With the meticulous and thorough detail that we apply at Rio Architects, your interior design will flow and provide visitors with ease of access and, most importantly, a memorable experience with our bespoke wayfinding service.
We don’t just design spectacular buildings; we design incredible interiors too. We have multi-sector experience in first-rate interior design and include brand, graphic and wayfinding content development. So, whether you have a small or large-scale project, such as airports, hospitals or commercial space, we will ensure that we create the best environment for your culture to thrive. We can work with you to ensure that graphic content and branding are incorporated from an early stage, to achieve a cohesively designed scheme.
Read the story about the STEAM Academy below on the perfect example of beautiful wayfinding done well.
Empowering young minds of tomorrow with inspiring spaces
Based in Pencoed, the STEAM Academy is an exciting new building accommodating teaching, learning and support facilities for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Although, the Academy is much more than this, with an additional offering of evening and weekend adult learning and café facilities for public use. It has a multi-purpose lecture hall and conference facility for hire to support businesses in the local and wider community.
We were delighted to not only have designed this building but to have also designed the interior. Our interiors experience combined specialist signage, features and super graphics utilising Bridgend College’s brand colours to create a bespoke wayfinding solution in English and Welsh for their new flagship 21st-century facility. Each design uses symbols and definitions for subtle learning devices that change relative to the different subjects taught within the building.
Bridgend College chose four symbols: Peptide, RF Connector, Golden Ratio, and Proportion (in art).
Twenty bespoke symbols were chosen to represent the subjects covered within the new STEAM Academy and can be seen throughout the building and used throughout the identity and wayfinding. The symbols were added to critical locations to prevent collisions where the presence of large uninterrupted areas of transparent glazing exist, a pattern that shapes the identity of the entire building. The subtle inclusion of curriculum representation within the graphic strengthens and reinforces the culture within the environment. It is those small details that reflect and represent the activities that take place.
Our internal strategic development establishes signage that clearly conveys directional guidance in the style of yellow chevrons and the location of nearby rooms with bespoke and informative icons styled with the college’s preferences in mind.
Successful wayfinding supports the user in navigating the building. We aim to achieve this with engaging designs that capture the imagination and the culture.