The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of different plan form of circulation systems on spatial information processing and orientation abilities of newcomers in unfamiliar large-scale commercial environments. Two shopping malls in Beijing were chosen to apply the same field experiments, which were in the same conditions except different types of circulation systems— one with multi-atriums and linear serial type of circulation system and the other with single-atrium centric radiation type of circulation system. Space transition nodes from horizontal route to vertical route in each circulation system were various as well. A total of 69 participants were divided randomly into two groups and complete 4 separate tasks to explore the correlation between different types of circulation systems and space orientation performance. Personal difference in cognitive styles and spatial abilities were examined as well to explore the correlation with space orientation behavior. The main conclusion was that performance of space cognition tasks of space users in multi-atriums and linear serial type of circulation system is superior to single-atrium centric radiation type of circulation system. Cognitive style of space users was correlated with performance in space cognitive sketch-map tasks and the answers to a questionnaire.
['R. Zhao', 'X. Li', 'Yiwen Chen']
The impact of plan form of circulation systems in large-scale environments on space cognition: Case study in two shopping malls in China