We’ve learned via the Wall Street Journal that what is likely to be the most prominent corporate logo crowning a New York skyscraper is currently being installed for retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) [1] atop 4 Times Square at 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.
Four illuminated ‘H&M’ panels, each measuring 70‘ x 70’ will on the four sides of the top of the Times Square building that will have a 42,500-square-foot H&M retail in the base of the 48-story tower (which also serves as publisher Condé Nast [2]‘s headquarters).
Usually, new illuminated rooftop signs are prohibited throughout much of the skyline, except for Times Square. Buildings that have existing signs are grandfathered in under rules allowing new corporate logos to replace old ones, as long as they are similar in size.
The Wall Street Journal article takes an interesting look at the various large illuminated signs across the New York midtown area and notes that the famed Empire State Building recently switched its lights to LEDs – ‘complete with a more colorful palate that can be transformed by a computer’ – from lights that were changed daily by hand. Now, the building offers light shows on occasion, with changing colors accompanied by music, after an $8 million overhaul.