the brief

The developer needed to sell 212 apartments before the buildings were finished, then help residents find their way around a site with three entrances, two courtyards and a harbour promenade. The sales agents wanted a website. The architects wanted signs that disappeared into the concrete.

the approach

We treated both jobs as one. The website is built around a floor-by-floor plan viewer, with every apartment drawn to the same scale and turned to show where the sun falls at noon in June.

On site, signs are cast into the concrete or cut from blackened steel, using the same numbering and arrows as the website. Nothing is lit that does not need to be, and every door number sits at the height of a hand on the handle.

the outcome

All 212 homes were sold eleven weeks before handover. Residents say the buildings are easy to find their way around, which is the only review a wayfinding system needs.