City of Richmond ⁄ City Center

Richmond, Virginia

The Broad Street Community Development Authority (CDA) was created in 2002 to access private funds for a variety of much‐needed public infrastructure improvements in downtown Richmond. The $66.7 million dollar project was structured to support the needs of the new Greater Richmond Convention Center, Federal District Courts Building, and Virginia Performing Arts Center. These projects, and others, are expected to generate substantial pedestrian traffic in the area, triggering the development of street‐level shops and restaurants.

1717 collaborated with the Commonwealth Architects' project team to develop a unified system of pedestrian and vehicular directional signs, gateway signs, parking directional signs, pedestrian street signs, destination markers, and interpretive history kiosks. An existing banner‐style sign was adapted to serve as the cohesive brand for the new system. Signage was carefully sited to complement the new landscaping and streetlight layouts being planned for the district. Custom brackets were designed for vehicular and pedestrian directional signs so they could be mounted to existing light and signal poles. Sign panels were designed to be removable for ease of maintenance and future updates. 1717 identified key destinations, established information architecture, and standardized nomenclature to create a wayfinding plan that welcomes both out‐of‐town visitors and area residents to downtown Richmond.