A 91 ft sky sign for Jehangir Hospital, Pune: 6 ft lit letters on top of the hospital’s car park

The brief

Jehangir Hospital wanted its name lit on top of its new multi-level car park beside Pune station, big enough to read from the trains and roads around it. There was no lift to the top, the sign would face years of wind, rain and sun, and the hospital wanted to know two things before anyone drilled: that the wall could take it, and what the sign would cost to run each night.

What we made

We first went up the building in 2025, while it was still being built: up scaffold stairs, past bare rebar where the parapet would later stand, to plan the sign on the spot.

For the hospital’s board of directors and trustees, we made two sample letters in the exact build we proposed, an English J and a Marathi ज, and answered their questions on time, life, maintenance and failure. The board ordered two signs: English on the side facing the railway station, and Marathi on the other face, which goes up later.

Each letter has 3 mm aluminium sides, 4 inches deep, riveted together. A 1 mm aluminium trim cap, 1.5 inches deep, holds a 3 mm white acrylic face and slides over the letter like a dabba lid. Inside, outdoor-grade Osram LED modules are packed close together for a bright, even glow.

We counted every module, 2,105 in all at 1.8 W each, and worked out the load for the hospital: about 4.2 kW with wiring losses, or about 25 units for a night of 6 pm to midnight. So they could plan the running cost before it was built.

There was still no lift. Our team and porters carried all 16 wrapped letters up the stairs to the terrace.

The parapet is 300 mm of solid RCC, so no steel frame or gondola was needed: we stood on the walkway behind it and fixed each letter with chemical anchors (threaded studs set in resin). A structural engineer reviewed the method and certified the installation: letters of 25-30 kg each, safe for dead and wind loads.

The hospital brought power to a grey weatherproof box under each letter. From there, the power supplies and all the wiring are ours, with every joint soldered and sealed in heat-shrink sleeve, as on every board we make. One letter can be switched off and serviced on its own.

Turnkey: proposal, samples, fabrication, transport, carrying up, installation and wiring were ours; the hospital took the licence from the municipal corporation.