Wayfinding in school architecture

Abstract

The school environment should provide children with information on spatial orientation in order to recognize and be able to assess where they are and how to reach an intended location. Children should be able to recognize points of departure and destination independently in the built environment. This information is provided by the environment and is part of the system called Wayfinding (ARTHUR & PASSINI, 1992; PASSINI, 1992; GOLLEDGE, 1999; GIBSON, 2009; MEUSER & POGADE, 2010). The goal of this study is to assess existing problems in spatial orientation of visually impaired students of a special education school selected in the city of São Paulo. The selection will take into account the greatest amount of visually impaired students enrolled in preschools in the year 2012, according to data from the Municipal Department of Education (SME) of the city of São Paulo. The implementation of a new Wayfinding system in the selected school is aimed in order to improve accuracy in the system orientation of visually impaired students. Specific data collection tools will be applied, which include interviews with staff and children as well as gaming and tactile maps (BERNARDI & KOWALTOWSKI, 2006; ABATE, 2011). The visually impaired children's opinion is searched to etaborate Wayfinding in the building as a whole, especially the school building, so that those schools may operate at optimal conditions favoring accessibility in environments by means of project recommendations. Yin's (2005) case study research will serve as a methodological basis. This is a qualitative multidisciplinary study based on theoretical foundations of architecture, education, pedagogy, medicine, sociology and environmental psychology, amongst others. (AU)