KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — It’s easy to get lost on the Western Michigan University campus, and WMU trustees have just approved a $5 million project to try and fix that.
Getting lost on campus is part of being a new student, but even long-time students and staff can get lost if they venture too far away from the departments where they major. Alumni who think they know campus may quickly find that a lot has changed since they were undergrads.
Buildings are gone, streets have been replaced by grass, the Knollwood Neighborhood is now mostly parking lots, and new buildings are going up all the time. Some places have never been named, while others have names that nobody knows. Some brand new buildings have names that used to belong to other buildings.
There are campuses where there used to be cornfields, classrooms where there used to be sanatoriums, and some buildings that have the same historic facade, but that’s all that remains.
The wayfaring proposal approved by the board will go beyond just putting up signs. Director of Planning David Dakin said the plan is to simplify names, make sure everything has a name and create an interconnecting web of signs that will help people navigate campus intuitively.
Some streets will be renamed to describe what they do or where they go. Entry points to campus will be given a new look, and all the signs will use the same colors and graphic scheme so everyone knows they are on campus, and not in a normal place.
They will also be changing the signage on buildings to match the wayfaring signs.
Dakin said crews will go to work the day after spring graduation ceremonies 2017 and plan to have it completed before the beginning of fall term next year.
