Abstract
This paper examines visitors’ movement patterns at the Broad Museum designed by Zaha Hadid. Characterized with free, open, and generally unbound spaces, visitors explore a curated exhibition at their own pace, route, and agenda. Unlike most other public environments, a museum lends visitors greater choice and control, and does not hold the social or spatial expectations of other facility types that might subject the visitor’s path of travel. In this study, 72 visitors were observed. A space syntax-based visibility graph analysis (VGA) was then performed to compute the visibility exposure and the spatial position of each exhibit within the museum. Negative binomial regression was used to look at the effects of spatial variables on visitors’ wayfinding, contact, and engagement with the pieces. Results showed that both the amount of visibility area around each exhibit, and its spatial position measured using space syntax techniques explained why visitors established a contact with the piece and their wayfinding behavior. Interestingly, however, the saliency of exhibits along with spatial variables were both strong predictors for why people arriving in groups split to engage with that particular exhibit. The simulation used in this study could be useful in curatorial decisions.
Highlights
IntroductionThere is a growing interest in studying the positioning of exhibits in museums
Each exhibit had the following variables attached to it: visibility/spatial variables, number of visits it received, number people whovariables split fromattached their group engage with thevariables, exhibit, In this analysis, each exhibit hadof the following to it:to visibility/spatial and the salience rating for that exhibit
The results of this study demonstrate how powerful space syntax techniques are in understanding wayfinding behavior among museum visitors, and confirm the results of earlier work on visitors’
Summary
There is a growing interest in studying the positioning of exhibits in museums. User function of a museum is quite unique from other interior spaces, as visitors often inhabit the space for a short time and roam about freely with the primary purpose of viewing objects within the space [1]. In their work on visitors’ movement in art galleries and exhibitions, Wineman and Peponis [2] introduced a third category of movement that people follow in museums. They believed that the structure of layouts has an impact on visitors’ movement choices, whereby certain exhibits might be visited more often others
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