Totetsu Training Institute וועגפינדינג סיסטעם

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Due to the characteristics of the space, some of the rooms in the facility are in blind areas. The rail-line design marks flow lines to those rooms, offering affordances for spatial movement. In addition, the design team used rail scrap for the facility’s name sign and portions of the stairs to capture the company's personality with creative aesthetic accents.

Dimensions & Packaging

Facility’s name sign - H174 x W2690
Rail line width - 60mm

Tags

Wayfinding, Signage, Orientation Design, Environmental Design, Graphic

Production Technology

Facility’s name sign - Used rail scrap
Rail line-1 - Steel
Rail line-2 - PVC flooring
Typography - Floor marking film

Design Challenge

Due to the characteristics of the space, some of the rooms in the facility are in blind areas. The rail-line design marks flow lines to those rooms, offering affordances for spatial movement. In other words, the rail-line design becomes a flow line. This line had to run through the building uninterrupted, and safety had to be taken to prevent users from stumbling. Since the rail lines were constructed by connecting the divided parts, severe dimensional accuracy is required. The rail lines' curves, intersections, branches, etc., were very difficult construction.

Research

You can find animals' whereabouts, such as foxes, by following the footprints left on the snow-covered ground.
Many people will have had the experience of walking across the pedestrian crossing only on the white line as a child.
If multiple shapes are drawn on the ground, Hopscotch will start. These unknowingly acquired behavioural habits, which are difficult to prove chemically, can be a hint for designing a wayfinding system. The marks on the floor are great for informing, inducing, and controlling behaviour.

Inspiration

Totetsu Kogyo Co., Ltd., founded at the request of the former Ministry of Railways to maintain and reinforce Japan’s rail system, is a general construction company with far-reaching expertise in the field of rail-related construction. For the design motif, the design team used rail lines-the core identity of Totetsu Kogyo, which continues to thrive in the rail sector.

Project Duration

The project started in June 2019.
The project finished in December 2021.
Located in Ibaraki, JAPAN.

Operation Flow

Rooms in blind areas or rooms that need to be accessed through narrow corridors are less likely to be recognized by users. With the rail-line design, users can see a destination in blind areas or beyond narrow corridors and change the inactive space into an active one.

Patents

Not applicable

Image Credits

All Images: Photographer Takeshi Shinto, 2021