Research Article

Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture

Volume: 2 Number: 1 March 31, 2021
TR EN

Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture

Abstract

Orientation programs have a significant role in adaptation of novice students to the faculty building. These programs are mostly prepared by faculty staff or authority figures who have already known the building, so they may not descend to the level of those who are inexperienced of the faculty. Even if students are informed about the places in these programs, it can still be hard in finding places particularly in complex educational buildings until they get used to. Hence, experience-based approaches facilitating wayfinding are needed to cope with the problem. In this research, it is aimed to reveal the reasons for confusion and reference points students take in wayfinding through by phenomenological evaluation of the building. Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Faculty of Architecture is selected as a case study due to its complexity in wayfinding. A head-mounted GoPro is placed to 20 novice students and 10 senior students as a control group, and students are asked to find a target point and return to the initial point following the shortest path. The obtained results are then evaluated according to the measuring techniques proposed by Moles (2004), since the measurement needs to answer ill-defined situations obtained from experiences. As visual recordings of participants are compared in regards with the architectural mass, comparison and equality judgment, contrast or antinomy, and weight coefficient techniques are particularly utilized among the provided techniques. Beyond the expected data, the results of the study provide information about the factors, methods, and priorities that are effective in decision making. This research would contribute to the literature in showing how data set is created based on direct experience of users in wayfinding in complex educational buildings.

Keywords

Thanks

This research is conducted by the author during the course named Phenomenology and Hermeneutics in Computational Design. The author would like to thank Assistant Professor Ethem Gürer and the participants for their valuable contribution.

References

  1. Artman, A., & Wiegand, C. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 13/978,577.
  2. Azzali, S., & Abdel Sabour, E. (2018). The wayfinding in educational modular buildings: The case of the male engineering building at Qatar University. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2018(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/6076021
  3. Bernardini, G., D'Orazio, M., & Quagliarini, E. (2016). Improving human safety in cultural heritage buildings: experiments on the effectiveness of wayfinding systems in a theatre. TEMA: Technology, Engineering, Materials, and Architecture, 2(1), 57-67. https://doi.org/10.17410/tema.v2i1.90
  4. Bosch, S. J., & Gharaveis, A. (2017). Flying solo: A review of the literature on wayfinding for older adults experiencing visual or cognitive decline. Applied Ergonomics, 58, 327-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.07.010
  5. Calman, M. A., Thomas, S. S., Ross, E. S., Lee, J., Fang, Z., Mulholland, J., ... & Tan, N. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,582,826. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  6. Casareale, C., Bernardini, G., Bartolucci, A., Marincioni, F., & D’Orazio, M. (2017). Cruise ships like buildings: Wayfinding solutions to improve emergency evacuation. Building Simulation, 10(6), 989-1003. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-017-0381-0
  7. Chan, M. (2017). Have you been oriented? an analysis of new student orientation and e-orientation programs at us community colleges. College and University, 92(2), 12-25.
  8. Chan, Z. C., Fung, Y. L., & Chien, W. T. (2013). Bracketing in phenomenology: Only undertaken in the data collection and analysis process. The Qualitative Report, 18(30), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1486

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Architecture

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Publication Date

March 31, 2021

Submission Date

January 16, 2021

Acceptance Date

February 23, 2021

Published in Issue

Year 2021 Volume: 2 Number: 1

APA
Çavuş, Ö. (2021). Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture. Journal of Computational Design, 2(1), 285-312. https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES
AMA
1.Çavuş Ö. Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture. JCoDe. 2021;2(1):285-312. https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES
Chicago
Çavuş, Özlem. 2021. “Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture”. Journal of Computational Design 2 (1): 285-312. https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES.
EndNote
Çavuş Ö (March 1, 2021) Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture. Journal of Computational Design 2 1 285–312.
IEEE
[1]Ö. Çavuş, “Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture”, JCoDe, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 285–312, Mar. 2021, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES
ISNAD
Çavuş, Özlem. “Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture”. Journal of Computational Design 2/1 (March 1, 2021): 285-312. https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES.
JAMA
1.Çavuş Ö. Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture. JCoDe. 2021;2:285–312.
MLA
Çavuş, Özlem. “Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture”. Journal of Computational Design, vol. 2, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 285-12, https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES.
Vancouver
1.Özlem Çavuş. Phenomenological Evaluation on Wayfinding in Complex Educational Buildings: The Case of ITU Faculty of Architecture. JCoDe [Internet]. 2021 Mar. 1;2(1):285-312. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA42NP57ES

88x31.png

The papers published in JCoDe are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.