TEXTILES.ORG
By Abbie Yarger
The project. To create and hang a five-story wrap to dress up Orlando’s Dynetech Centre parking structure. “The parking structure had a raw, unfinished appearance that the facility manager wanted to hide with sophisticated artwork,” Ivan Bermudez, a graphic designer for the project, says. The 30-story center on the outskirts of the city offers modern apartments and office space.
The company. Sundance Architectural Products LLC, Orlando, Fla., produced and installed the wrap featuring artwork provided by Lincoln Property Co., Orlando, Fla., the property developer and manager.
The task. To use the provided artwork, based on three different oil-based canvas paintings, to print the graphics for the wrap. Once the wrap was created, it had to be installed on two separate sections of the outer wall of the parking structure.
The challenge. Converting the artwork into a digital format that could be altered to fit panels of various sizes, the largest being 32 feet by 45 feet. The fabric had to be durable and able to withstand the elements for several years.
The solution. A large flatbed scanner was used to scan the paintings so they could be altered and scaled to fit eight large panels. Aluminum frames and brackets were constructed to hang the panels. The frames were wrapped in Ultraflex Ultralon 20 ounce mesh fabric, which allows wind to pass through and provides material for printing. To accommodate the width of the panels, an EFI Vutek 5300 printer with UV-based ink was used to permit printing up to an estimated 16 feet of space without seams. Radio-frequency welding was used to join the panels together. The corners of the panel were stretched to make them flow with the architecture of the structure.
The result. The formerly indistinct parking space now offers a unique design that visitors and residents of the area can’t miss. “I think our panels offer the Dynetech an artistic feel that would make it at home in any large city,” Bermudez says. Accent lights were installed to illuminate the panels and the structure at night, and grommets were used so the panels can be changed at any time.