Case study
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Wayfinding Development:
MacEwan University: Center for Arts & Culture (CAC) building
Architectural Team (building structure):
http://manascisaac.com/work/macewan-university-centre-for-arts-and-culture
Designed by: Team Green Dream Team
Amanda Ozga, Alex Milo, Jerran Madill, Megan Hoskin, Brennen Halliwell
Research & Analysis
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History
1991: Construction begins on the new City Centre Campus building on former CN rail yards, located on the north edge of downtown Edmonton.
2017: Center for the Arts and Culture opens.
In fall 1998, students of an Introduction to Archeology class were tasked with surveying and digging around the grounds. At that time, the area west of the campus extending to the current Oliver Village strip mall was undeveloped. While they didn’t dig up the roundhouse, Cynthia (professor) says that the students discovered about 50 artefacts – mostly glass, iron and
nails that had been around since before the rail yard was decommissioned in the 1960s.
Now that remediation crews are working in the roundhouse area, several other artefacts from days past by have been discovered, including intact glass bottles and a ceramic mug.
Communities
The primary audience includes:
Arts & Cultural management students,
communication students,
fine arts students,
music students,
theatre students,
design studies students.
This primary audience features the groups of people utilising the building daily.
The secondary audience includes:
Visitors,
Staff members,
other MacEwan students.
While these users may not be using the building every day, they still need to be considered.
Words Defining Culture of a
Fine Arts Campus
Fine Arts Campus
Bold - Quirky - Eccentric - Experimental - Innovative - Big - Bigger than life - Consuming - Zany - Awesome - Exaggerated - Surreal - Uncanny - Sublime -
Superb - Glorious - Beauty - Expression - Impressive - Cultural - Taste
Foot Traffic
We made the decision to show our foot traffic by way of a heat map. The legend in the
bottom left corner shows what the different colours on the map correlate to.
Strategy
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Personas
The Personas are a very important aspect in the design process. They helped us to make sure that we are always designing for the user of the space, and not let our own biases drive our design.
These circulation paths correlate to the personas introduced. They are important
because they show what the user experiences in an average day.
Circulation Paths of Personas
Emergency Egress
Our emergency egress highlights all the main hallways, emergency exits, and fire
extinguishers on the main floor of the building.
Design Goal
Our design goal is to create a wayfinding system that has a self-standing identity, which pulls inspiration from the rest of MacEwan, while staying different. The wayfinding will also pull inspiration from the building's users who are creatives within unique and bold disciplines, such as design and music. The way finding aims to creatively use the space while remaining informative.
The building has unique and creative users, and we want the way finding of the building to highlight and showcase this attribute. The building is host to a very different demographic than those in the rest of MacEwan’s building, and we want our system to reflect this.
Programming & Design
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Inspiration
As a group, we created a Pinterest board which we all contributed ideas too. After dumping a bunch of ideas onto the board, we each went through and picked our two favourites, and then looked at all the commonalities we found in our top choices. All the images we selected all featured unique way-finding designs with big blocks of bold colours; these were all things we took into consideration while designing our system.
A big factor in the shapes we utilised in our system was the architecture used in the building. We actually pulled the exact shapes used in the skylights on the roof, and the shapes of the open areas inside the building. These shapes were then used as the shapes for our signs, and as inspiration for our infographics.
Identity
The new identity we decided upon for this system we feel fits both the building and its users. The greens and greys are inspired by the colours used in the exterior of the building, with the orange and yellows serving as contrasting colours. We liked the idea of working in some orange to tie back to the current MacEwan building. According to colour psychology, green evokes a sense of refreshment, balance, and harmony. Students generally have a stressful workload and their school lives are chaotic and stressful. The green was chosen to create a relaxing environment to counter their stress.
Entrance Signage
We decided to redesign the building's exterior sign. Referring back to the shapes
featured on the roof of the building, this large metal sign will be located outside the
building and will be used to brand the building. The organic shape nicely juxtaposes the
exterior rectilinear building.
These smaller entrance signs will be located at each of the exterior doors of the building.
Their purpose is once again to notify people that this is the MacEwan arts building.
Elevator Signage
The elevator signage will be one of our larger signs (roughly 7ft x 5ft), and will be located
next to elevators with general information regarding the building’s floors and what is
located on each. It uses lots of wall space and seeps onto the floor, which is a way to
visually engage the user.
Room Signage
This is a sample of what the individual room signage will look like. Their shapes and
colour will make the signs stand out, and easy to see. The signs will be composed of
vinyl and polycarbonate, and will feature varying messages depending on their location.
