Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre (WEC) serves as the new public gateway to the only natural UNESCO World Heritage site in the Netherlands: the Wadden Sea ecosystem. Located in the harbour of Lauwersoog it succeeds and expands the mission of Seal Centre Pieterburen, one of WEC’s founding partners, shifting the focus from individual seal care to the broader Wadden Sea ecosystem.
Designed by Danish architect Dorte Mandrup, the building rises on the edge of land and water, echoing tidal lines and horizon layers. Wood cladding, a brise‑soleil made from recycled mooring posts, and acoustic wall panels produced from post-consumer denim make the architecture both sculptural and sustainable.
Inside, WEC houses an interactive Wadden Sea Experience, a working seal hospital, rooftop seawater basins with underwater viewing windows for seal rehabilitation, research laboratories, education studios, an auditorium, and a café overlooking the sea.
G2K was asked to create a visual identity that scales across exhibitions, marketing materials, research programmes, merchandise, hospitality, and on-site wayfinding, aligning seamlessly with WEC’s mission and Mandrup’s architectural vision.
Taking cues from the unique Wadden region such as the rhythm of the tides, its natural color palettes, and the specifics of marine and landbased plant and animal life, we translated these insights into layered design elements that visually shape the identity.
A system of flexible, interlocking tidal bands, which flood and ebb in both static and motion assets, reflects the Wadden’s twice-daily transformation. The color palette draws from habitat-specific pigments. Colors are aptly named to reflect their ecological and functional roots, such as Algae, Kelp, Beacon and Buoy (in Dutch). Typography is primarily set in Acumin, an easily available typeface chosen to reflect WEC’s ethos of shared stewardship and collaboration. The identity is concluded with a brandmark that pays homage to WEC’s most prominent founding partner, and continues to anchor a core part of its mission: seal care and rehabilitation.
To express visual unicity and a tone of voice aligned with the brand personality, we developed a custom illustration style. The result is a series of layered, soft-toned illustrations, adaptable across a wide range of topics and applications. The semi-modular forms carry a distinct, actual hand-drawn quality. They zoom from macro-level landscape silhouettes to micro-life, including shellfish, grasses, and marine, land, and bird species. Some of the illustrated wildlife has been further developed into named characters, used in both educational materials and merch.
As part of the identity rollout, G2K was responsible for the building’s signage and wayfinding system. The challenge: create clarity for all visitors, while keeping impact on the interior and exterior architecture, and the surrounding ecology to an absolute minimum. Materials were carefully selected, favouring natural and recycled sources such as felt. To protect the sensitive environment (WEC is located in a Dark Sky Park), no illuminated signage was used on the exterior.
Credits
Architect: Dorte Mandrup
Exhibition design: NorthernLight
Photography: Roos Alberts, Tom van Huisstede, Ewoud Rooks, Niels Knelis, Tjeerd Visser, Stella Dekker
Illustration: Ydwine de Boer (Days)
