While navigating public spaces, visitors’ experiences are heavily influenced by accessibility accommodations and their ability to understand the location. Strategic wayfinding is essential for helping first-time visitors navigate built environments, particularly within the education sector.
Here at Acorn, we have partnered with several universities and higher education facilities to create strategic wayfinding systems that benefit not only students, but all people who may visit the space. Depending on the location, these individuals range from students, staff, prospective students, family members and others who may have varying accessibility needs.
Because higher education campuses offer such a broad range of facilities, strategic wayfinding is crucial for ensuring that no matter who is in the space, it is simple to understand and navigate. When we work with higher education facilities, we focus on developing signage that furthers their overall vision of the space and is accessible to those of all ability levels.
James Madison University
At James Madison University (JMU), we developed the signage throughout their new Advanced Learning Complex, a building dedicated to providing innovative learning opportunities to their students. The space features classrooms, a dining facility, flex areas and more, all of which students and visitors need to be able to navigate efficiently. By developing signage and wayfinding systems throughout this building, we were able to work with JMU to help implement their vision for this innovative space.
Liberty University
In our work with Liberty University, we partnered with them to provide the signage and wayfinding for their renovation of Williams Stadium, which is home to the Liberty Flames football team. Not only does the stadium seat 25,000 people for football games, they host a wide range of events throughout the year. We worked closely with Liberty throughout the entire renovation process to ensure that we were not only aligned with their vision, but also had a deep understanding of the stadium’s build environment. Because of this, we were able to determine the most strategic placements for the new wayfinding system while maintaining their brand.
Virginia Commonwealth University
The Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was a unique project for Acorn because it is not only affiliated with VCU, it also requires additional accessibility standards to accommodate patients and hospital visitors. Acorn fabricated signage throughout the hospital, as well as the wayfinding throughout the dedicated parking garage. In this project, our expertise in ADA compliance was crucial for ensuring that we executed this project to best serve all who may interact within the space.
Virginia State University
Acorn collaborated with Virginia State University (VSU) to develop new signage and wayfinding throughout their Multi-Purpose Center that can seat up to 6,000 people. Not only does the Multi-Purpose Center at VSU provide several functions for the university, it also provides space for the community to provide concerts, trade shows, family events and more. With this project, we worked to provide innovative signage that furthered their brand, as well as offered accessible navigation to all visitors.
We believe in making built environments accessible for all individuals, and we are passionate about working with universities to create innovative wayfinding strategies in their spaces. For more information about our capabilities and the services we offer, visit us online at https://acornsign.com/capabilities/.