Durable surface treatments can make your message
Communities always seek ways to convey their messages. Thanks to advances in custom surface materials, a solution is already underfoot!
Enter: TrafficPatterns, a durable surfacing solution used by municipalities across Canada to imprint vibrant branding and wayfinding on streets, lots, schoolyards, and other public surfaces.
“Many communities look for ways to make their branding more visible or to use signage to direct people to hotspots like shopping districts, historical parks, municipal buildings,” says Cleve Stordy, principal with HUB Surface Systems’ (HSS) western team. “The challenge is that you end up with vertical signs cluttering the space and getting ignored.” With surface treatments like TrafficPatterns, he adds, “Municipalities can covey those same messages at ground level where folks are more likely to see them.”
Creating vibrant, long-lasting designs on public surfaces depends on a material’s durability. TrafficPatterns formula includes corundum, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide almost as hard as diamonds. When mixed with thermoplastic material, the result is a resilient, anti-slip surface material.
“While putting images on the ground is not new, having really strong and durable materials that will last for years and require zero maintenance is,” adds Doug Bain, principal with HSS.
Adding a graphic image to a public surface traditionally requires stencil and paint. Now, those images can be made into thermal plastic materials and “melted” into the road where they become a permanent part of the surface.
“While there is a premium to working with better quality materials, you get an image that really stands out and lasts,” says Bain.
A pattern of success
HSS, as the supplier of TrafficPatterns, takes advantage of their innovations to help clients across Canada bring their messages to life. For example, Stordy recently worked with the local BIA to embed the Italian flag into a crosswalk in Vancouver’s commercial district (aka “The Drive”) and helped the City of Parksville add its stylized starfish logo to the centre of a major intersection. Also, HSS crews collaborated with Granville Island to enhance a crosswalk on Granville Street with art by First Nations artist Robyn Sparrow.
“That project shows how TrafficPatterns can bring a sense of culture and artistry to a public space,” reflects Stordy.
In Ontario, HSS has worked with regional partners to demonstrate the benefits of effective street branding. In collaboration with Mark Zuzinjak, associate landscape architect and urban designer with the GSP Group, the team created a crosswalk design to convey the theme of a new private development in Kitchener.
“The proposed stitching is designed to weave together the various paving patterns, strengthening the sense of place of the development’s public areas, and increasing visibility of the crossings for pedestrians,” explains Zuzinjak. “TrafficPatterns XD’s range of patterning and colouring would help us achieve this.”
“Other high-quality surface treatments such as unit paving or concrete,” he adds “cannot offer the flexibility of TrafficPatterns XD to incorporate attractive colours and patterning in the urban environment.”
HSS’s western team is now collaborating with the City of Coquitlam to install a 14,000-square-foot map of Canada in the City’s plaza that will document Terry Fox’s famed journey.
“We’re very excited to use our materials to tell this iconic story,” Stordy says.
Capturing attention in public spaces can be challenging. Learn how HSS TrafficPatternsXD can help communities make a noticeable (and lasting) impression. Visit www.hubss.com.
