Legibility Of Architectural Layout And Wayfinding In Commercial Complex

Passini (1984) defined "wayfinding" in terms of problem solving which comprising three interdependent processes: spatial cognition establishing, decision making and decision executing. Andenvironmental perception and cognition permits the other two processes to occur (Tawfiq M. Abu-Ghazzeh, 1996). Spatial orientation plays an important role while people finding their way to the destination (Passini, 1992).The relationship between architectural spaces and wayfinding has been demonstrated a lot, and the most important of them is plan configuration (Weisman, 1979, 1981; Passini, 1984). Some research that abstracted the architectural layout into simplified plan, and considered it as a mean of survey (Weisman, 1981), meanwhile, others that studied the influence of floor plan complexity and several types of signage (O'Neill, 1991), and many other researches all indicated that plan configuration exerts a significant influence on wayfinding (Bronzaft & Dobrow, 1984; Passini, 1992) .However, the feel in a real space is not always equivalent to the analysis due to the plan study, and may even reverse (Steffen Werner & Paul Long, 2002). It has been a trend in the field of either urban design or architectural design that designers prefer multileveled complicated spaces; therefore, it is inevitably that people have to work, do shopping or go through this kind of complex space frequently. Based on the research listed above and many other correlative studies, this issue researched on the whole wayfinding processes that occurred in "complicated commercial space", and considered the legibility of spatial layout of three architectural elements of "path, atrium and vertical access" that composing the multileveled space as object. We conducted the survey in a large commercial complex named "Cloud Nine" in Shanghai. According to the measures of questionnaire, cognitive mapping, positioning, pointing, CCD tracing and behavioral recording, this issue investigated 1) the legibility of plan layout of the above three architectural elements and their internal correlation; 2) the legibility of spatial layout that composed of the three architectural elements in space with multilevels; 3) the characteristics of wayfinding performance in complex multileveled space, meanwhile 4) the relationship between the tow aspects of legibility of architectural layout and how they affect people's wayfinding performances. Finally, the problems will be required further study, furthermore, some discussion and suggestion in the aspect of wayfinding design in commercial complex will be given.