Architectural wayfinding: buildings people can read

Architectural wayfinding is the part of navigation that the building does itself: its layout, sightlines, daylight, materials, colour and landmarks. When it works, a visitor can tell where the entrance is, which way the main route runs and where the lifts will be without reading a sign. Signs then only have to handle what the architecture cannot.

This is the layer of wayfinding that is cheapest to get right and most expensive to fix, because it is settled when the plans are drawn. By the time we are asked to sign a building, much of its legibility has been decided. The best time to bring a wayfinding specialist in is while the plans can still change.

Five things do most of the work, and an architect controls all of them:

• Layout. A clear spine, a limited number of junctions, and routes that look like routes. Loops and dead ends make people hesitate.
• Sightlines. Seeing the next destination, the stair or the reception desk from where you stand removes a decision before it arises.
• Light. People walk towards daylight and towards bright, well-lit areas. A glazed end to a corridor is a better pointer than any arrow.
• Colour and material. A change of floor finish or wall colour tells you that you have crossed a threshold. Used consistently, it also tells you which zone you are in.
• Landmarks. An atrium, a sculpture, a distinctive stair: something memorable that a person can use to say where they are and give directions.

No building can explain itself completely. It cannot name the department behind a door, show which of six identical corridors goes to radiology, or carry bilingual names and accessibility information. That is the job of the wayfinding system: names, a clear information hierarchy and signs at the real decision points.

The two layers work best when they are designed together. If the architecture already answers a question, a sign for it is clutter. If the architecture cannot answer it, the sign has to, and the position of that sign should be fixed on the plan before the walls and services are.

• Identical corridors on every floor, with no colour, material or landmark to tell them apart.
• Entrances that are hard to find from the approach, so the first sign a visitor needs is outside the building.
• Lift lobbies with no floor identity, so people step out unsure where they are.
• Reception desks placed out of sight of the door.
• Glazed partitions and reflective finishes that turn a well-placed sign into glare at certain times of day.

Most of these cost little to fix at design stage and a great deal after fit-out. A flat wall for a directory, an agreed zone colour, or a clear line of sight to reception are all decisions that cost nothing on drawings.

We work from the floor plans and fire drawings, so the review can start before construction does. We look at the main journeys from true arrival, mark the decision points, and tell the design team where the plans will cause hesitation and what could be changed. The result feeds straight into the wayfinding design process, which is the order we design the system in.

For an occupied building, the same questions are answered by a wayfinding audit, which shows where the building loses people and whether the fix is a sign, a name or a change to the building.

Architectural cues also have to work for people with sight loss, cognitive differences or reduced mobility. Contrast between floors, walls and doors, tactile paving where it is required, step-free routes that are the main route rather than a detour, and lighting without glare all help. Technical Guidance Document M in Ireland, Approved Document M in England and BS 8300 set the baseline; the aim is accessible wayfinding by design rather than by retrofit.

Designing a new building or reviewing plans? See our wayfinding design and strategy and masterplanning services, or talk to us while the plans can still change.