SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital (Conceptual)
Services - Environment
One of the goals for SSM’s new Ambulatory Care Center in South St. Louis was to reflect the community the center called home. With this mission in mind, I designed a way finding and graphics system for the ACC that reflected the diversity and unique cultural assets that can be found in the South Grand neighborhoods.
Tower Grove Park is a wooded Victorian park of international significance and a south St. Louis treasure that is integral to the South Grand community that the ACC is a part of. The park is a place for peaceful contemplation and is the “melting pot” of the south side, where people from all walks of life gather together daily and for special events such as the Festival of Nations.
The park’s mission, colorful historic pavilions and the historic architecture found throughout the park served as inspiration for my environmental graphics and wayfinding system.
Creating community ties.
My design treated the waiting areas on each of the 4 floors of the ACC as “Tower Grove Park” where visitors could experience the motifs of the park within one piece of original artwork.
Utilizing a super graphic that extends the full length of the waiting rooms, the artwork visualizes the concept that things that are seemingly dissimilar or random can join together to create something beautiful, a sentiment that reflects the people and community of the South Grand neighborhoods. I created a pattern that has an eclectic, global and modern feel. It is artwork with a story, is a piece that is unique to the hospital and allows the hospital to bring the outside community into the facility in an unexpected and interesting way.
How the system works.
Each floor of the ACC would be assigned one of 4 pattern blocks inspired by motifs found in Tower Grove Park. This pattern would be used as floor identification and would appear in many places on the floor to help orient visitors. The identifying pattern would be the largest pattern guests would see on the wall in each waiting room, further reinforcing the way finding system. The pattern block would also be repeated on way finding signage and on graphic panels in exam rooms and corridors to further reinforce the way finding system.
