Brief
Serennu Children’s Centre is an NHS outpatient day centre for disabled children between the ages of 0 and 18. The centre is purpose built to allow children with complex disabilities to receive treatment, care, information and consultation all under one roof, eliminating the need to travel.
In addition to helping these children, the centre acts as a support network for the whole family unit, enabling them to socialise together thanks to the range of leisure facilities available including a wheelchair sports area, a swimming pool and a cinema.
Stills was engaged by the Sparkle Appeal to create a Name, Brand, Interior and Signage system for the centre which appealed to disabled children, their families and medical professionals and also reflected that the building centres around children. Crucially the client group wanted to break down the institutional nature of standard NHS buildings.
Result
The centre opened to great acclaim in April 2011 by patients, parents and staff alike.
Sabine Maguire, Chief Executive of Sparkle Charity comments: ‘Serennu’ puts the patient at the centre of the whole system and it has transformed the lives of disabled children and their families.
It has also improved the working practices and environment of practitioners such as occupational therapists, consultants, social services, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists.
Solution
We set up a steering group of parents, children, therapists, the architect and the main contractor to ensure the centre was more than just 'fit for purpose'.
We branded the project, named the centre and devised a tactile wayfinding and signage system. ‘Serennu’ means ‘to sparkle’ in Welsh, matching the charity’s motto ‘Helping special children shine’. The centre’s theme is stars and space and we named the rooms after constellations.
The graphic style gives different levels of cognitive experience; responding at a childlike level to the simple graphical representation of each constellation plus understanding how the stars make up that constellation whilst being navigated around the centre.
Children on the autism scale need boundaries so we used the colour scheme and modular furniture systems from Connection Seating to create clearly defined personal spaces. The colour scheme prevents the clinical feeling of a normal hospital and appeals across genders and ages.
