Ashton Design has created the environmental graphics for Flats170 at Academy Yard, a new residential development in Odenton, Maryland. Positioned along Maryland Route 170 in Anne Arundel county, the contemporary garden style apartment complex occupies the former Naval Academy Junction rail yard, part of the turn-of-the-century Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railway.
30 minutes from both Baltimore and Washington D.C., Odenton is one of the fastest-growing communities in Maryland. With its close proximity to Fort Meade, the National Security Agency, BWI Airport, and the MARC commuter rail, the town has seen an 80% population increase in the past 10 years. This monumental growth has fueled an enormous amount of residential construction in the area. The Bozzuto Group asked Ashton Design to create an environmental graphics package that would differentiate it from the neighboring apartments and reflect the high-end quality of the complex.
The knocked out letters and subtle cropping of the project’s identity served as a source of inspiration for the signage design. Rendered in a large metal panel with cut out letters, the Flats 170 logo greets visitors as if they were entering a five-star resort. Elsewhere on the site, building identification, wayfinding, and room signs are rendered in a sophisticated mix of light and dark metals. The signs complement the building’s high-end finishes and luxurious details designed by architects Niles Bolton Associates. The dynamic cropping, cutout reveals, and juxtaposition of materials creates a contemporary signage system that is far from being flat.
