King William Wayfinding
The King William Cultural Arts District (KWCAD) takes in the historic residential blocks of King William and the adjacent commercial corridor known as Southtown. South Alamo Street in this area is a linear connector between circulation nodes HemisFair Park (downtown San Antonio) and Blue Star Arts District. Three kiosks encourage foot traffic from downtown to Blue Star, via Southtown’s commercial corridor of shops and restaurants. Blue Star is a local destination for contemporary art, and trail head of the Mission Reach hike and bike trails, connecting in turn to Mission Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Kiosk near HemisFair engages tourists on foot coming from downtown visitor attractions to explore our neighborhood. Cultural arts district notes give background on the neighborhood, including two magnificent house museums, arts organizations, and other points of interest.
Map side of kiosk located nearest to Blue Star Arts Complex, the terminal destination of the walking tour. Aluminum sign cabinets with routed details, high pressure laminate graphic insert panels. The panels are designed to be removed for update or repair.
Sign cabinet is painted aluminum, graphic panels are high pressure laminate. Decorative elements are drawn from architectural details of historic homes in the area, expressing a sense of place.
Kiosk near Rosario's restaurant at the halfway point on the walking tour. Times to walk from place to place are called out on the tour, as are amenities such as River Walk access points. The map panel incorporates a familiar map used in San Antonio River Authority wayfinding, enlarged and detailed with local pedestrian information including travel times, bike share locations, River Walk access points, and local highlights.
King William Association director Cherise Bell with mockup on South Alamo just below César Chávez, the position of Kiosk 1 of 3 along the corridor.
Informal prototyping with Cultural Arts District committee members on a walking tour of three potential sites. Early sketch mockup for approximate scale.
Early paper mockup with scale figure to engage conversation on form factors with ad hoc members of the team, including Jim Bailey at Alamo Architects, and the City of San Antonio's Historic Design Review Committee (HDRC).
Cabinet design and panel layouts, Jenny McChesney. Ulisses Alejandre, model and production assistance. Fabrication and install: Signcrafters; San Marcos, Texas. Panel inserts, iZone Imaging; Temple, Texas.
Many thanks to the King William Association for the invitation to work with staff and volunteers on this project.