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Floor plan of the city hall of Göttingen, Germany (hallways are depicted in white). The area around the elevator at the top is rotated 45o with respect to the rest of the building.
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Research on human spatial memory and navigational ability has re- cently shown the strong influence of reference systems in spatial memory on the ways spatial information is accessed in navigation and other spatially ori- ented tasks. One of the main findings can be characterized as a large cognitive cost, both in terms of speed and accuracy that o...
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This short paper focuses on the application of concepts and methods of Spatial Cognition to building analysis. We investigate the close relationship between spatial knowledge and built environment by combining theoretical analysis with user comments and behavioral data. Based on an empirical study in a complex multi-level-building two main aspect o...
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... As Friedman et al. [6] have argued, it is important to consider the legibility of an environment as a potentially important criterion when evaluating a post-occupancy environment. Many studies have shown that the complexity of a building plan is one of the most important factors affecting orientation in space [18,15,19]. However, people's spatial perceptions sometimes do not match the results from the analysis of the 2D plan. ...
In response to the increasing demand for collaboration and knowledge exchange within Postfordist network society, both virtual and physical spaces are becoming more and more complex. Therefore the orientation within these increasingly complex and information-rich scenes becomes a problem that architectural design must address. The goal of this research is to upgrade architectural design competency in this respect by setting up a workflow for evaluating and optimizing the legibility of complex scenes. This paper introduces a novel research approach focused on the recognizability of salient interaction offerings within complex spatial settings, by using machine learning. A systematic workflow is being developed for simulations that appraise and rank design proposals with respect to the trade-off between scene complexity and legibility. The authors explore the research through a series of simulation experiments concerned with semantic segmentation, i.e. with distinguishing and classifying relevant features in a large complex visual field. The paper first describes the method of setting up the measurement of complexity and ease of recognition, and then illustrates how a trained neural network can be used to evaluate and rank a series of design proposals (with systematically varied degree of complexity) on the basis of their recognizability. While the paper found that the hypothesis of a statistical inverse correlation or trade-off between complexity and recognizability holds, for each degree of complexity there are several design options with different degrees of recognizability. Therefore this approach allows to optimize the design of complex scenes in terms of the crucial criterion of legibility.
... A possible explanation for this conscious preference may lie in the higher symmetry and straightness of the floor plan structure, providing users with a more familiar global frame of reference. For example, the atrium which connects each room, may simplify their spatial representation model, in comparison with a network of curved corridors which provide no symmetries and must be represented in greater local details [17]. ...
Based on the Method of Loci, the following experiment
compares the effect of two different virtual environments on
participants’ memory performance. The primary task consists of
remembering a sequence of random playing cards. Each virtual
environment is based on a different architectural style with a
different layout. One is inspired by a Palladian style architecture,
and the other by a Modern curved architecture.
... Many of these environments are unfamiliar and thus require wayfinding assistance. There are various types of "knowledge in the world" (i.e., external knowledge) [1] that can help individuals find their way such as signs, maps, landmarks, and fixed geometric aspects of the environment [2][3][4][5]. Signs can be particularly easy to understand because they require less abstraction than you-are-here maps, to adapt because they can accommodate changes to the environment, and to quantify because they allow for the measurement of relevant information [6]. Indeed, recent research has Rohit K. Dubey dubey@arch.ethz.ch ...
... X is the entropy of perceiving the sign from that grid cell, and D is the distance (in meters) between the grid cell and the sign. Movement towards the next grid cell is determined by searching the neighboring grid cells (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) from the current agent location at grid 5. c Zoomed-out view of a larger section of a sign's VCA. Grid cells with darker shades of green indicate higher entropy/uncertainty. ...
