Middletown building committee favors metal letters, blue color and logos for new monument signs

Architect Matt Larew and the design team presented proposed precast monument signs for the two new campus entrances and returned with options for projecting cast letters or applied metal letters. Committee members expressed concern about projecting letters being vulnerable to vandalism and asked for replaceable, mechanically attached metal letters instead. Matt Larew described the metal-letter option as “forever, basically,” when asked about lifetime and explained the letters are typically stainless steel or painted metal and can be powder-coated for color. The committee discussed a recessed town seal (the windmill medallion) or a cast/cast-metal medallion, and members asked that the sign design include the Middletown school logo in one location adjacent to the school name if space allows. The committee said it preferred metal letters in a Middletown-blue color palette, lighting from two in-ground uplights at each monument sign, and insertion of a softened curve or “wave” motif to avoid a tombstone-like look; the draft sign height was described in the presentation as about 5 feet from grade. Design direction given to the architect and fabricator: use applied metal letters (stainless or painted/powder coat), locate the town seal and (optionally) the school logo on the sign, provide color options for a defined “Middletown blue,” and return with sketches that soften the sign face (introduce curves or a crest). The team will bring revised sign options back for final selection; the committee said the decision does not affect previously decided building-mounted signs and applies only to the freestanding monument signs at Aquidneck Avenue and Turner Street.