Columbia Basin College

Pasco, Washington

Columbia Basin College (CBC) serves the Tri-Cities area of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, as well as surrounding communities throughout Franklin and Benton counties in the southeast portion of the state. The College recently completed a campus wide construction plan that required a new wayfinding signage program be created that would create a sense of place and provide easy navigation around the campus for first time visitors. Tangram performed a site survey of the campus and developed three wayfinding concepts for CBC’s exterior and interior signage systems. Concepts included signage solutions for wayfinding, fire safety, regulatory signs, and other miscellaneous signage. As Pasco is nestled among the Columbia, Yakima, and Snake rivers, and because the rivers have played a crucial role in the development of the city, signage concepts incorporated organic forms and wave shapes that reflect the idea of water or the rivers. Additionally, using the concept of water also stems from the college’s name “Columbia Basin”. Structural materials use local, recyclable, and stock sizes in an effort to keep with the college’s sustainability goals.