Navigating Culture

Before street signs, lights and Google Maps, we had to rely on more naturally occurring features to guide us.

Naturally occurring elements like mountains, rivers and valleys have significantly contributed to our ability to identify and locate places – both physical and cultural.?

Tracing and retelling the cultural narratives that come from a culture's connection to the environment are an increasingly important part of our work, especially as it applies to human-centred design.

Cultural Narrative: Unveiling Stories and Place

Cultural narratives serve as a bridge between the past and present across generations, a window into the collective psyche of a culture, and offer a sense of continuity and identity.?

These stories, myths and legends provide context and perspective to assist others to understand the root of certain traditions and inroads for greater understanding and tolerance of difference.?

Difference is very important in our work. We use differences in colour, tone and texture to intuitively guide people through spaces. We also recognise that appropriately communicating difference is an increasingly important part of placemaking, especially in the face of gentrification and potentially mediocre design.?

In a time where, as Tim Fendley (2015) argues, '...local flavour, accent, and attitude will be even more sought after’, the purpose of stories in modern society remains as powerful and potent as ever.?

Some places and projects have demonstrated a greater capacity to weave cultural narratives into their urban and built environments than others.

One of these places is New Zealand.?

Cultural Narrative Case Study: Dunedin Hospital

Producing meaningful, co-designed outcomes starts at the beginning of a project and continues throughout, rather than as simple ticking of the box at the end.?

One project where this was handled in a remarkable way was Dunedin Hospital in New Zealand.

From the very beginning, ID-LAB strategists explored the cultural narrative and collaborated with Aukaha, a manawhenua-owned consultancy of cultural narrative advisors and local artists.?

In the hospital, the primary texts are in Te Reo language, with English being secondary. The colour strategy is based on the cultural narrative of the Matau Kareao while the repeating pattern – developed by artists Fyane Robinson and Morgan Mathews-Hale – represents elements of the Matau Kareao.?

All elements are integrated into the entire wayfinding system and strategy. The outcome is a balance between the requirements of the built environment, physical design, supporting technology, and cultural significance.

As this project reiterated, our role is not only to aid navigation. Our work helps to reveal spaces that allow for greater context and perspective to emerge, grow and guide all of us – but only if we are given the space and time to listen to the stories behind them.