmosphere, we were brought on to provide several large-scale, impressive, spirit-boosting Bruins logos and fixtures.
The Challenge
Our client approached us with these scale drawings showing multi-dimensional logos. To achieve the dimensional look, the signs would need to be composed of several layers sandwiched together.
Lobby Drawing
Conference Room Drawing
Locker Room Drawing
Making the Bear Layers for the Lair
The layers are made primarily of high density urethane foam (HDU). For the largest logos the finished weight required an aluminum frame for the purpose of mounting. These frames were wrapped with an aluminum retainer that was blended in with the HDU on the sides for a finished look. All of these layers were cut to shape on our CNC router.
Red, White, and Blue!
Before we could put the layers together, each piece had to be sanded, primed, and painted. Any visible seams where two pieces met had to be filled and sanded to a "cadillac quality" finish.
Assembly
With all of the pieces painted their finished color, we could begin assembling the signs. Working from the outside in, the layers were placed precisely using a pattern we had cut on the CNC and glued in place.
Wrapping it Up
After transporting the new signs to Nashville, we were able to install them throughout the practice facility. The largest bear in the lobby was mounted over a glass wall, using holes that had been prepared in the manufacturing of the glass just for that purpose. The conference room and locker rooms all received their respective morale-boosting emblems as well. Thankful to have been a part of the project, we were able to step back and appreciate the hard work that went into making something this impressive possible.
