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National Association of Realtors

Engage and connect through environmental art

An outdoor sculpture can have enormous emotional impact. It can connect the viewer with a stirring message through a combination of powerful design and strategic placement.

Enthusiastic about the possibilities, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) determined to commission sculptural elements for the entrance of its sleek, new building in Washington, D.C. The NAR had three objectives:

  • Complement its contemporary façade
  • Convey NAR’s mission: supporting the American dream of home ownership and its members who are engaged in the profession 
  • Provide the same sense of spirituality achieved by the outdoor totems in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Continues Below

Objective

Design outdoor sculptural elements for a public plaza which speak to the organization’s mission and complement the façade of the new building on both a grand and intimate scale.

Services Provided

Communications Strategy
Messaging
Sculpture Design
Materials Selection
Fabrication Supervision
Installation Oversight

National Association of Realtors — One of five permanently installed cylindrical ”totems” on the public plaza in front the headquarters building. Inspirational quotes on the totems' interiors relate to land and home ownership. Stainless steel with etched lettering.
Award winner
National Association of Realtors — One of series of five stainless-steel cylinders installed at the Washington, D.C., headquarters. Project included concept development, visual and typographic design, production management and supervision of installation.
Award winner
National Association of Realtors — Series of outdoor sculptures permanently installed on the street front at the National Association of Realtors headquarters in Washington, D.C. Each had door, window or keyhole-shaped cut-outs to reveal quotes about home ownership.
Award winner
National Association of Realtors — Close-up of a keyhole cut into one of a series of stainless-steel cylinders, inviting onlookers to peer inside to read quotes by famous Americans relating to land and home ownership. Project included concept development and visual design.
Award winner

 The BSD Solution

The NAR is located on New Jersey Avenue, a busy public thoroughfare just a few blocks from Capitol Hill. In such an environment, achievement of the NAR goals would require creative thinking and strategic approach. Smith Strategic, Inc. and Beth Singer Design combined forces to accept the challenge.

Taking inspiration from the Roosevelt Memorial site, Howard Smith conceptualized an installation of five cylindrical totems, each seven feet high and 18 inches in diameter. Timeless quotes about the ownership of land and property were placed inside the totems. To read its quote, the viewer must peer through a door, window or key-shaped openings in the cylinder. These home-related shapes create a sense of playfulness that beckons visitors to peek inside. It’s very intimate, in spite of the hustle and bustle of the urban location.

Taking into consideration that children would want to peer into the door, window and key-hole shapes, more whimsical quotes were placed toward the bottom of the totems, such as “There’s no place like home” from The Wizard of Oz.

To render the quotes, Beth Singer took inspiration from 1920s architectural typography popular in Europe and the United States. The quotes are from such notables as Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

To fabricate the sculptures, Art in Metal USA etched the type and shapes onto thin, flat, stainless-steel sheets. In a separate operation, stainless-steel tubes were also water-jet cut with matching shapes. The flat sheets were rolled and inserted inside the tubes, and the two were sandwiched together. Our team worked closely with the metal experts at Art in Metal USA to invent this fabrication method that would hold up to vandalism and weather for many years.

Since completion of this project, Smith Strategic, Inc. has joined forces with Beth Singer Design, and Howard Smith serves as the chief strategist of BSD. This successful merger provides all BSD clients with design that is not only beautiful, but strategically inspired and directed, as well.