w&w-campus, wüstenrot & württembergische ag
signage system
kornwestheim 2018

letters from red square

the company’s new head office is like a small town, made up of fourteen angular buildings facing each other in pairs. each pair of buildings forms a kind of cube, and at basement level they are all connected by an underground mall. the architecture is all about squares. the company’s logo is a square, too – bright red, with white letters. the shape and lettering of the wayfinding signage evolved quite naturally from this pre-existing situation, comprising two square red surfaces set at right angles. with typically-swabian resourcefulness these signs – in various sizes – can be located on ceilings and walls or wrapped around corners; they can project from surfaces as flag signs and they can also stand upright on the ground. with also-typically-swabian understatement this design melds readily and unfussily with the campus architecture wherever wayfinding guidance is required. 

a digital information system complements this analogue signposting: for employees and visitors to the campus, nearly-wall-height screens are provided on every floor of each building to answer questions like “where can i find such and such a person?”. if these colleagues aren’t at their desks they might be found in one of the meeting and conference rooms, each provided with a red digital door sign that indicates what’s going on inside.

the cosmopolitan character of the underground mall is visually supported with illuminated lettering marking out the bistro, the restaurant and the individual building entrances. the handwritten script here offers a light, poetic counterpart to the rigorous geometry, giving the mall its own signature looks.