Logo Series — Electronic Forum

"From the assembly of the ancient Greeks to the New England town hall meeting, every democratic community has had its own forum, a place to meet with one's peers to discuss events of the day and to plan a course of action for tomorrow. In a very real sense, Electronic Form is as lively and democratic as Athen's agora, and infinitely more efficient." — Walt Disney's EPCOT Center, Creating a New World of Tomorrow by Richard R Beard "
With its seemingly random bits of data building into a clear picture, the marquee of CommuniCore's Electronic Forum beckoned guests to add their individual viewpoints to a great number of issues facing the ever-changing conditions found in the 1980s and early 90s. E82 welcomes this incredibly intricate signage to the Logo Series complete with its equally complex color scheme and customarily updated aesthetics of E82's "De-Retro-ization" Process.        

VISTA SERIES — Electroluminescence

From its streamlined façade of 21st Century columns to the rounded forms of its entrances, the CommuniCore Vista pays tribute to the multi-level circular structures at the heart of Future World. For this edition, the arcs of CommuniCore are echoed in its light beams with a color scheme inspired by the Pavilion’s multicolored marquees. 

Designer’s Note: This edition features the debut of the CommuniCore Pavilion Line-Art including a Fountain of Nations with water jets depicting a familiar outline. 

Electric Umbrella

Certainly the most unusually themed restaurant in Epcot (if not all of Walt Disney World) is the Electric Umbrella. Beginning its life as the awesomely titled (and yet completely irrelevant) “Stargate Restaurant” the quick service facility was re-themed in 1994 by Disney Legend Rolly Crump based on a literal merchandise item sold at Centorium during the time.

Although not original to the restaurant, these relatively new carpet titles continue Rolly’s characteristically kooky theme by complimenting the venue’s over-scaled umbrellas above with giant rings of multi-colored water droplets below. 

Personal Note:
I’ve recently heard that I’m becoming infamous in Epcot circles as “the guy that’s been doing all the carpets!” And although that’s funny, it’s not exactly what I’d like people to know E82 for. Fortunately, there are only a few (3) custom carpets left in the park to “get out of my system”. Especially ones like this of such exacting detail…

Designer’s Note:
In this specific case, the Electric Umbrella has a few unique properties that were difficult to master, including a seemingly random tile pattern and alternating seam lines/groves consumed over 60% of my in recreating the piece. For while the circular forms themselves were quite easy to make, figuring-out the right thickness and application of lines that would scale correctly for the computer screen took an considerable amount of trial & error to achieve. 

E.P,C o T Texture Series -CommuniCarpet

When one thinks of richly detailed themed environments Epcot’s Future World is probably close to bottom of that list. With its large, featureless pavilions and streamlined interiors one might think of it as a world of basic forms with little texture. However, if one looks just a little closer you can see the future world is filled with wonderfully subdued surfaces with a richness of character all its own. With this in mind…

Welcome to the
EXPERIMENTAL PATTERNS, CARPETS OR TEXTILES SERIES!
or TEXTURES SERIES (for short:)

The series begins with one of the most famous custom carpets ever created for a theme park –
The CommuniCore Carpet!

Note on Color:
If you do a Google search of CommuniCore Carpet you’ll see two color variants (a Green, Red & Teal version and a Purple, Magenta & Black one). If you look at the dates you’ll notice the older the picture the darker the color and therefore more accurate. It's also my belief that considering Dark Purple (Plum?) was the identity color of the pavilion its more than likely that this was closer to the original state of floor covering that after 25 years of sun exposure faded into the lighter (teal) version seen in latter day photographs.

Constructing Tomorrow #1

30 days before opening of the “Newest Wonder of the World,” The EPCOT Center News Briefs provided daily progress reports for the many facets in bringing 21st Century to life in 1982.

Click the News Brief to go indepth into the latest installment of Constructing Tomorrow.