WAY FINDING
Way Finding:
BY RITCHIE HASSAN
Way Finding: Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre
The regeneration of Elephant and Castle is happening. Southwark Council has now agreed the masterplan to create a vibrant new London quarter and is ready to turn this long-awaited proposal into reality.
Re-designing the Shopping Centre? The 1.5 billion, 170-acre regeneration will bring vast benefits for the local community and for the people of London. It will unlock 5,200 new and replacement homes, four new open and green spaces, two tram routes, a market square, landmark buildings, a city academy for Southwark and a civic heart for south central London. There will be 75,000 m2 of new retail space which will create opportunities for existing and new businesses and will also bring 5,200 new jobs to Elephant and Castle. Our plan is simple. We want to return the heart to Elephant and Castle - to create a place where people travel to, not through.
My initial plan was to redesign the shopping centre of Elephant and castle. In my eyes the structure brought down the whole demeanour of the area as it sticks out so much. It is a very community based building as many market stalls and businesses have started up within and surrounding the site. Within my new design I wanted to keep the community side strong yet bring it into the 21st century. On beginning this I realised it was a very large job to take under, as many factors come into place when designing an entire building. Therefore I have decided to concentrate on the current elephant and castle, and see how I can improve things the way everything is now.
These 3D Models were created using Google Sketch-Up, i used this tool to see the exact shape and space that the shopping centre takes up. As ithe centre is an odd shape, it was hard to visualise without this model.
Way Finding:
Make Architects
London, UK / 2004 Identified in the London Plan as one of the city’s key Opportunity Areas, Elephant and Castle enjoys a highly advantageous location. Situated at the confluence of some of London’s most important arterial routes and benefiting from exceptional levels of public transport connectivity, including two underground stations, an overground station and numerous bus routes, the area has the potential to become a prime location at the heart of the capital.Despite these advantages, the 23 hectare site is currently blighted by unsympathetic 1960s development and is dominated by a substantial traffic gyratory system that carves up the site and makes the area particularly hazardous and unwelcoming for pedestrians. This radical new masterplan will reconnect the communities living and working around the heart of the Elephant and Castle, knitting them together into a vibrant new urban community.Transport routes will be rationalised in order to strengthen connections in a more pedestrian-friendly fashion, while a range of sensitively-massed and oriented buildings will define the civic heart of the area, interspersed with numerous parks and green spaces.
Concept Sketches: New Elephant and Castle
Planned works from Make Architects.
Way Finding:
Elephant and Castle
Aim:
My aim is to understand the physical space of Elephant and Castle and how people move around. Thus creating a navigational system that will improve finding your way around Elephant and Castle. Integrating underpasses and overpasses, I want to make it a less confusing to get to where you’re going.
Way Finding: Existing Signage
Existing Signage Elephant and Castle has a very interesting existing navigational system. The blue signage on the left is what currently exists and has 3 main sections. Walkways that gives names of roads and directions to other subway walkways. Travel information, buses and trains. Places consisting of popular places and attractions in the area. This does work, however it doesn’t give you an overall idea of where you need to go, except for down the stairs into the underpass. People feel forced into the underpass.. There are smaller signage within the subway that give you further directions, also split into 3 sections. I think the 2 signs don’t intergrate as well as it could, and has proven confusing to a number of people. Each subway is numbered via a pathway, which is very confusing as you cant see the pathway number until your actually walking through it.
Way Finding: Red Elephant and Castle
Red Elephant and Castle I asked many people what colour comes to mind when they think of elephant and castle. Most people said red and blue because of the London underground logo. The current colour scheme for signage is a very dark blue, which works quite well with white text. Me personally and the majority of people I asked thought red because of all the buses and the shopping centre.
Way Finding: Area of focus
Way Finding: Travel - Bus Stop Position
Bus Stops This diagram shows the positions of the main bus stop areas that are commonly used in Elephant and Castle. This will be very helpful when deciding where my signs should go as i want it to be in a place where its highly visible by people just entering or leaving the area.
Way Finding:
Travel - Buses from Elephant and Castle
Way Finding: Travel - Night buses from Elephant and Castle
Way Finding: Pedestrian Profiles
Dwito travels through the central line, changes to the Bakerloo line and gets off at Elephant and Castle station via the Bakerloo exit. It’s then a 3 minute walk to LCC using the subway underpass.
