Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center

Connecting People + Places

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center

Mongomery Bell Academy is an all-boys private school dedicated to educating the “Gentleman. Athlete. Scholar.” The school has a long history of generous support from its donors, and actively recognizes major gifts across the campus. The school’s Wellness Center houses MBA’s indoor sports and wellness amenities; the building itself reflects the formal architecture of the campus. MBA engaged McCoy Design to develop a signage system that can evolve to incorporate its in-progress donor recognition program.

Challenge

MBA needed to create a signage system that could be immediately implemented, then expanded over time to recognize future donors and their gifts to the school. The signs had to be clear and strategic for wayfinding, but also provide a way to both honor donor contributions and inspire future donors to support the school with a major gift. The icons for MBA’s eight Pillars of Wellness had to be descriptive enough to get the idea across, but simple enough to be created in several materials throughout the campus.

Solution

We created signage that allows rooms to be named in honor of donors by utilizing a simple ring surrounding each room sign; names can be easily added to the signage as gifts are received. We used wood discs and translucent acrylic panels to reflect the elevated architecture of the campus. The wall graphics create a sense of movement to reflect the building’s purpose, with a set of simple brand icons designed to be reproduced in a variety of materials.