SODIC
Wayfinding and masterplan strategy for a newly built SODIC development in Egypt. SODIC spans 500 acres and encompasses residential, commercial and education communities.
SODIC currently under construction, is situated 30km west of Cairo. The site included five residential neighbourhoods, each with its own community hub, a commercial and education neighbourhood, the development aimed to be self-serving. This 500 acre site aspires to create a holistic community and forms part of the wider vision for Sheikh Zayed CIty.
Navigation around the site would be challenging because there was little to differentiate the gated neighbourhoods. Encouraging any sort of pedestrian movement would be difficult, desert heat could cause severe harm to anyone lost or disorientated. Site-wide landscaping and irrigation systems meant there were few opportunities for sign placement and a large gas pipe, running across the site, meant product foundations would not be allowed in a main park
Information architecture and Nomenclature was key in identifying and distinguishing neighbourhoods.
Despite the desert climate, walking and cycling was encouraged - each neighbourhood, although gated, was permeable for pedestrians and cyclists so movement throughout the site was viable through ‘green corridors’ and parks, shaded from the heat. Signs were integrated into hard landscaping features, walls, gates and raised bed and some freestanding signs were placed where possible. This created a network of signs that would assist pedestrians and cyclists navigate efficiently to and from their destination.
