Super Bowl XLVIII: Eastern Millwork Fabricates Huge Plywood Sign
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JERSEY CITY, NJ - Eastern Millwork, Jersey City, NJ, is cutting the 60-foot-wide Superbowl XLVIII lettering for a massive plywood light sculpture. Designed by architect John Nastasi, the 12-foot high, four-foot deep Roman numerals will dominate the horizon in Hoboken, NJ for the Feb. 2 Super Bowl.    Cut on Eastern Millwork's Weeke Optimat BHC 550 CNC router, the project was funded by local businesses who have their names routed into the sign. Fabrication on the Weeke CNC and other plant equipment is being completed, with installation set for Jan. 24-26, and lights on Monday, January 27.

Project architect for the effort is John Nastasi, the principal of Nastasi Architects. He is an alumnus of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, a recipient of Harvard’s Rice Prize for Advancement in Architecture and Engineering and a 1996 recipient of the Young Architects Award from the Architectural League of New York.

Eastern Millwork's president Andrew Campbell made a presentation at the 2011 wood industry Executive Briefing Conference and at the 2013 Architectural Woodwork Institute annual conference about his company's intensively computer-driven approach to theater renovation and build-outs and installations within Lincoln Center, Goldman Sachs, Madison Square Garden and the Hearst Center, as well as airport check in counters, among other large scale projects.

Campbell's firm uses Autocad and information flow to facilitate a concept of "high velocity manufacturing" in which Eastern Millwork perfects the plans before it cuts, rather than adjusting fit on site, where labor costs are prohibitive in the New York market. 

Eastern Millwork: 

Eastern Millwork's president Andrew Campell spoke at Stiles EBC (Info on 2014 EBC here.)

Eastern Millwork's Campbell talks plant automation at AWI 2013 Convention   

These capabilities at serving Eastern Millwork well on the Super Bowl project. More than 300 pieces are being cut to shape the sculpture, with project time compressed from what Nastasi said would have been several months into three weeks.

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