Architects like curved building forms and so do we – such shapely spaces are dynamic and interesting to be in. However, curved floor plans make for challenging wayfinding. You just cannot stay oriented in a space without straight lines and right-angle corners. The same is true on curving city streets…. Read more »
Two kinds of wayfinding tools help us get oriented and find our way around. Passive wayfinding elements are the environment itself and the built-in cues that provide intuitive information: self-evident entrances, logical pathways and predictable destination locations. Many environments and places have strong passive wayfinding and, therefore, need few directional… Read more »
A new design in escalators elevates moving-stairs from humdrum shoelace-catchers to the unique and useful stair of the future. Designed by Professor Jack Levy at the City University of London, these stairs are no longer restricted to boring, straight verticals. They curve and twist along any course you choose. This link to… Read more »
For lovers of Mid-Century Modern architecture, Palm Springs is a Mecca, showcasing many buildings from the movement’s great architects. Richard Neutra, E. Stewart Williams, Albert Frey and Donald Wexler are a few who helped shape this California desert community’s early architectural development. For those interested in a crash course in… Read more »
At maybe 200 sq.ft., this elegant and richly appointed store in Tribeca is how all cigar stores should be: intimate, colorful and layered with the patina of use. Stopping in here is like going back to a time when men were men, and cigars and the requisite accoutrement combined to… Read more »
Getting you oriented and helping you stay that way is the first job of wayfinding. You need to know where you are in order to find somewhere else. Many environments have integral orientation features — the church tower in a small town, the central rotunda in a Beaux-Arts museum, even… Read more »
We’ll vote for you if you agree not to degrade the landscape with trashy signs. Littering is illegal; so is installing non-permitted signs. So why do we put up with this tacky and environmentally demeaning visual clutter all over our country every election season? These (17!) particularly egregious examples are… Read more »
Yeah? So did every other kid. All the restaurants we go to seem to have an A rating. No grading on a curve here – everyone seems to get an A from the Los Angeles Department of Health. There are apparently a lot of good restaurants with clean kitchens and… Read more »
You don’t need to be a sailor to appreciate the wide variety of colorful names painted on the sterns of nearly all private boats. They come in a range of flavors from the poetic (Windsong, Pacific Tide) to the aggressively descriptive (Prowler, Island Hopper) to the girlfriend with two names… Read more »
Wayfinding is the act of self-guiding. Wayfinding is gaining an understanding of where you are relative to other things in your environment and then moving successfully and intentionally to another location. A m is the strategically organized set of tools that facilitate successful wayfinding – signs, maps, icons, color systems… Read more »