The Center for Wellness was designed as a metaphorical garden to nurture the body, mind, and spirit. The 55,000 square foot facility offers holistic exercise for the body and mind. It also presents a shared location for the school’s physical education, health services, nursing, and athletics programs. The Center opened in June 2008.
Early partnership between Ikon.5 Architects and Jack Hulme Design ensured the wayfinding and signage program was fully integrated with the building design at the conceptual level. The signage fits the context of the new and decidedly-different campus architecture. Both the architect and university president were engaged in discussions with the environmental graphics team to ensure consistency, visual interest, and harmony between the signage and the building. The wayfinding and signage program had a one-year timeframe and a budget of $25,000.
The sign program emphasizes clean and simple colors and soothing, natural textures while reinforcing the sense of calm the building evokes. Two levels of signage – for a total of 87 signs throughout the building – were developed: primary directional signs and secondary room and code signage.
Directional signs were developed for public-access rooms including the pool, fitness studio, and convocation center. Free-floating steel panels with a lightly-textured gunmetal finish and black etched lettering are embedded into the center’s concrete floors using hidden mountings. They protrude from the ground and reinforce the allegorical architectural concept of the building as a rock outcropping in a paradisiacal garden.
Secondary signs are acrylic panels with an off-square silhouette. The translucent acrylic signs are a counterpoint to translucent, colored-glass walls incorporated throughout the building. These vary in three sizes based on location. Tactile braille lettering is incorporated into all of the secondary signs and was included on several of the main metal directional signs. Evacuation maps located at primary circulation centers (i.e. near stairs and elevators) were developed to identify accessible routes in cases of emergency.
The project represents a perfect marriage of environmental graphic design with architectural design, from the collaborative team approach to the aesthetic consistency reflected throughout. The Center for Wellness demonstrates the potential that exists when wayfinding is developed as an integral component of building design. The project has been rated LEED Silver by the US Green Building Council.
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