
Built as a replacement facility for the aging San
Bernardino County Hospital, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center serves
the eight million residents of Southern California's "Inland
Empire." When it opened in March 1999, it boasted state-of-the-art
seismic readiness, a new name and identity, and a sophisticated new
wayfinding system developed by Corbin.
From the outset, the medical
center recognized the importance of effective wayfinding to a visitor's
overall experience.
With this in mind, Corbin approached the project
from the public's
point of view. Being a new facility, the medical center had the opportunity
to establish a new public persona as a patient-oriented and friendly
place, to which the signage project contributed both aesthetically
and functionally. Corridors were given street names, terminology was
simplified and destinations were spelled out in English and Spanish,
to accommodate the region's large Spanish-speaking population.
The
signs are also designed to use inserts that can be readily updated
and changed by the medical center's own staff.