We also went as far as to design an idea of what a room interior could look like. Tying
back into our overall theme, the room interiors will be bright, inviting, and inspiring. It is
important to the brand to utilise the space, and so the vinyl decals will be both on the
wall and the floor.
Washroom Signage
This is how we imagine the washroom signs looking. The figures are once again made
out of variations of the architectural shapes in the building. There will be both a flag sign
and vinyl applications. The simple figures are easy to see from a distance, which is
important when indicating where a bathroom is.
Staircase Signage
We have designed two different variations for the stair signage.
The first stair design will be used in the side stairways. This design features a living
wall with the outline of the floor number. Both these designs are meant to encourage
stair usage, and create an inspiring environment.
The second variation is a vinyl application on the top and bottom of the stairs. On the
underside of the stairs will be type highlighting which floor the staircase is going to, and
then on the top of the stairs will be a colour application. This design will be used in the
main atrium of the building where the staircases are open and exposed.
Hallway Design
These hallway graphics are not only a fun way to liven up the space, but also as a way
of navigation. The graphics will highlight main attractions in the building such as the
theatre or a gallery. The graphics will be varying dimensions and will be applied using
vinyl.
Pylon Sign: interactive
The pylon sign acts as an information stand for the user. The screen is attached with
fasteners to a large block that is made out of the brand’s organic shape. The screen
features the map of the building and gives the user a chance to figure out where they
need to go. This will be mostly used by guests and people trying to figure out the space
for the first time. At the top of the sign, there is a bed of plants that are self-sustainable.
This ties into our green theme and paints a positive image for the new guests of the
building.
Overhead Navigational Signage
This overhead navigational sign serves the purpose of giving general directions of room
ranges and main attractions. These signs will feature the same self-sustaining plants
and dirt as in the living wall in the stairwell and the Cascading Terrace Signage.
Wall Navigation
This mounted nav sign shows the main attractions on each floor. It would be next to
staircases to show the guest which floor they need to go to. It is easy to read and the
shapes draw in your attention.
Cascading Terrace Signage
The ‘Cascading Terrace Signage’ truly became our passion project as a group and
something we were all very excited about. The Cascading Terrace Signage (CTS) will
span all 5 levels of the building and will be located in two locations (see sign type outline).
The CTS will feature way-finding which will be visible from all angles
and all levels of the building. The materials included in this sign type will be weight
bearing cable, glass, aluminium, and plant life. The plant life will include self-sustaining
plants in dirt which retains moisture. Any excess water drainage will drain down the
vines into the next ‘planter’.
Iconography
We designed a new set of icons to be used along with our way-finding system. All the
icons with the exception of a select few use the shapes pulled from the architecture of
the building. This was done to ensure a cohesive feel with the system.
Potential Technology
This technology installation could be used for a variety of different things. The image shows an interactive installation where the silhouette of a walking person stays on screen and gradually fades away as the user passes. The wall is a large screen that is controlled by a preprogrammed computer. Students in the Uxi design program or any computer program can utilise this wall and technology to practice coding large-scale user experience interactions.
This wall is also a way to engage the user and inform them of different events going on in the space. One example is when SAMU (student association) is holding an event, such as stress less, the screen could show a bunch of animated puppies which bark at the patron and run in the direction of the stress less event. There are many possibilities for wayfinding, and many possibilities for art installations. We believe that this digital wall will create a modern and exciting experience for the students and guests, which changes depending on need and events.
Fabrication & Install
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Elevations
This elevation infographic showcases most of our sign types in one image
to show the different elevations and scales of the signs. We felt this way important to
include so our client can not only see how the signs interact with the users, but also with
each other. On the left is a scale which shows measurements in feet.
Sign Type Outline
We chose to do our sign type outline in a more visual fashion. An image features a list of
all of our sign types (including a description of the signs) with each of them
being assigned a coloured dot.
These dots are then put into action on the following page where we showcase a map of
the first floor of the building. The dots on this map correlate with the previous list and
show the client an idea of where the specific signs will be located and how many signs
there will be.
Conclusion
In summary, we as a team wanted to design a way finding system integrating both creativity and inspiration into everyday use. We wanted the system to showcase the building's users, as well as create a space which students would want to not only come to, but to stay, and work on their new and exciting projects. We created a system and a space which is both lively and inspiring.
We want this building to be a ‘breath of fresh air’ that everyone can enjoy and draw inspiration from.
