Campus Wayfinding project gives UH buildings individual addresses

A new project is underway at UH, one that will revitalize the directional signage on campus. It is called the Campus Wayfinding project, and it is part of the Campus Master Plan that envelopes many of the University’s current transformations.

Effective since Aug. 1, each building on campus has been assigned a physical address, rather than relying on 4800 Calhoun Road, which in the past has been assigned to all buildings on campus.

By entering a building’s GPS coordinates into phones or other locator devices, those on campus will be able to navigate around with more accuracy.

As well as individual addresses, the project will furnish new signs to establish permanent districts on campus and to make directions more clear for students, faculty, visitors, etc.

Forty-one new signs from the Arts District phase were recently completed in August 2014, and now plans are being made to update the Athletics District signs, which includes the area that encompasses the new football stadium, Hofheinz Pavilion, and the baseball and softball fields.

The new, color-specific signage will provide “clarified directions that include updated content, enhanced identity of the campus … for both vehicle drivers and pedestrians,” said Patrick Peters, a professor in the Hines College of Architecture who has played a leading role in the signage project.

A major catalyst for this project has been a desire for a safer campus that is more accessible for emergency personnel.

“When we need to bring in emergency respondents such as firefighters or ambulance crews who are unfamiliar with the campus, there can be unnecessary delays when buildings don’t have individual addresses,” said UHPD Chief of Staff Lt. Bret Collier. “Our officers will have to meet firetrucks and ambulances on the exterior of campus to guide them into buildings.”

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