Architectural Graphics, Accessible Wayfinding
& ADA Sign Specialists
Design, Manufacturing & Expert Installations
This project came our way as they typically do. A California Certified Access Specialist was asked by the hotel owner to inspect the facility and help them bring it into ADA compliance. The historic hotel, that functions as a park and a museum for fortunate guests rather than just a room for the night, had no accessible signs at all.
It was an ideal project for our consulting/design/build team and any thought of installing white on blue plaques with Helvetica text would have been a travesty.
The logo, featuring bamboo, provided the inspiration for the signs that now direct guests safely around the campus.
It would be difficult to imagine a type of sign that is not part of this system. And as usual, there were the challenges you find whenever you are dealing with an existing structure. You must find ways to provide accessibility that don't always conform perfectly to standards. Equivalent facilitiation is the key!
A major obstacle in this facility was a creative room numbering system that had been instituted by the current owner's father, who built and furnished this charming site with his art collection from around the Asian world. Some clients had been visiting regularly for years and knew their room numbers by heart, so we had to keep those numbers even though it meant twice as many directional signs as usual.
A Comprehensive Sign System for a Unique Hotel
The main entrance of the hotel by sunset
Coming up with a plan that would not seem like clutter was a formidable task.
This project exemplifies, perhaps more than any other in our recent history, our unique ability to analyze a difficult existing site and use our knowledge and creativity to show what our ABC system is all about: A complete system that is truely accessible, uniquely beautiful and compliant with the ADA standards.
Browse the image gallery below (click to enlarge)
