Wayfinding & Navigation
This term describes how people understand and move through a space, often supported by signage, lighting, and spatial cues.
What is wayfinding?
The architecture of the Canadian Museum of history, known for curvilinear forms inspired by the land.
Who is Douglas Cardinal?
The Retro Exhibit uses decade-specific colours and lighting at each section entrance, helping visitors instantly recognize where they are. This supports which stage of wayfinding?
What is orientation?
In your site visit, your group must observe how this first space-where visitors enter, orient, and decide their next steps-affects your persona.
What is the entry point (or lobby)?
This architectural approach uses shapes and materials to communicate deeper cultural meaning—students must provide three examples in Step 3.
What is symbolic architecture?
Vintage objects placed at key intersections — like a bright neon sign or an old arcade machine — help visitors remember their location by acting as these visual cues.
What are landmarks?
Colour, texture, and materials choices often create these "visual breadcrumbs" that help guide a visitor along a path.
What are wayfinding cues?
Cardinal’s use of flowing walls reflects this concept inspired by natural geography.
What is organic form (or forms inspired by the landscape)?
In the Retro Exhibit, coloured pathways inspired by retro graphic design or repeated symbols help visitors confirm they’re still going the right way. These are known as what?
What are breadcrumbs?
Douglas Cardinal’s flowing, organic architecture can make navigation challenging, so students rely on these mental spatial maps created during movement.
What are cognitive maps?
This element of the museum’s architecture references Indigenous worldviews through materiality, curves, and representation.
What is Indigenous cultural symbolism?
Clips of retro music and sound effects create “pull zones” where people pause in groups; this behaviour forms temporary clusters based on which spatial concept?
What are informal gathering points (informal space)?
A persona with low vision may rely on high-contrast signage and textured floor surfaces - and example of analyzing this essential factor in wayfinding.
What is accessibility?
While touring the museum, students analyze how dramatic vertical spaces such as the Grand Hall create emotional impact—an example of this environmental psychology concept.
What is spatial perception (or affective response to space)?
Because museum visitors create mental images of how each decade connects to the next, the Retro Exhibit supports long-term navigation through this environmental psychology process.
What is consistent identity?