Vignelli Associates designed this huge neon āGā and the cantilevered stainless-steel benches for this for this 1974 branch of Greenwich Savings Bank lobby at Grand Central Station in New York City.
Architects Kahn and Jacobs / HOK designed the interiors of this two-story branch with a narrow entrance lobby and a 2nd floor where the all the banking happened. A huge two-story mirrored wall made the space feel larger but also created a reflection which doubled everything in the space. It made the cantilevered seating look twice as long and made the āGā turn into a circle.
This branch made the cover of Lighting Design & Application in October 1975 and Interiors in January 1976.
In the Interiors article author BR suggests this contemporary bank has a youthful energy which is full of the glitter and ambiguity of a discotheque. āThe cantilevered red and green logo, its neon tubes heat-fused into glass, becomes a full circle through reflection, appearing to hang in space and having an almost revolving effect when viewed from the escalator.ā
The rest of the spaces have tons of Italian granite, more stainless steel, custom lighting, and to balance all those hard and reflective surfaces, the āGā shows up on wall tapestries.
Cantilevered lobby seating: Concept by Vignelli Associates; fabricated by Scope Furniture Inc.; upholstery: Knoll Inc.
Neon āGā logo: Concept by Vignelli Associates; fabricated by Country Neon (Plainview, N.Y.)
We recently found this drawing and small pasteups for the big neon āGā in the archives. As always, if you know more about this project, we would love to hear from you!