Signage systems are critical for communicating spatial information during wayfinding among a plethora of noise in the environment. A proper signage system can improve wayfinding performance and user experience by reducing the perceived complexity of the environment. However, previous models of sign-based wayfinding do not incorporate realistic noise or quantify the reduction in perceived complexity from the use of signage. Drawing upon concepts from information theory, we propose and validate a new agent-signage interaction model that quantifies available wayfinding information from signs for wayfinding. We conducted two online crowd-sourcing experiments to compute the distribution of a sign’s visibility and an agent’s decision-making confidence as a function of observation angle and viewing distance. We then validated this model using a virtual reality (VR) experiment with trajectories from human participants. The crowd-sourcing experiments provided a distribution of decision-making entropy (conditioned on visibility) that can be applied to any sign/environment. From the VR experiment, a training dataset of 30 trajectories was used to refine our model, and the remaining test dataset of 10 trajectories was compared with agent behavior using dynamic time warping (DTW) distance. The results revealed a reduction of 38.76% in DTW distance between the average trajectories before and after refinement. Our refined agent-signage interaction model provides realistic predictions of human wayfinding behavior using signs. These findings represent a first step towards modeling human wayfinding behavior in complex real environments in a manner that can incorporate several additional random variables (e.g., environment layout).
... We spend a substantial part of our lives in humandesigned, regulated environments with paths, tracks, streets, hallways etc., serving as main arteries of human locomotion. Architecture embodies the human eff ort to structure space in meaningful and useful ways (Werner and Long, 2003;Bhatt and Schultz , 2017), and satisfi es diff erent representational, functional, aesthetic, and emotional needs. Navigation is essential to any environment that demands movement across large-scale spaces, such as urban, natural as well as built-up structures, even though it rarely forms the primary task (Darken and Peterson, 2002). ...
Navigation performance in urban and large-scale built-up spaces (e.g. airports, train-stations, hospitals) depends on gradual environmental perception during locomotion, and spatial knowledge acquisition, update/integration at different times along a path. Rotational locomotion is regularly involved in everyday navigation; this, combined with the fact that people cannot perceive the whole of a large-scale setting at once often leads to incidents of cognitive loading and disorientation. Our research explores the mechanisms involved in rotational locomotion for human navigators, and the role of familiarity as well as the cost of cognitive load on orientation accuracy and spatial memory. We examine the impact of structural and featural cues on spatial knowledge updating in relation to egorotations from the viewpoint of behaviour-based design practice and evidencebased design interventions. The results are based on a case study in a train station, experimenting on rotational problems in navigation. Here we present preliminary results emphasizing the role of environmental cues in rotational location, outline possibilities for further study, and discuss implications for evidence-based design practice and cognitive design assistance technology development.
... To start with, atria seem to be endowed with a cognitive function, as orientation and reference points within complex buildings. A courtyard or an atrium, as Werner and Long (2003) argue, can act as an orientation point within a global frame of reference. In addition, Choi (1997, p. 2) describes how atria 'offer a variety of possibilities for peoples' co-awareness due to the amount of vistas that are offered'. ...
Atria in public buildings, such as museums and cultural environments, serve the purposes of architectural expression as well as spatial navigation. This is clearly seen in numerous existing buildings and modern extensions, such as in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the most recent masterplan of which uses atria to link the old with the new sectors of the building, attract human activity and facilitate three-dimensional exploration. Until recently, most space syntax studies on navigation focused on route choices and spatial characteristics in two dimensions, consequently by-passing the effect of the third dimension on spatial exploration. Although common sense acknowledges a link between three-dimensional design and human movement, there is no substantial research on how the third dimension relates to patterns of exploration. Using the Ashmolean Museum as the main focus study, this paper explores the relationship of actual human movement (visitors’ paths), virtual movement (VR) and spatial structure (space syntax), in order to understand how the multi-storey complex environment impacts on users’ free exploration. The findings suggest that verticality three-dimensional visibility, have a significant effect on how people move in a museum setting. Virtual experiments including spatial alterations of the volumetric structure of the Ashmolean clearly show the impact of the third dimension on path selection and configuration as well as gaze direction. This paper can inform three-dimensional architectural design with the goal of creating user-friendly buildings. The ultimate aim is to provide principled understanding of the variability of three dimensional design and cognitive dimensions in museum buildings for the public.
