Modern Wayfinding with Historic Style

The City of Auburn Hills, a few miles north of Detroit, has located its municipal offices on 37 acres of what once was a family farm. As much as possible, the six-building campus uses the site’s historic structures, dating back to the early 20th century.

The city recently contracted with SignGraphix to develop new exterior signage for the site. Tom Tanghe, Assistant City Manager for Auburn Hills, notes how the SignGraphix approach has addressed the city’s need for:

A fitting image. “The signs, in their traditional-looking color scheme of white and grey, are designed to blend with the siding and rooftops of the historic buildings,” says Tom. “The signs are also sized and shaped to suggest the peaked rooflines and dormer-style windows of some of the farm’s original structures.”

Effective wayfinding. According to Tom, “Our aim is to quickly point first-time visitors exactly where they need to go on our site. Plus, as new buildings have been added and the locations of some offices shifted, it has become important to clearly redirect people who were used to previous campus arrangements.”

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