Way Finding:
Pedestrian Profiles
Sabrina also travels to London College of Communication, however exits through the northern line exit of Elephant and Castle tube station. She then uses the underpasses to cross the round about to reach her desitination.
Way Finding: Pedestrian Profiles
Alex visits Fusion Fitness Centre 3 times a week, and is within walking distance from his home. He travel 10 minutes by walk but uses public transport if it is raining. This journey also requires the useage of the underpass as it cross a major round about.
Way Finding:
Pedestrian Profiles
Rita doesn’t usually travel to Elephant and Castle, however she was visiting a friend in the shopping centre. As the bus stopped on the wrong side of the road, she got confused on how t cross over. The journey was only made longer by having to find an entrance with a ramp for her son.
Way Finding: Profile 1,2,3,4 route overview
This map has all 4 profiles mapped onto it, as you can see each one uses the underpass as its a major part of Elephant and castle. There are many entry points into the area so signage will need to be available in many places. Especially at the entrance of each underpass.
Way Finding:
Main access points + All walking routes
Using my research i have decided that these key areas need to have clear signage as their going to be the main signs everyone sees. These are located in generally the busiest areas, such as exits to train stations.
Way Finding: Tube Station - London College of Communication?
Meet Aldo, it is his first time in Elephant and Castle, and i have set him the task of finding his way to London College of Communication using signage. At first he was very confused as he was not familiar with the underpasses which is generally the case.
Way Finding: Rainbow Navigation
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple Colour coordination is a great way of navigating, as each place could have its own specific colour. It also has the potential to brighten up areas as it almost looks like a rainbow. Lamp posts could be coloured depending what zone your in? or coloured arrows direct you to certain buildings. I plan on using this technique however not to an extend of covering every route in a different colour.
Elephant and Colourful WayWay Finding: Finding:
Way Finding: Excuse me, how do i get to.... ?
I have tried to put together a list of places that people would usually be looking for when travelling to or through Elephant and Castle. This way i can pin point information that pedestrians will find useful to aid them in their journey. I also used the bus routes to see all the different destinations you could get to using london transport. Travel
Places / Landmarksks
Trains: Bakerloo Lines Northern Lines British Rail
Shopping Centre London College of Communication London Southbank University Southbank Technopark Fusion Leisure Centre Salvation Army Headquarters Inner London Crown Court Inland Revenue Imperial War Museum St Thomas Hospital Islamic Cultural Centre Metropolitan Tabernacle Perry Library Strata Building
Buses to: Bankside Borough Kennington Camberwell Green London Bridge New Cross Oval Surrey Quays Tower Bridge Blackfriars Westminster Lambeth Newington Walworth Southwark Waterloo
Way Finding: Points of interest at each Subway Entrance Subway 1
Subway 2
Subway 3
Travel: Elephant and Castle Station (Bakerloo Line) Bus Stop P, R – N, M
Travel: Bus Stop V, T, S
Travel: Elephant and Castle Underground (Bakerloo Line) Bus Stop N, M
Places: Shopping Centre Market
Places: London College of Communication Metropolitan Tabernacle London Park Hotel Fusion Leisure Centre
Places: Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre
Towards: Subway 7-10 Subway 3, 3a, 5, 5a >>
Towards: Blackfriars London Bridge Waterloo Subway 7-10
Towards: Greenwich Surrey Quays New Cross Tower Bridge (NO BUS) New Kent Road Subway 7-10
Subway 5
Subway 5a
Subway 6
Travel: Elephant and Castle Station (Northern Line) Bus Stop F
Travel: Bus Stop H, G
Travel: Elephant and Castle Station (Northern Line) Bus Stop C, D, E
Places: London Dungeons London Southbank Uni The Perry Library
Places: Nandos Whetherspoons London Dungeons London Southbank Uni The Perry Library
Places: Imax London Eye London Southbank Main E
Towards: Newington Causeway Bank Liverpool Street London Bridge Borrough
Towards: Newington Causeway Bank Liverpool Street London Bridge Borrough
Towards: London Road Camden Charring Cross Waterloo Holborn
There will be 3 main sections. Travel - with bus stop and train station information. Places - with popular landmarks and frequently visted places. And Towards - with other destinations that you can be heading to. This mainly corresponds to the subway map, as for each main road there are 2 exits for each side. For instance subway 5 and 5a will take you onto the same road but opposite sides.
