Cross & Flame

When we (Applegate Johnston) started this project, we knew about the emblem that identifies the United Methodist denomination. From the very early elevation drawings that Pacific Design sketched out, the Cross and Flame emblem was a prominent part of the building, but it seemed less significant on a black and white sheet of paper. Even when Pacific Design produced the rendering (or hallucination as Lin Martin refers to it), it seemed much less powerful than it does in real stucco and styrofoam!

The pictures on the right still don't do justice to the size and scale of this symbol, but here's a little "behind the scenes" that went into this element of the project...

The topic of the sign came up in one of the weekly project meetings, "what is the Cross and Flame going to be constructed out of?" "wood?" "how about metal?" "should we just paint it on?" "metal sounds good, that would look great... so what type of backing will we need for a metal sign of that scale? How much would that weigh?".

Engineers were consulted, and those who know such things explained that it would probably weigh approximately 1000 lbs. After further discussion, someone suggested making it out of styrofoam and plastering over it... good idea! Then the task of making a template that size! Pacific Design was able to put together a full scale paper model of the Cross and Flame, which was given to the stucco subcontractor.

When the model finally arrived, all were a bit anxious about the final product... that is until it went up onto the building! Even before color, all that saw it knew God had His hand on the craftsman that carved the Cross and Flame from the block of styrofoam. As if that wasn't enough, the subcontractor that provided the Cross and Flame mentioned that he made two of them, and offered the second one for next to nothing (you don't suppose God had anything to do with that do you?).

If you haven't been by the building lately, take a trip out there and see all the action that is taking place... there is something new every day!