The new social housing apartment block at 331 Kingsway, Hove was given the name The Vega Building to fit with the art deco styling of the proposal. The site was formerly a garage built in the 1930’s that was modelled in the Art Deco style – sadly demolished in 2001, it was much loved by the local neighbourhood.
The name Vega relates to the Lockheed Vega, the plane famously flown by Amelia Earhart across the Atlantic single-handed. The plane is from the art deco era and is often in the classic style of polished aluminium.
A 40 apartment building, where 38 are designated as social housing, the client wanted to invest in an elegant scheme for their residents. We developed a brief that suggested an identity that was influenced by the clean lines of the art deco style, in a contemporary way.
Building on the narrative, we developed a system that utilised the elegant form of the plane and chose a font that is modern, legible and contemporary, and which complemented the building and the developing story.
We wanted a ‘light touch’ to the design, avoiding ‘blocky’ signage panels, proposing a sensitive approach that used an accent colour for each floor and signage lettering that was mounted directly to building surfaces, respecting the architectural lines.
VEGA plane silhouette shapes have been used as navigational devices and the information and signage lettering laser cut from stainless steel and installed as individual letters raised from the wall surfaces giving a modern take on the industrial clean nature of the style and time.
The main VEGA sign lightbox letters are 480mm high each fabricated from white perspex mounted within a stainless steel casing that wraps around the front forming an elegant border. Creating a strong identity both in the day and at night when they are lit up.
The car park continues the theme where dotted lines indicate parking spaces with the VEGA plane motif labelling the space numbering system. Planes on the floor surface also direct users to bay areas and four disabled bay areas are clearly marked in blue.
Secondary signage throughout the building is signed using a matt black vinyl and statutory signage silk-screened onto stainless steel panels to maintain the aesthetic.
Photographs on this page and gallery by Jim Stephenson photography.
The VEGA building is a project designed and implemented with Yelo Architects with the intention to brand the building and place by creating a sympathetic modern contemporary design for the building identity, signage (incl. statutory) and wayfinding.