Virginia Beach Convention Center

The award-winning Virginia Beach Convention Center demonstrates SOM’s ability to look beyond an immediate project site in terms of community growth. Since its completion, VBCC has become the centerpiece of a 40-year master plan to green Virginia Beach and reinvigorate the classic resort town.

Grand spatial gestures with subtle references to nautical forms—the architecture for this elegant civic landmark was our point of departure. Our challenge was to guide visitors effortlessly from the public roadways and parking lot to the center’s vast lateral interiors, and to everything that lay within. We developed a hierarchical sign nomenclature for this comprehensive system.

Our graphics are simple and clear, easily read even at a distance. Our sculptural, white sail-like forms and shapes reinforce the nautical influence, with a subtle blue background glow highlighting the overlapping planes of the interior signs.