Governor's School for the Arts

Wayfinding system for educational arts campus — Education | Greenville, S.C.

The campus, named in Virginia Uldrick's honor, is situated on an east-west bluff immediately south of Falls Park on the Reedy in downtown Greenville. The construction of the school in 1998 fulfilled a long-standing objective of Greenville's downtown revitalization as the desired placement of the school in the West End in proximity to venues like the Peace Center for the Performing Arts to reinforce the area's arts and entertainment identity.

Initial plans by Freeman|Major Architects drew inspiration from Italian architecture and built around the idea of a European artist village. The main complex, oriented around a communal courtyard and amphitheater facing north, contains a variety of arts studios, administrative offices, and academic classrooms generally organized into departmental centers (e.g., the Hartness Guinn Center for Music, the John and Genevieve Sakas Center for Drama, the Dorothy Peace Ramsaur Center for Academics, etc.) for which Emanate developed a comprhensive color, icon and font wayfinding system.

After its initial phases of construction in 1998, the physical campus remained relatively unchanged. Dormitory renovations updating student lounges and residential staff facilities took place in 2008, but a new structural expansion of the main complex would not take place until 2013 upon the construction of a new administrative wing at the front of the campus.