UK Research and Innovation
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish.
Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £8 billion, UKRI brings together seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.
This Way was appointed to design and implement a new creative wayfinding scheme for the Polaris House campus.
Polaris House is home to over 3000 staff from UKRI and tenants including the UK Space Agency. The various teams and tenants, located across four blocks, each have their own unique identity and use of the space. This combined with the high number of visitors and proximity to a mainline train station presented a number of interesting wayfinding challenges.
Following a comprehensive audit and evaluation, stakeholder consultation, and mapping of user journeys, we produced a set of principles and objectives to inform the strategy and design.
The new scheme needed to reflect UKRI’s status as a global leader in research and innovation, and contribute to a collaborative, flexible and efficient workspace. It had to be intuitive, inclusive and integrate into the architectural environment, enhancing the experience of all users.
We collaborated with teams from creative services, estates and communications as well as the UKRI Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, Disability Matters and the Science and Technology Facilities Council Dyslexia working groups. Engaging with multiple stakeholders across the research councils and tenants via a series of workshops and presentations.
We created a visual identity that both reflected the brand values and collaborative culture within UKRI, and their aspirations for a world class connected workplace.
Polaris (The North Star) and its metaphorical link to ambition and purpose along with its historical use in celestial navigation provided inspiration for the design. A geometric pattern represents both the connectivity between teams and the physical building blocks whilst providing a flexible system, enabling visual consistency in application across multiple wayfinding touchpoints.
We introduced colour coded elements to distinguish each block, designed site maps, floor plans and iconography located at key decision making points and helped create a room naming protocol that integrated into a digital booking system. The stairwells were brought to life with bold super graphics and a large scale digital display greets visitors as they enter the reception. Externally six metre high illuminated totems proudly identify entrances creating a sense of place across the campus.
When specifying the signage we worked with UKRI Creative Services to ensure strict sustainability credentials were met, including use of recyclable materials and designing signage that can be repurposed and updated by the on-site print production team.
As well as delivering the design and wayfinding strategy we project managed the implementation of over 900 signs, including procurement, programme management, quality control reports, technical design and structural calculations, enabling, ground and electrical works plus traffic management and risk assessments required for installation as cranes lowered in the super sized ‘landmark’ totems.
Our collaboration with UKRI continues as we are currently designing and developing a set of gender inclusive iconography for use at Polaris House and across other sites.
