Rooftop and facade signs for buildings

The building as a sign — seen from the road, from afar, at night

A head office, a plant, an office block by a main road — the building itself is the largest advertising space a company has. A building sign works around the clock: the driver on the access road sees it, as do the courier looking for the gate and the partner arriving for a meeting.

Effective advertising gets noticed — which is why size matters. The second condition is light: an illuminated sign keeps working after dark, which in autumn and winter is much of the working day.

Below we cover signs mounted on a building and what to settle before the design. Freestanding pylons and totems have their own article; here we deal only with what hangs on a building or stands on its roof.

A rooftop logo — the supporting structure comes first

A rooftop logo is the strongest signal a head office can send, visible from afar and from several directions. But it has no wall to rest against — it stands on its own structure, which must hold it and take the wind load. So we start with the supporting structure and only then choose the face and illumination.

One example is our project for Orlen Termika: a large-format eagle logo with red glass neon, designed for the roof of a building. The night-time visualisation shows how it should look after dark; photos from the daytime installation convey the scale of the eagle itself.

A visualisation before production lets you judge proportions against the building and legibility from where customers will actually look.

Letters and a logo on the facade

Facade letters are the most common way to sign a head office. 3D letters are separate characters mounted straight onto the wall — lighter than one large housing, emphasising the wording itself. They suit facades with architectural value that should not vanish behind a flat panel.

We make 3D letters with front, back (halo — the glow falls on the wall behind) or full illumination. They can also carry neon: for Orlen we made 3D letters with neon along the perimeter, tested one evening in the workshop.

• —Lettering: the company name in 3D letters — the lightest option.
• —Logo: the symbol alone, for example above the entrance or on a corner of the building.
• —Lettering with logo: full signage in line with the brand identity, repeatable on other company buildings.

A large-format lightbox on the facade

A lightbox is a single housing with a lit face that holds a logo and more content, so it often reads from further away than letters. On a large wall — a hall, a factory, a warehouse — a large-format lightbox gives a uniform glowing surface that is hard to miss.

One example is the purple illuminated lightbox for Hitmark Robotics: the photo shows it during a lighting test in our workshop, and the gallery shows it on the facade. We make single- and double-sided lightboxes from materials resistant to rain, frost and UV.

Flexible face — any size and shape

For a sign covering much of a facade we use the flexible-face method: a frame of high-grade aluminium profiles with vinyl fabric stretched over it, lit from within. The sign can then take any size and shape — fitted to the wall, not to a panel.

By day such a sign resembles a classic billboard; by night energy-saving LEDs inside show its full potential. The fabric is weather-resistant, printed on proven, modern printers for durability over many years.

On a company building it suits windowless walls, hall gables and facades seen from far away.

Glass neon on the building facade

Glass neon suits buildings whose signage should shape their character. Unlike LED neon, which we recommend for interiors only, glass neon works outdoors — on the facade, above the entrance, on the roof.

For the Park Glinianka shopping centre we made white glass neons spelling PARK GLINIANKA and a yellow „entrance” neon with colourful icons on black. They arrived on our own truck. In Warsaw, glass neons sign the new Empik in the former Cepelia building, and neon signs the Hala Koszyki building, which we have worked with since its opening.

It can be large: for the Lubaszka bakery we built the largest animated glass neon in Poland — 25 by 5 metres, with automated control. Since 2000 we have made neons entirely in-house, with no subcontractors — including 130 neons for the Neon Museum and neons at three Warsaw metro stations.

Comparing signs for a building

The table sorts the sign types companies ask about most when branding a building. There is no single best option — it depends on the wall, the reading distance and the brand.

Structure, fixing, power — what is settled before the design

Before the visualisation we need to know what the sign will hang on. Letters are fixed one way to an insulated wall, a lightbox another to a sheet-metal facade, a rooftop structure another again. Installation must be safe for the facade, so we choose the fixing for the specific wall.

• —Substrate: what the wall or roof is made of and whether the facade is insulated.
• —Structure: whether the sign hangs on the wall or needs a supporting structure — for a rooftop logo, the starting point.
• —Power: where the nearest supply is — we make the electrical connection ourselves.
• —Control: lit all night or on a schedule — large neons can have automated control.

Installation at height

A building sign nearly always means working at height: from a cherry picker, from scaffolding, on the roof. We install with our own crew — experienced at heights, certified for such work, with specialist equipment — following full safety procedures.

Installation includes the electrical connection and, if needed, removal of the old sign. After start-up we provide servicing and maintenance. The process in detail is described in a separate article.

Agreeing with the building manager — how we help

The building is not always the company’s property. In an office block, a business park or a rented hall, the owner or manager has a say in what goes on the facade or roof. Agree the design with them as early as possible — before the final visualisation and before production.

We advise on installation and formalities. We prepare a visualisation to show the manager and explain how the sign will be fixed and powered. The specific requirements of a property are best settled with the manager — every building has its own rules.

What to prepare for a building sign quote

The quote is free and carries no obligation. We do everything in-house, with no subcontractors — from design, through production in our workshop in Rybie near Raszyn, to installation.

The more of this you send upfront, the sooner we return with a visualisation.

• —Photos of the building — the facade or roof, and the view from the road.
• —Approximate dimensions of the wall or roof space, if known.
• —The logo as a vector file and brand guidelines, if any.
• —Your preferred sign type — or a request for advice.
• —Whether power is nearby and whether an old sign needs removing.
• —Who owns or manages the building and whether they have seen the design.