A+A worked with the City of Sunnyvale to develop a public environmental education park among a series of facilities along the San Francisco Bay. Formerly the city dump and a wastewater plant, the city redeveloped the area, capping the landfill and improving the city’s sanitation system by building a state-of-the-art recycling center. A+A developed a master plan, and implemented a signage program for the treatment plant, the recycling center and the nature trails that meandered along the Bay.
The Sunnyvale Materials and Recycling Station is a mechanized recycling facility that serves several municipalities in the South Bay. Rather than developing a linear diagram of the process, these four foot square signs were suspended directly above each step in the process, clearly illustrating the recyclable materials that were being removed.
Interpretive signage was designed and placed along the bay trail that weaved among the treatment plant and the adjacent salt and wastewater ponds. Each sign interpreted the site from varied points of view. The history of the Sunnyvale environment was chronicled, starting with the story of the native residents, to the 19th century immigrant farmers, and into the twentieth century and the explosion of orchards and canneries.
