Wunderpark International School is a private bilingual school in the Moscow Region that combines the classic and game-based approaches to education.
The interior design and wayfinding system developed for the school make a wonderful addition to the learning process and facilitate the mastering of English.
It would seem that wayfinding in schools is hardly necessary: mostly the same people come to school every day who already know the layout of the building.
But in Wunderpark whose floor plan resembles a sun or an open palm things are a little more complicated: its corridors are too similar to each other, making it easy to get lost.
To help visitors distinguish the corridors, they are marked with Latin letters.
The passageways that lead to one-of-a-kind and familiar places such as the gym or the cafeteria are named after those rooms.
Подробная схема всех этажей встречает в отправной точке любого маршрута — у входа на лестницу.
A list of rooms broken down by corridors is located at each entrance to the floor. The priority is given to the English text which provides an additional chance to practice and creates a sense of immersion in the language environment.
The school is designed as a mini-city and all its areas are named to support this metaphor: the school has its own central square, a concert hall, a sports arena, academies and the mayor’s office.
Going up to a floor, you find yourself in an atrium from where you can see all the corridors. Large signs next to each corridor help choose the right one.
The signs are placed in a way that makes them easy to see from anywhere.
Directions for places that people look for most often are shown in the simplest and most obvious way: with arrows on the floor.
Once you reach the desired passageway, you see a list of rooms that thoughtfully allows you to check that you are still headed in the right direction. Signs located across the corridor tell from a distance where each room is located.
To make them more noticeable, names of the rooms at the end of the corridors are printed up high and in large letters.
Transparent office doors are decorated with neat captions, contrasting signature stripes and laconic icons.
The interior design of the school is a great example of making learning fun. The walls of the staircase are decorated with English proverbs and adages, each accompanied by a cute and witty illustration.
The interior of the cafeteria is decorated with culinary-themed sayings.
Recreation spaces encourage to think bolder and be open to new things.
Window illustrations have an interesting story. When the school was being built, Bronze Age objects were found at the construction site: axes, arrowheads, knives and clay pots. Inspired by these findings, comic strips tell about the life of ancient neighbors against the backdrop of the landscape outside.
The interior design and the wayfinding system both include elements of play while remaining neat, beautiful and thoughtful, which is just what you need if you want to give children a good taste and a love of order.
