The way-finding journey within a large public building: a user centred study of the holistic way-finding experience across a range of visual ability
type: CreativeWork
description: This PhD Thesis has been immersed in investigating the holistic experience of way-finding in buildings by people who have a range of visual ability. Previous research studies, spanning across a broad spectrum of disciplines, have focused on various characteristics of human way-finding (Arthur and Passini, 1992;Lynch, 1960;Downs and Stea, 1973). It is specifically recognised that the built environment is failing people with visual loss (Barker et al., 1995) and the strategic task and skill of way-finding within a building is a particular problem (Arthur and Passini, 1992). Under the social model of disability (Oliver, 1990) this is recognised as a form of architectural disablement (Goldsmith, 1997). There are few evidence-based studies of way-finding in a building. Furthermore, there are no studies of real-life experiences of way-finding undertaken by real-life participants who have a range of visual ability within the context of a real-life building. This leads to a research question: What are the design issues revealed by participants who have a range of visual ability as they way-find in a large public building? This doctoral research, based within the discipline of architecture, focuses on the holistic experiential components of a Journey (Myerson, 2001;Harper and Green, 2000). It coins and defines the term Way-finding Hot-spot as it explores the events [positive and negative] which are experienced and therefore impact on a Way-finding Journey around a building. To fill an important gap in the current knowledge a research enquiry, based on a user-centred design approach, was implemented. Exploratory in nature, the methodology was inductive and it evolved throughout the study. A series of Research Principles, borrowed from the established methodologies of Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1968) and Case Study (Yin, 2003a;Yin, 2003b), guided this study. Ten participants [with varying degrees of visual ability, different ages and other forms of disability] undertook a Way-fi…
abstract: This PhD Thesis has been immersed in investigating the holistic experience of way-finding in buildings by people who have a range of visual ability. Previous research studies, spanning across a broad spectrum of disciplines, have focused on various characteristics of human way-finding (Arthur and Passini, 1992;Lynch, 1960;Downs and Stea, 1973). It is specifically recognised that the built environment is failing people with visual loss (Barker et al., 1995) and the strategic task and skill of way-finding within a building is a particular problem (Arthur and Passini, 1992). Under the social model of disability (Oliver, 1990) this is recognised as a form of architectural disablement (Goldsmith, 1997). There are few evidence-based studies of way-finding in a building. Furthermore, there are no studies of real-life experiences of way-finding undertaken by real-life participants who have a range of visual ability within the context of a real-life building. This leads to a research question: What are the design issues revealed by participants who have a range of visual ability as they way-find in a large public building? This doctoral research, based within the discipline of architecture, focuses on the holistic experiential components of a Journey (Myerson, 2001;Harper and Green, 2000). It coins and defines the term Way-finding Hot-spot as it explores the events [positive and negative] which are experienced and therefore impact on a Way-finding Journey around a building. To fill an important gap in the current knowledge a research enquiry, based on a user-centred design approach, was implemented. Exploratory in nature, the methodology was inductive and it evolved throughout the study. A series of Research Principles, borrowed from the established methodologies of Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1968) and Case Study (Yin, 2003a;Yin, 2003b), guided this study. Ten participants [with varying degrees of visual ability, different ages and other forms of disability] undertook a Way-fi…
author: McIntyre, Lesley
language: eng
keywords: Architecture, Way-finding design, Way-finding Hot-spots, Architectural model of disability, Medical model of disability, Social model of disability, Way-finding journey, Participatory research, Ethnographic methods, Case Study: Way-finding Scenario, Public buildings, Journey stages, Way-finding experience, Visual ability, Task components, Communication requirements, Grounded theory, Visual loss, Experiential charting of a way-fnding journey, Research principles
date published: 2011
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:07:25Z
provider: University of Dundee
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Dundee