Morris Adjmi Architects

MA was recently commissioned to design a custom illuminated sign to fill an 80-foot stretch of vacant scaffolding on top of a 12-story building in Brooklyn Heights. For nearly 50 years prior to the vacancy, the scaffolding contained a sign that beamed the word “WATCHTOWER” in giant red letters over the East River.

In sans-serif block letters, with illuminated letterforms nearly identical to the former sign’s giant red channel-letters, the new word “WELCOME” shines across the New York Harbor. By coincidence, the new sign was lit on November 27, 2019, exactly 50 years to the day that the WATCHTOWER sign was first switched on in 1969.