The making of the Three Sisters center navigation

During the initial discussions of the project, the customer stresses the warm, personal approach as desirable, definitely not “corporate style.” Studying floor plans and making side notes on how to turn formal into homey. Coming up with naming the rooms in alphabetical order. Toying with travel and parts of the world themes.

Considering orienting all images and ornaments towards exit.

In attempt to visually separate the floors, while staying true to the “feel-like-home” triggering words, combing different locations for the right mood and tying it to the floors’ functionality.

The first floor with only a few guest rooms is where everything happens: new guests arrive, physical and other therapies take place. The second floor is the community hub: this’s where guests from different floors meet on their way for a dinner in the restaurant or a snack in fito-bar. The third floor is the most secluded, you’ll find only the “locals” or library visitors here. Engineering mood matrix, guest flow charts, selecting names.

Too dry and straight-forward, need something more general instead. Checking out less concrete titles.

Geographically speaking, places from far away do not contribute to the homey atmosphere we’re aiming at. The solution is to stay local. Using climate zones, house in the country theme, and numeric games alternatively.

“Home” is ok, but we really need some common grounds to bring things together. How about some made-up village names? Analyzing toponym creating principles and constructing a bunch of place names.

To set up the right atmosphere, refreshing our memory of the “Three Sisters” play by Chekhov and applying what’s learned to the project, enriching it with a feel of a quiet estate circa late eighteen hundreds and key-phrases from the book.

Typesetting navigation panels.

Drawing signature plate outlines for different floors.

Completing the look with doorplates.

Putting together signs for the front gates and the main entrance.