... Wiener et al. (2004) showed further that subjects learned environments faster and searched more efficiently when environments were divided into regions than when they were not. This improvement was on the order of a factor of 2. Their results also revealed that navigation strategies seemed to depend on the alignment of the dominant reference directions between different levels of the hierarchical mental representation (see also Werner and Long, 2003;Werner and Schindler, 2004). (The concept of spatial reference directions and axes will be explored in detail in section Spatial Reference Systems.) ...
... The acquisition of skills attributed to the possession of survey knowledge, such as pointing accurately to unseen targets, may occur when the reference directions in such locally defined reference systems become integrated in such a way that all are aligned (Montello and Pick, 1993). Werner and colleagues (Werner and Long, 2003;Werner and Schindler, 2004) have shown that misalignment of reference directions in such a reference system hierarchy impairs wayfinding performance and produces less accurate knowledge of interobject directions (for related findings, see Shelton et al., 2016). Experiments reported by Wang and Brockmole (2003a) provide evidence that people maintain orientation with respect to a single reference system as they navigate. ...
This chapter reviews empirical and theoretical advancements in the scientific understanding of human spatial memory and navigation. The primary goal is to examine the ways in which memories of familiar environments are used to guide locomotion, reorientation, and wayfinding. The chapter covers seven major topic areas: elemental types of spatial knowledge; theories of the acquisition of spatial knowledge; the nature of spatial knowledge; spatial reference systems in memory; spatial updating during locomotion; cognitive theories of spatial memory and navigation; and the neural basis of spatial memory and navigation. The final section of the chapter summarizes these findings and identifies promising directions for future research on human spatial memory and navigation.
... Beyond the characteristics of the navigational device, wayfinding is also shaped by architectural properties. Werner and Long [2003] have looked at the usability of buildings and stated that architectural design can have multiple representational, aesthetical, and emotional, but also functional purposes. Also other scholars defined the ease of wayfinding as an essential function of a building's design, and even formed the analogy of space as a machine [Corbusier 1931;Passini 1984]. ...
... The environment's affordances can influence the usefulness of a navigational device and vice versa [Baus et al. 2005]. Such devices can convey additional information and act as a mediator between environment and navigator, but are not properties of a building as such [Gärling and Golledge 1993;Werner and Long 2003]. Scholars have tried to classify different kinds of areas navigators are confronted with during navigation, some of them offering different options and holding the necessity to form a decision. ...
The focus of this study is on wayfinding in large complex buildings with different wayfinding devices. The interaction of pedestrians of such devices is always also interplay with the surrounding environment and its specific features. Furthermore different wayfinding assistances can elicit different needs for additional information from the environment to make accurate choices at decision points. We aim to shed light on how characteristics of decision points in combination with different wayfinding devices shape wayfinders' visual attention. 60 participants individually looked for three destinations in the same order. They navigated with 1) a printed map, 2) a digital map, or 3) without a map, only using full-coverage numeric signage. To gain first insights fixation frequencies on maps and signage as well as the correct and incorrect route options were recorded with a mobile eyetracker and analyzed for 28 decision points and four decision point categories. The results indicated that starting points play a special role in planning the route ahead. Furthermore points that allow for a floor change lead to a higher attention and information search.
... The primary aim of The Architectural Design Process is to guarantee that the architecture artifact is designed in such a way to simultaneously satisfy different representational, functional, aesthetic, and emotional needs of organizations and the people who intend to live or work in it. The classic model of the seven steps Architectural Design Process encapsulating the following phases: Pre- Design (PD); Schematic Design (SD); Design Development (DD); Construction Documents (CD); Bidding & Negotiation (BN); Construction Observation/Contract Administration (CO/CA); and Supplemental Services (SS); is described in [15]. The additional domain expertise is needed in order to complete the " big picture " of an AD. ...