Subway 3a
Subway 4
Subway 4a
Travel: Bus Stop N, M
Travel: Bus Stop Z
Travel:
Places:
Places: London College of Communication Imperial War Museum Trafalgar Square
Places: Imperial War Museum Trafalgar Square
Towards: Greenwich Surrey Quays New Cross Tower Bridge New Kent Road
Towards: St Johns Road Kensington Oxford Circus Shephards Bush Clapham Junction Vauxhall
Towards: St Johns Road Kensington Oxford Circus Shephards Bush Clapham Junction
Subway 6a
Subway 7
Subway 7a
Travel: Bus Stop A, B
Travel: Elephant and Castle Station (Bakerloo Line) Bus Stop P, R – N, M
Travel: Elephant and Castle Station (Bakerloo Line) Bus Stop P, R – N, M
Places: Imax London Eye
Places: Shopping Centre Market
Places: Shopping Centre Market
Towards: London Road Camden Charring Cross Waterloo Holborn
Towards: Subway 3, 3a, 5, 5a >>
Towards: Subway 3, 3a, 5, 5a >>
Way Finding: Map of surrounding area
Maps on signage need to be very clear, as people are usually in a rush to find out information. So the easier it is to understand, the more time saved. I used google maps to trace the face map, however it lacked the simplicity i was looking for. I then retraced the map again using photoshop, making the lines more crisp. I then emphasized the main roads by having them a darker colour than the smaller roads.
Way Finding: Panorama
I really liked the idea of having a panorama shot within the signage as it’s a realistic view of what can actually be seen. Users can match up real buildings with the sign and recognise the direction they need to go in.
I stood in one spot and took several shots at different aspect angles, then using adobe tools I merged them together to create a smooth looking panorama shot of what someone lost in Elephant and Castle would see.
Way Finding: Panorama
New Kent Road
Outside Elephant and Castle Station (Bakerloo Line exit)
Opposite Bakerloo Line station and Shopping Centre
Outside Elephant and Castle station (Northern Line exit)
Across the road from Northern Line exit, incase of visitors coming from different direction
Left or Right? When taking each panorama shot, I tried to incorporate 2 different directions you could go. This way it will be easy for pedestrians to chose the right path. In some cases 3 there are 3 or 4 different routes that someone could walk in which complicates things. Photographs where taken in specific places where it would most likely be seen used. Outside and opposite train stations for instance and in front of the main bus stop area.
Inspiration Tower Hill station and on Tower Bridge are some examples of this panorama technique. I found these really clear and helpful, because when you can see the full panoramic image, you can relate things to what your actually seeing, as theres no breaks in the image there is no confusion.
Way Finding: Panoramic
I have decided to test out the panorama with only lines, where it is slightly transparent so you can see through it. Key buiilding will have colour running through it which will match up to the map and information on the signage also.
I created this prototype to test out the idea. The panorama was completely seethrough apart from the outlines, however this was hard to see, so it would need to be slightly opaque.
Way Finding: Refining Design
White Colour Scheme
Black Colour Scheme
Way Finding: Main Signage Final Design
This is the final design of the main signage that will appear in each key access point where its most busy. The panorama shot will be slightly seethrough but not completely so you are able to see the outlines of each building. This way people can match up what they are seeing in real life to the signage. The bus stop is just an idea of where it can be placed, a free standing model will be used where there is no bus stop.
Way Finding:
Way Finding: Subway Entrance Signage
At the entrance and exit of each subway there will be a sign that looks like this. This specifically only has the subway map on it with informtion about whats at that particular exit. The design evolved quite a lot as i tried to link it to the larger main signage.
The panorama shot wont be seethrough, it willl have the most popular building at that exit highlighted in yellow, as most people will be looking for that particular building. Everything else is greyscale.
This is the final design, i went this a darker red so it doesnt stand out to much and is easier on the eyes. The yellow also stands out so it can be seen from afar.
Way Finding:
Way Finding: