Emirates Team
New Zealand base

by BIG Design | Jul 18, 2019 | Building signage, Event and Exhibition Signage and Banners, Event signage, Hand Painted Signage, Illuminated signage, Window Signage and Graphics

The home for the Defenders of the 36th America’s Cup, 2021 – Emirates Team New Zealand. Base signage is produced by Big Ideas Group, Official Suppliers.

Our BIG team has been working hard on producing the Emirates Team New Zealand base branding, located at the heart of Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. The site’s official launch will happen later this year.

The building has excellent visibility from all sides. The signage has varying requirements, whether for security and confidentiality, or high-end brand exposure for exclusive suppliers. What was once a glass events centre is now a glorified boat shed and home of the esteemed team.

We’ve used a wide variety of signage techniques so far. From high tech digital printing and LED illuminated signage, to hand-painted lettering.

The greatest feat was producing the enormous “Emirates Team New Zealand base” and Genesis illuminated signs at the front of the building. BIG wired it all up at their workshop and then transported it to the site. Light sensors enable the LED signs to come on at sundown and turn off at sunup.

BIG proudly adheres completely to health and safety compliance. We took care of all precautions and consents. This alone was about an eight-month process, with understandably a lot of red tape to work through.

Graphics were printed on twelve-metre drops of sandblasted film. Applying the vinyl to the Emirates Team New Zealand base was difficult in some areas due to the complex architecture and surrounding containers. Space was tight between the windows and air conditioning piping which measured about two metres in diameter. Applying large format digital prints to the windows proved to be a challenge with minimal room to manoeuvre. Access to the building was provided with two different sized boom lifts, and a scissor lift for the illuminated signs.

Even though we printed enough kilometres of frosted vinyl to extended more than four times across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, we firmly attest that paint is not dead. Check out the father-son duo demonstrating one of their many talents: hand-brushed lettering.

Wait ’til you see what we’ve done with the race boat design! But for now, have a look at what we produced for the last campaign.