Hill and Levene Schools of Business

Environmental graphics

From institutional to inspirational: How Atom’s environmental design brought a business school’s interior spaces to life

Challenge

The Hill & Levene School of Business needed to transform their stark, institutional environment into a vibrant space that would inspire students, showcase faculty excellence, and recognize donor contributions. The existing white corridors failed to reflect the school’s vision of fostering an engaging learning community or attracting prospective students.

The school required a solution that could evolve with the institution – adapting to showcase new faculty achievements, honour changing donor relationships, and maintain brand consistency. The design also needed to incorporate the school’s signature navy and burgundy colours while creating an environment that would energize the space and reinforce their position as a forward-thinking business school.

Result

Through a series of strategic environmental design interventions, we transformed the school’s corridors into dynamic spaces that bring its brand promise to life. These included a number of remarkable individual pieces.

A modular ‘Teaching and Research Hall of Fame’ features an innovative hexagonal design that allows for easy updates as faculty achievements evolve. Custom murals showcase the school’s vision and values through carefully curated imagery and typography. A donor recognition system turns corridors into branded ‘streets,’ elegantly integrating sponsor acknowledgment with inspirational messaging.

The visually energetic environment now serves multiple purposes – orienting visitors, inspiring students, celebrating faculty, and providing donors with meaningful recognition.

Vision, mission and values mural

The Vision, Mission and Values mural anchors the space with bold typography and thoughtfully selected imagery that brings the school’s core principles to life. A blend of student photography and complementary imagery illustrate key values like inclusivity and diversity, while the school’s signature navy and burgundy palette reinforces brand identity throughout the design.

Teaching and research hall of fame

The Teaching and Research Hall of Fame presented a unique design challenge: create a dynamic faculty showcase that could evolve over time. Instead of traditional framed photos, we designed an innovative hexagonal system where individual faculty profiles can be added or updated as needed. Each features a professor’s photo, a memorable quote, and key achievements, interspersed with broader academic wisdom from thought leaders. The modular design intentionally includes room for growth, allowing the school to celebrate new accomplishments while maintaining visual cohesion.

Student excellence and achievement mural

A bold typographic mural transforms an inspiring quote into a rallying cry for student achievement. The space pairs these aspirational words with a powerful display of academic excellence – honour roll plaques and distinctions that showcase the school’s brightest stars.

Donor ‘street signs’

Rather than typical donor walls, we created an innovative ‘street sign’ system that appears on the school’s wayfinding maps. Each major donor receives a branded pathway with a dimensional sign combining their identity with thought leadership. The layered design creates subtle transparency effects while predefined colour schemes ensure visual harmony across the space.

Dean’s Honours List

Dean’s Honours Lists plaques are common across universities and people often walk by them without noticing them. We used a bright eye-catching array of brand colours to draw attention to the plaques and give the hallway a distinctive visual signature.

Team

Art direction: James Jensen
Design: Iyla So
Project management: Evonne Tran, Elizabeth Richardson
Production & installation: Sleek Signs