Natapov and colleagues studied how design can support emergency evacuations. They report that “Effective indoor wayfinding in the event of an emergency is key to guaranteeing safe and timely evacuation. . . . Our findings show that wall transparency only impacts wayfinding when combined with visibility at route starting points, and that staircases and ramps are the most significant architectural landmarks in emergency wayfinding. . . . in cases of more complex evacuation scenarios with low visibility conditions, wayfinding [requires] a greater number of architectural features.”
Asya Natapov, Avi Parush, Leslie Laufer, and Dafna Fisher-Gerwirtzman. 2022. “Architectural Features and Indoor Evacuation Wayfinding: The Starting Point Matters.” Safety Science, vol. 145, no. 105483, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105483