Branksome Hall Campus Wayfinding

Knitting together heritage, modern and natural campus features, an integrated campus wayfinding solution was established for a leading girls’ IB School in downtown Toronto. The campus wayfinding program was the culmination of a renewal and brand identity associated with a Student Wellness Centre redefining the heart of the Campus and binding together the two isolated halves of this bucolic campus setting. The city’s extension of Mount Pleasant Road bisected the campus into two sides and the students cross via an elevated pedestrian bridge. The divided campus required a clear signage strategy to provide circulation prompts for campus wayfinding and an increase of the school’s brand identity.

The design approach creates a module of three sign sizes, with the largest of the hierarchy strategically placed to direct all guests to a main building and parking area. The other 13 buildings are generally accessed by foot via pathways. The design approach treats the signage as landscape lighting bollards, supporting the campus’s nocturnal use. The modern but subdued palette of the wayfinding bollards complements and respects the campus’s heritage and an accent band of Branksome Hall Green wraps each sign showcasing the school’s identity.

Thick aluminum panels sandwich the sign’s structure with no exposed hardware or fasteners, and are elevated on raised concrete foundations. The bases are stained dark gray to appear uniform with the painted signs above. Each sign has an easily removable panel. At the ravine edge of west campus, a new donor pathway was created and lined with engraved pavers of Alumnae names. The pavers are separated by decades of graduates, starting with a graduate name from 1910 purchased honoring a mother that attending the school.

Design Team

David Miller, Olga Pushkar, Timothy Belanger, Jeremy Campbell, Philip Wharton, Razmig Titizian, Jason Wah

Project Area

566,280 sq ft

Fabricators

Acumen Visual Group