Northern Beaches Hospital
Hospitals are stressful environments that need clear, concise and well-designed wayfinding systems. We’ve undertaken every aspect of signage for the hospital consisting of over 6,000 signs and 300 wall graphics across the eight levels.
Get in touch
Northern Beaches Hospital
Designing peace of mind
Hospitals are stressful environments that need clear, concise and well-designed wayfinding systems. We’ve designed just that for Northern Beaches Hospital, the $840m 488 bed private and public hospital designed by BVN architects. Engaged by CPB Contractors we’ve undertaken every aspect of signage for both the hospital interiors, external precinct and separate multi-level car park, consisting of over 6,000 signs and 300 wall graphics across the eight levels.
Creating clear, memorable journeys
A key objective of the system was to quickly and efficiently get patients and visitors to their destinations with minimal confusion or anxiety using memorable and describable journeys, rather than an over reliance on signage. These graphics were intended to calm patients and activate interest in certain long corridors and areas such as department check-ins. It was also important to connect the hospital to its unique location, nestled between the Northern Beaches coastline and dense bush. Integration was key so that all elements blend in with the architectural design intent and surrounding natural landscape.
A healthy design language
We needed to create a consistent and clear design language that spoke to multiple user-types including staff, patients, visitors and students across a complex building with over 30 departments. Taking inspiration from the unique location of the hospital, we visited the site surrounds ranging from the dense bushland to the sandy beaches, sourcing items to form the themes. Working with a local photographer and an adjacent Northern Beaches primary school photography competition, we created two atrium super graphics acting as the main orientation points in the atrium space.
Better together
The combination of differing scales of environmental graphics unique to the Northern Beaches along with the coloured sign-forms result in a unique and place-sensitive scheme that truly celebrate the location and character of the hospital's area. The involvement of the community through the collaboration with local photographers and public schools has resulted in a hospital that is already ingrained in the fabric of the community in a space they helped to design. The vast scale of the project and the multiple areas the wayfinding system is applied and the method it is intrinsically linked ensures that this scheme is more than just a successful wayfinding system, it is a celebration of the project and the Northern Beaches.
