Navigation on Powder
Little can be compared to the complexity of the university complex as an object for navigation. Users are diverse (students, teachers, staff, visitors, tourists, etc.) and the complex is a set of diverse objects with a complex system of travel within it. In addition to facilitating the movement of the campus, it was the task of the NEU campus development team on Pokowk to introduce a corporate style through the navigation elements. In fact, the Knuckle was meant to be an example in the application of a single design code that would facilitate visual identification of the Wave environment.
The Campus on Pokrovka is the central and largest of all the campuses of the NIU U.S.U.S.S.A. It consists of 12 buildings built at different times (1801–2019) and connected by cross-overs and covered atriums. There are two major faculties, many scientific and educational units, almost all of the university’s central services, the audience, the cultural centre and a large number of «service spaces» (libraries, pottery, gymnasiums, cafeteria, cafeteria, etc.). In addition, it is under increased pressure in the form of various activities and activities, including those of an external nature.
For navigation on campus, a lettering system for shells using Latin letters was chosen, except for double and fundamentally different readings in Russian and English. The designers developed a package of visualized icons for the premises/campus area. They are used on maps, front-door plates, and create a single visual image of campus space. Another group of elements are floor stickers and guide lines: they are not suitable for installation, they may be of any size, they allow for a large icon or inscription and they correspond to the user’s angle of vision.
Information shelves located at all key points on campus have become an important part of the navigation system. Each of them contains direction arrows on the way to the hulls from the point where the wall is located, a map of the complex with icons, and a list of key public spaces and campus services. At the entrance to each shell there are infolates. Each carries several levels of content: a map of the entire campus showing the position of the hull, a list of the shell objects and a list of the floor lists of all functional spaces and structural units in the shell.
A mobile application has been developed for visually impaired and sightless students and staff of Vashka, which defines the optimal routes to the campus. Also in order to ensure the current positioning of the right-left plates, QR codes are displayed in the premises, reading the navigation application and releasing the user’s location. Work on the Powdow navigation system lasted about two years. Today, it is safe to say that navigation elements have become not only utilitarianly useful, but have also become a sustainable part of the design code by which to determine the belonging of a space to the campus of the Tower.
Team of Design Developers of the ICU Campus Project of the INE in Pokowk: INE Design School • Arseny Cavekov, Head of the Design School Working Group of the INE Cherokee Design Laboratory: • Ivan Wetrov, Anna Košeleva (Art-directors) • Olga Kalinina (Management) • Nikita Teryohin, Maria Pesnyeva, Romana Voronovsky (Designers) • Gali Zaitsa, Dmitry Biryukov (Serve) • Dmitry Chernogaev, Natalia Logutova, Julia Sheremetova, Vyacheslav Moskovkin, Sophia Pymanova (Consultants) • Vladimir Elyseenko and Natalia Logutova (authors of the book «The Visual Navigation System in the campus of the Vuse: Case NIU VSE with Thoughts» (M., I.E. E.U.U., 2022)
• Administrative Services of INES • Alexander Serov (Vice-Director of Land Relations and Real Estate Management) • Egor Melnikov (Manage of Audit and Improvement of Navigation) • Staff of the Office of Staff, Control and Records Management • Staff of the Translation Centre • Marcel Sharifullin (Director of the Printing Unit of the ICU) • Printing Officers of ICU ECU • Staff and Management of the Department of AUC «Pokrov Boulevard»
• Project partners • EP «Remark Catalogue» (production and installation of the main volume of navigation elements) • Nikolai Taldykin (text table) • IP Bogdanov (production of floor indicators) • IN BOX (production of flag indicators)
