National Mall & Memorial Parks Wayfinding
National Mall & Memorial Parks Wayfinding
In partnership with the National Park Service, the Trust for the National Mall sponsored a new wayfinding signage program for the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to better orient the 36 million visitors the park welcomes each year. This was made possible through private donations raised by the Trust in addition to federal funds raised through the Centennial Challenge.
The National Park Service hired Hunt Design (Pasadena, Calif.) to design a system that would improve pedestrian circulation, guide visitors to major destinations, identify monuments and sites, simplify the presentation of rules and regulations governing park use, and reduce sign clutter. Planning began in late 2007, and the final system incorporates nearly 500 new user-friendly signs and directory maps that are integrated with neighboring sponsors and programs that welcomes visitors,and directs them to more than 50 museums, monuments, and memorials.
The review process for the project was extensive, including the National Park Service, the Trust for the National Mall, the Architect of the Capitol, the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, the Smithsonian, the National Gallery, the National Capitol Planning Commission, and the presidential-appointed Commission on Fine Arts.
