AUS signage system

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This project aims at redesigning the signage system across the campus of the American University of Sharjah. The signs identify the different districts of the university and the key buildings in the area.

These guidelines provide an overview of the campus’ signage system and describe how it should be planned and presented. The guideline also explains, in detail, the different areas in which the signage would be placed. In addition, the guidelines also offer a detailed explanation of the type, materiality, lighting and overall design of the systems.

AUS aims to be the region's leading school in higher education. AUS is a non-profit institution based on the American model of higher education that promotes an excellence teaching, learning, and research. Grounded in the culture of the Gulf region, AUS architectural style is based on Islamic architecture, which is prevalent in several areas around the city of Sharjah. The campus plan was highly influenced by the plan of the Versailles Palace in France.

The AUS campus is a symmetrical construction that was initially inspired by the layout of the Versailles Palace in France. The campus is made up of a main plaza where the main building is centering it. It holds all the schools (three Colleges of Arts, and Science – College of Architecture, Art and Design – two Colleges of Engineering – School of Business Administration – Arts Building) as well as the Library, Student Center and the Mosque. A secondary road that leads into the eleven parking areas on campus separates the plaza. The campus also holds the men and women’s dormitories, the east and west faculty housing areas, the sports facility area and all its courts, and the central receiving building. The entire architecture of the university is based on Islamic architecture that was inspired by the heritage of Sharjah.

After touring the campus, we noticed that the signage systems around campus were very weak. Firstly, there weren’t any differentiations between any of the signage. All the signs were identical whether they were main signs or pedestrian. Secondly, The design of the signage did not blend in well with the campus. Our concept was to create signage for the university that fit in well with the campus’ architecture. Our initial instinct was to embed arabesque patterns in our system. We then proceeded to create several mood boards, contemplating different ways in which we can embed the arabesque in our signage. Since there weren’t any differentiations between signage, we wanted to create a system that has a strong series of signage that would be suitable for vehicular, pedestrian, parking, finger posts and housing signage.

There were several issues we had to resolve for the AUS signage system. Firstly, we wanted to create a system that would include several siganges from vehicular to housing signage. Each signage would be different but remain within the same family. Secondly, we wanted to create a map that was coherent with the system. The map would simple and clean, yet precise and clear. Finally we wanted to design the system in a way that would be blend in well with architecture of the campus. We wanted to create something traditional, yet modern. Therefore we chose to embed arabesque in our design but, use steel and concrete for the signage to give it a modern twist. For the final system we decided to used beige concrete for the structure, so that it would resemble the beige color of the university buildings. The map, arabesque,and text would all be made of powder coated stainless steel in space grey. The heading would be the official AUS color.