Particular domain expertise in engineering and scientific fields has emerged demanding more sophisticated computer support for cooperative development of complex engineering artifacts. For the effective implementation of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm in highly interoperable domains the existence of suitable infrastructure is essential. Combined together, Architectural Design, Urban Planning and Construction Engineering highly influence the development process of contemporary and future engineering methods, standards and tools in overall Environment Engineering. The essential role of Architectural Design (AD) and Urban Planning (UP) is to enable forward looking approach to the building facility, while Construction Engineering (CE) expresses its routine through the transformation of abstract ideas to usable urban artifacts. Currently available software tools, supporting AD, UP and CE domains are far from being simple and ultimately demand advanced skills development. In this article we discuss the ontology aspects of SOA based support for the development of cooperative infrastructure over common data repository. The Abstract Space concept is defined as the ontology core.
... The primary aim of The Architectural Design Process is to guarantee that the architecture artifact is designed in such a way to simultaneously satisfy different representational, functional, aesthetic, and emotional needs of organizations and the people who intend to live or work in it. The classic model of the seven steps Architectural Design Process encapsulating the following phases: and Supplemental Services (SS); is described in [13]. The additional domain expertise is needed in order to complete the " big picture " of an AD. ...
Particular domain expertise in engineering and scientific fields has emerged demanding more advanced skills and deeper domain knowledge than just a few years ago.That is why computer supported cooperative work is the challenging discipline that drives the development process of contemporary and future engineering methods, standards and tools. The essential role of Architectural Design (AD) and Urban Planning (UP) is to enable forward looking approach to the building facility, while Construction Engineering (CE) expresses its routine through the transformation of abstract ideas to usable urban artifacts. Currently available software tools, supporting AD, UP and CE domains are far from being simple and ultimately demand advanced skills development. In order to facilitate service oriented architecture (SOA) support for AD, UP and CE cooperation, it is essential to design an interoperability environment that enables lean development support. In this article we discuss the ontology aspects of SOA support over common data repository. According to the AD, UP and CE domain analysis we purpose the Common Ontology for Architectural and Urban Data Repository Modeling that may serve as a n SOA building foundation.
... The design information is usually structured around plans and views that support the designers routine, rather than around products that is a dominant way the constructors work. The primary aim of The Architectural Design Process is to guarantee that the architecture artifact is designed in such a way to simultaneously satisfy different representational, functional, aesthetic, and emotional needs of organizations and the people who intend to live or work in it [12]. The Architectural Design Process has to be well structured to ensure that stakeholder's needs are satisfied with a predefined priority chain order, thus preventing the case that resulting architecture artifact is the consequence of random collection of unrelated decisions. ...
... The Architectural Design Process has to be well structured to ensure that stakeholder's needs are satisfied with a predefined priority chain order, thus preventing the case that resulting architecture artifact is the consequence of random collection of unrelated decisions. The authors of [12] introduce the classic model of the seven steps Architectural Design Process encapsulating the following phases: Pre-Design (PD); Schematic Design (SD);Design Development (DD); Construction Documents (CD); Bidding & Negotiation (BN); Construction Observation/Contract Administration (CO/CA) and Supplemental Services (SS). The additional domain expertise is needed in order to complete the " big picture " of an AD. ...
The Architectural Design (AD), Urban Planning (UP) and Construction Engineering (CE) are three cross-cutting domains that need tight collaboration in order to support the vision, design, environmental issues and the operational support of complex urban artifacts (buildings, urban blocks and cities) construction. Current information technology facilitates the computer supported cooperative work in the complex interoperable development environment design. In this article we present a core conceptual model of data base schema that may support the cooperation of AD, UP and CE stakeholders through the entire life cycle of complex urban artifacts. We plan to use this model as a foundation for AD, UP and CE cooperative information system design.
