Wayfinding and signposting

In many buildings there is a need to channel pedestrian traffic towards significant landmarks, such as exits, check-in desks, escalators and common passageways. This is particularly important in premises with large, open areas such as those found in airports, shopping malls, hospitals and many large offices. Plants offer an attractive and practical solution, providing a living barrier that gently guides people to where you want them to go. Choosing the right plants and containers for this purpose is very important. Spiky plants or those with sharp-edged leaves would clearly be inappropriate in an area designed for heavy pedestrian traffic flow. Containers need to be robust, take up the minimum of floor space and in some situations be linkable to form an impenetrable wall.

Plants can also be used to differentiate parts of a building from each other, for example by planting each floor or wing with a different plant species. One could take this to an even greater level of sophistication by using, say, desert-loving plants in one area, jungle plants in another, temperate species in a third and so on – the possibilities are almost endless. At an individual level, plants can even act as signposts for specific facilities, such as washrooms, lifts or changing rooms.  Finding that elusive WC in a large building may be much easier if you’re told it’s “next to the large palm in a blue pot”!

(Click here to find out more about the use of plants for wayfinding and signposting.)