Such signage included :
- Arrow Signs.
- Educational Signage with simple illustrations.
- Numbering Signage which was placed on top of the doors.
- Lighted Signage split in red, orange and green all representing different states the room is in.
- Caution Signage when entering dangerous areas such as radiation zones.
- Yellow warning Signs.
- Colour Coded Maps.
- Orientation Maps
There was use of natural lighting where possible through the implementation of wide windows and skylight dome, but some of the places where still unreachable. To overcome this they installed bright white ambient lights to cover these areas.
The hospital was also a very spacious place, the corridors could roughly fit 4 people side to side and I assume that you would rarely have that many people in the same place at any giving time. They also implemented a system to keep the workman at his station utilizing a shoot system, this was created to avoid workers needlessly running from one area to another creating unnecessary commotion in the corridors.
To further indicate where and what zones are, the doors are colour coded matching the areas specified in the maps.
Sanitation equipment was found throughout the hallways, even though these are a must in hospitals it would be extremely beneficial to use in our own exhibition. By nature people are inclined to touch so providing some cleaning equipment would be beneficial for everyone.
The hospital was a little bleak at times but there were some attempts to liven up the place, mostly using the walls as a canvas. Throughout the tour there were murals which were generally found alone, these were both visuals and typography and in some places they looked a little forced. This makes me think that no direct thought was given to the aesthetics of the place but rather all out functionality. The only place that I think there was any thought to liven up the place was the children's ward which was adorned with stickers of popular cartoon characters. One other place had something a little different, The chapel had a corner mural from top to bottom, I found this to be improving on what was already there. Could it be that as the room was small the corner mural gave an impression that it was a little larger?
There were some things that I noted that could be beneficial to our own exhibition. One of which were the clocks, they where everywhere hanging from the ceiling always granting the people a quick time check when needed. Other interesting features were the furniture and surfaces. The furniture was was to be selected so that it isn't on the floor this increases cleaning capabilities and avoids infection. On the other hand the surfaces were all materials which where easily cleaned including glass and stainless steel, such materials are a must when dealing with these kind of environments especially hospitals.
Other notes taken
TV's at waiting areas which had very bad programs on, but still a life saver when undertaking long waiting hours.
Lime waiting rooms, they may have choosen this colour as it symbolizes balance and harmony. Compared to the endless white walls this was a nice touch.
Different kinds of ceiling panels where used to conceal the systems controlling and running the machines, these could easily be opened and hanged as they were hinged at one side.
We lastly went on a quick tour of the front end of Mater dei the signage was relatively the same but the colours where also implemented on the walls for further understanding. An engineer also took us around some of the more "robust" sites such as these huge water tanks and some signage found on them.
