Wayfinding that floats within the architecture
AZ Zeno, located on a 20-hectare site in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, is not a typical hospital. The facility combines acute care, rehabilitation, outpatient clinics, a care hotel, lecture halls, and public event spaces—together forming a complete health campus. Inspired by the surrealist work of René Magritte, the architecture appears to levitate above the landscape, merging sustainability, natural light, and design into what the team refers to as a “healing environment.”
Project
AZ Zeno
Client
AZ Zeno
Collaborators
AAPROG
BOECKX
B2Ai Architects
Location
Knokke, Belgium
Size
Project Build Cost
Focus
Wayfinding
User Experience
ID-LAB was engaged just eight months before opening, tasked with developing the wayfinding strategy and signage design on a highly compressed schedule. We began with an intensive on-site design sprint: one week of full immersion, during which we mapped user journeys, defined the strategic framework, secured buy-in from the Executive Team, and sketched the first iterations of the signage hardware.
The solution we developed was deliberately architectural. At the main entrance, oversized sign panels hover just below the ceiling—echoing the building’s sense of suspension. Elsewhere in the building, signs are treated as forms within the architecture, never tacked on or interruptive. The design references the building’s materials, proportions, and spatial logic. While fully functional, the signage reads more like built elements than visual intrusions.
In a building that avoids the visual language of traditional hospitals, the wayfinding system had to do the same. It provides quiet clarity within a calm, expansive environment—supporting movement without overriding the sense of peace the architecture aims to achieve.
AZ Zeno and the project architects have both expressed their appreciation for a wayfinding system that feels integrated, appropriate, and confidently understated—designed not just to guide people through a building, but to match the tone of care offered within it.
