prisma

English translation: prism

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:prisma
English translation:prism
Entered by: Lisa McCarthy

07:52 Oct 24, 2013
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Architecture
Spanish term or phrase: prisma
From a catalogue article on this building (please take a look)...

http://users.compaqnet.be/architectuur20/destijl/03destijlgr...

Speaking of the two vertical signs the article says...

En la misma línea, dos prismas delgados y verticales – continentes de los rótulos “Café Restaurant” y “De Unie”- emergían hacia el exterior en la dirección perpendicular a la fachada. Así, Oud acrecentaba el contraste frente a la planeidad rugosa de las fachadas contiguas. Al mismo tiempo, esta operación era un mecanismo obvio para llamar la atención del viandante que se acercaba hacia el café en dirección oblicua. Más aun, los prismas encarnaban la negación activa hacia el entorno: la rotulación que albergaban sólo aparecía en las caras frontales e interiores; en las caras exteriores -hacia el entorno- los primas eran ciegos.

As you can see, they are three-dimensional rectangular signs, but the word prism, although geometrically correct ("A polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms") seems misleading here, I can't help but think of a triangular glass object used to refract light.

What would you say is the best way to express it - "three-dimensional rectangular sign"? "box-shaped"? "rod"? None of these sound too good to me either
William Pairman
Spain
Local time: 21:52
prism
Explanation:
I would be inclined to stick to the word 'prism' :

Indoor Wall Mounted Billboard Prism for the Hall, View Billboard ...
tri-vision.en.alibaba.com › Products Categories › Trivision billboard‎
Three-side billboard, unipole billboard, lightbox billboard signage, billboard lightbox signage, pole trivision ... medium aluminum **vertical prism billboard.**


External Lighting Assessment - National Infrastructure Planning
infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/.../6.17.4_ES_App.17.4_External_...‎
Signage Illumination and brightness of the building façade is also restricted by the standards. ...... The **horizontal and vertical prism arrangement** allows for ...
Selected response from:

Lisa McCarthy
Spain
Local time: 21:52
Grading comment
Many thanks Cristina and Lisa. Cuboid worked well here
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2prism
Lisa McCarthy
4square prism/cuboid
Cristina Gonzalez


  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
prism


Explanation:
I would be inclined to stick to the word 'prism' :

Indoor Wall Mounted Billboard Prism for the Hall, View Billboard ...
tri-vision.en.alibaba.com › Products Categories › Trivision billboard‎
Three-side billboard, unipole billboard, lightbox billboard signage, billboard lightbox signage, pole trivision ... medium aluminum **vertical prism billboard.**


External Lighting Assessment - National Infrastructure Planning
infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/.../6.17.4_ES_App.17.4_External_...‎
Signage Illumination and brightness of the building façade is also restricted by the standards. ...... The **horizontal and vertical prism arrangement** allows for ...

Lisa McCarthy
Spain
Local time: 21:52
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 56
Grading comment
Many thanks Cristina and Lisa. Cuboid worked well here

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  _Nailah_
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Nailah :)

agree  philgoddard: You could say rectangular prism, but it's obvious from the picture.
8 hrs
  -> Thanks, Phil :)
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55 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
square prism/cuboid


Explanation:
Take a look at the wikipedia link. In Spanish, the correct name would be "ortoedro".


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuboid
    Reference: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortoedro
Cristina Gonzalez
United States
Local time: 15:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 32
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