You Figure it Out — No.1
Wayfinding 101 – Stairs and Elevators
Successful wayfinding (self-guiding) is hard enough on a single floor plate, but even more difficult when you add one or more floors to the route. Vertical movement is not as ‘built in’ to our evolutionary wayfinding skills as is getting around on the ground plane. It is necessary to reestablish… Read more »
Lundi Gras!
When it comes to office morale, you can’t beat celebrating on a Monday. Our office manager coined the term for our first annual Lundi Gras or Fat Monday! As the morning opened up, cookies and chocolate and treats of all sizes streamed in and covered our counter space. Some baked,… Read more »
Get Lost! (temporarily)
We try too hard in the US to design temporary signage solutions. Why not just cover it up with a big paper printout or use a dry erase marker? It’s comforting to know that we all have the same problems on either side of the “pond!” Temporary messaging is a… Read more »
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Here we find the marker for Anthony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records and such bands as New Order, Joy Division and The Fall. I may not be planning on a burial once I’ve departed this world but if I had a choice for the typography of my marker, Rotis would… Read more »
The End of Directory Maps?
New mobile phone apps may soon make mall directory maps a thing of the past. Companies such as PointInside, FastMall and Micello have developed iPhone apps that allow users to have an interactive map in the palm of their hands. They can locate the user on the map, show all… Read more »
Wayfinding 101 – Curved Places
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 »
Wayfinding 101 – Active & Passive
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 »
The Levytator
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 »
Modern Romance
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 »