Façade identification lettering for UNISA – Giant corten-effect foam letters

Each university complex was identified by a combination of a letter and a number, designed to make buildings instantly recognisable and help people find their way around the campus. The goal was clear: create a monumental identification system, legible from a considerable distance, with strong visual impact but extremely low structural weight.

• Material: high-density EPS foam

• Treatment: special hardening resin coating

• Finish: corten effect created with advanced scenic painting techniques

• Heights: from 1.50 m to over 4 m

• Thicknesses: up to approximately 40 cm

• Use: permanent façade installation

After high-precision CNC machining, each element was treated with structural resin to ensure mechanical strength and durability. Then, using specialist scenic painting techniques, we reproduced an extremely realistic corten effect, in line with the university’s aesthetic brief.

The main challenge was size: giant letters with substantial thicknesses and considerable volumes, yet with drastically reduced weight to ensure safety, ease of installation and compatibility with the existing structures.

The alternatives considered in traditional materials proved unsuitable: no other material could have offered the same balance of lightness, monumental scale and dimensional versatility.

The project kept us busy for almost a full year, between production and technical support during installation, coordinating variable sizing for each building and ensuring a consistent look across the whole campus.

The end result is a monumental, coherent and highly visible architectural identification system that combines the industrial look of corten with high-density foam construction technology.

When it comes to large sizes, structural safety and design freedom… the material makes the difference. And here it truly did.