Route Lafayette

TEAM: SO Studio, Makemade
CLIENT: Lafayette Consolidated Government
LOCATION: Lafayette, Louisiana
COMPLETION: 2022
RECOGNITION: AIA National Conference on Architecture Practicum Lecture 2022

The Route Lafayette way finding system is based on the best practices of implementing equitable and bilingual way finding in urban areas and parks. Our design approach is focused on walking, biking, and public transportation with consideration for the visually impaired. Because Lafayette, LA struggles to maintain its identity as home to a historic Cajun-Creole community, the system focuses on inclusion of the local Francophone vernacular.

Tools were used to test typography, icons, and colors for signage that can easily be seen by those with color blindness and other visual impairments.

Locations were identified of primary and secondary way finding signs and the assets to which they point, through strategies on how to categorize urban imagery.

Route Lafayette was designed to influence the way people perceive their environment and transform the urban experience. The system was developed through a paradigm that adapted theories on city imagery and used tests for insuring the inclusion of people with visual impairments.

The Route Lafayette bilingual way finding system was designed to be inclusive of minority, indigenous or heritage languages while remaining easy to understand for all.

Members of the La Place Coterie gather for a charrette with SO Studio and provide their input on preferred pedestrian routes and locations of major assets throughout their neighborhood.

Dots placed by members of the La Place community denote integral places in the neighborhood suggest locations of significance that should be included on the wayfinding maps.