Mountain View Upper Elementary School
Mountain View Upper Elementary uses Virginia’s five geographic regions to create a wayfinding system centered on exploration, discovery, and the natural world.
The graphics turn the building into a teaching tool, using the five regions of Virginia to organize each level and academic wing. Shapes, colors, contour lines, native species, and bilingual graphics make the system both educational and easy to navigate.
Client
Albemarle County Public Schools
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Markets
Collaborators
The three levels explore Virginia’s regions through paired landscapes: River and Ocean, Piedmont and Coastal Plain, and Mountain and Valley. Oversized landscape photography, dimensional animals, and interpretive graphics bring these environments into the academic corridors. The stair graphics expand the theme beyond Virginia, comparing the state’s highest mountain and deepest waters with the world’s Seven Summits and Five Deeps.
Classroom signs feature native species associated with the Virginia region represented by each wing.
Contour lines are routed into wayfinding panels, reinforcing the school’s exploration theme while guiding movement.
Interpretive graphics highlight sustainable features including the native meadow, stormwater systems, and geothermal energy.
