It's Not the Destination, It's the Journey.

Facilities (Building Identity)

School Floors 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STONHARD

WHAT PART CAN FLOORS PLAY IN A SCHOOL’S IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNAGE DESIGN?

The key to successfully executing way finding is doing so without overstating it. Floors play an influential role in way finding. Great design and the use of textures and colors in floors can provide way finding in schools without interfering or competing with great architecture. Poured floors, in distinct colors and surfaces, can be installed in free-form designs with inlaid custom motifs, such as sweeping waves, geometric patterns or colored borders that are built into the floor itself.

Seamless floors with inset designs can categorize an area clearly without succumbing to dangling arrows or “in your face” signs, while easily leading people through the labyrinth of campus complexes. Seamless, resilient, urethane floors also provide superior performance; stain resistance, ease of maintenance and noise-reduction, while also providing directional mechanisms. Healthcare environments have relied on this for many years. Using bright, spirited designs in a children’s hospital, for example, differentiates one area or building from another. The use of a theme, such as a candy corridor, is a clever way of marking areas without taking anything away from the design.

School FloorsHOW CAN FLOORS IMPACT SAFETY?

Lighting from the floor up is an effective way of identifying exits and keeping people safe. The use of photoluminescence materials can be incorporated within seamless floors to illuminate paths and lead people to emergency exits, including stairwells.

HOW FAR CAN YOU TAKE SIGNAGE?

There is plenty of room for artistic freedom. Not all floors will allow you the flexibility a seamless floor can. A urethane-poured floor uses design strips to create, almost anything; from arrows and circles to customized logos and free-form designs. Imagine a middle or high school’s science area utilizing planets, atoms and chemistry symbols in the building’s floors to point the way to labs and classrooms. Another other way-finding method is to mix and match surface textures as a way of identifying areas.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management August 2013 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Kendall Speer Ellis is the Marketing manager for The Stonhard Group. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Kimball Showroom Earns WELL Certified Platinum Distinction

    Commercial furnishings company Kimball International recently announced that its showroom in New York City has achieved WELL Certification at the Platinum level as dictated by the International WELL Building Institute, according to a news release. The certification demonstrates a continuing commitment to creating environments that promote health, well-being, and productivity.

  • California K–12 District Opens New Athletic Complex, Gym

    The San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) in San Mateo, Calif., recently announced the completion of two new athletics facilities: a new gymnasium at Burlingame High School, and a new athletic training complex at San Mateo High School, according to a news release.

  • KI Wall Demonstrates New Solutions at NeoCon 2025

    KI Wall attended NeoCon 2025 in Chicago, Ill., last month to showcase its new architectural wall systems and collaborations, according to a news release. Its customizable, design-forward wall solutions are intended to support creativity in work, education, and healthcare environments.

  • StarRez Releases 2025 State of Student Housing Report

    Student housing software solutions provider StarRez recently released its second State of the Student Housing Industry Report, according to a news release. The report is based on the results of survey data from more than 400 higher education institutions around the world, both StarRez clients and not.

Digital Edition