Environmental Communication : A Case Study of Wayfinding in a Hospital Environment in Kenya.

Abstract

Environmental communication refers to information that is embedded in the bu1lt environment in the form of physical elements, architectural features, and other communication devices such as s1gnage and color separations Users of that enwonment interprate and use this information to enable them live. work, and play in that environment. Wayfindmg as investigated in this study 1s the enwonment user's ut1lizat1on of this Information to enable them naVIgate the environment wtth the des1re to reach a destination within the same environment This interraction between the phys1cal built environment and the users' human behav1or provides the backdrop aga1nst wh1ch this study on wayfinding is grounded Coming from the environmentaJ...destgn diSCiplines of design, architecture, and urban & regional planning, there is a convergance with aspects from the soc1al sciences of psychology, sociology and geography. This is an enwonment-behavior (E-B) research that is applied to a rea'-world problem of wayfinding . Wayfinding, the task of getting from an ongm to a destination, is one of the pnmary spatial activities that human bemgs encounter in everyday life. ln so doing, they act and behave in the environment based on the structure and features of that environment, set against a background of knowledge that has VIsual characteristics. The main research issues of this study revolved around a persons ability to successfully navigate the•r way to a des1red destination in a hospital The 1m pact that the legibility of the physical enVIronment had on th1s process formed the lens through which th1s was investigated. The selection of the hospital envrionment was based on conversations with the general public about their experiences of •getting lost• in hospitals Subsequent review of the literature further identified hospitals as being heav1ly prone to users getting lost The Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), located 1n the c1ty of Na1rob1 , was purposively selected as the princ1pal case study s1te due to its' status of bemg the largest referral hospital in Kenya. From an epistemological standpoint, this study adopted an interpretiVJst paradigm 1n its investigation ofwayfinding 1n a hospital. A mixed-method research design using exploratory, observational, and descnptive study w ithin a case study framework was devised . The aim was to identify the main factors that affect how people find their way successfully to destinations within the the hospital. In order to achieve th1s aim, four spec1fic obJectives were formulated that evaluated the wayfinding information in the built enVIronment of the hospital, investigate how wayfinders use wayfinding information to find their way to their destinations. establish the Influence of wayfinding information upon wayfinding behavior of the user, and assess the level of user satisfaction with the use of wayfinding informatio n in the hospital. The findings from the study indicated that the state of environmental communication relating to wayfinding was inadequate to facilitate a successful wayfinding expenence for users of the hospital environment. From the findings, the study concluded that the existing system of wayfinding present at the hospital required to be reviewed to make it more user friendly and responsive to the requirements of the standards of universal access The recommendations were that further work 1n th1s area need to be undertaken w1th the involvement of stakeholders in order to create a user friendly way finding environment.