Wayfinding Bodø City Hall
Inclusive design through a prism
In October 2019, Bodøs new town hall was opened for its four hundred employees. As part of the project, by north™ was commissioned to develop a holistic wayfinding system, adhering to the guidelines for inclusive design as described in TEK 17.
Our aim was to design a system that was highly functional while unobtrusive, complementing the architecture without drawing attention away from the surroundings.
We achieved this through adopting the typeface Aeonik, a well-balanced and rhythmic typeface that is unobtrusive in small sizes, while having the perfect amount of character and details when used in large sizes. These details became the starting point for pictograms and icons, with their shapes and curves based on Aeoniks elongated tails and terminals and round bowls.
The building, designed by Atelier Lorentzen Lankilde, takes the form of a stone prism, faceted to allow sunlight to reach the preserved buildings that surrounds it. To bring this unique design feature inside the town hall, we used to prism-shape as a starting point for a bespoke set of signs and holding devices. The shapes bring character and personality to the system, adding organic shapes to an otherwise stringent interior, while the choice of materials and colors make sure it blends perfectly with the environment, providing coherent, accessible and unobtrusive wayfinding throughout the building.
