P L A I A

By Feras Alsaggaf. Architecture is a professional practice that combines design, engineering, and to a large extent, aesthetics through artistic expression to appeal to building users. In the most purest sense, architects are designing for people first. People use the environment on a daily basis – it is as subconscious as the experience of opening a door to enter a space. In the door example, this is largely mediated by our intuitive expectations of how a door knob should function, and the affordance provided by turning the door knob (an action possibility for entering another space). But when a door knob fails to open a door, whose failure is this?  

In the world of user experience design, those are famously known as “Norman Doors.” Typically, doors are supported by a frame and hinged on one side, making it able to swing only in one direction. Poor design can make it unclear which direction to swing the door open, making signage necessary to compensate for its poor design but illegible if you can’t read them, adding more to the confusion and poor user experience.  

A door (should) serve a clear function and means of interaction. People have largely experienced doors all their lives, and are familiar with the concept of a door. Design features could be evaluated with users to assess its usability and aesthetic appeal. Aesthetics decisions, however, could make the interaction of a door feel like it’s the first time you see a door! This is not to say that doors should always look familiar or adhere to universal expectations in its design language. Custom, minimalist doors serve an important purpose if applied in the correct context for as long as the core function is still met.

The spatial experience of moving through architecture, on the other hand, is several orders of magnitudes more complex than a door. Architecture (rightfully so!) is a design discipline first and foremost that prioritises the attainment of certain user experience qualities and functional requirements. Architects also manage the added responsibility of financial feasibility, life safety, legal requirements, regional and local regulations. Architects who prioritize user experience, and meet its intended user experience vision, while being aligned to the core project requirements, are massively rewarded.

How do you manage the complexity of various user needs when designing a building? Let’s examine spatial layouts: the spaces we move through in buildings. If we zoom in to a ubiquitous part of buildings, corridors, we can identify “Norman Door Effect” in certain contexts. Corridors are connecting spaces–passageways, the “in-between” threshold from previous to next. These spaces serve the core function which is to intuitively connect building users from and to different parts of the building, yet getting lost is not uncommon in such spaces. If a building user takes a wrong turn and self-corrects before arriving to their intended destination, was it a failure of the user or the design? In a building like Bouwkunde faculty, this is a common problem despite its excellent wayfinding signage system and helpful maps. This is surely not going to be a deal breaker for user experience (in fact, it may boost its already infamous status of being the most confusing building on campus!).

Wayfinding experience becomes increasingly more important for other user demographics: travellers in public transport buildings, patients in a hospital, first-responders in a shopping mall, evacuation of an office building during fire, but also those who are affected by visuospatial processing impairments and spatial memory deficits like elderly with Alzheimer’s dementia. For those of us who need extra support during wayfinding, the good news is that the built environment can play a role in orienting and supporting navigation. Advancement in virtual reality makes it possible for “A/B testing” subtle changes in an environment not only to observe how wayfinding performance improve, but also enhance the spatial experience. If we take a common point of wayfinding friction, it is exactly at those decision points where your route choice will dictate whether or not you have chosen the intended path.

In sensitive population with impaired spatial navigation skills, such as Alzheimer’s dementia patients in long-term care homes, wayfinding can be a daily challenge. Designing spaces that provide cognitive support during navigation to enhance personal autonomy and user experience is challenging to address in an already complex design process, yet it is fundamental to quality of life. Architects get a lot of say on this matter due to the fact that major decisions on the spatial and visual design elements are decided in early, conceptual stages of an architecture project. This is a high-stakes situation where it necessitates careful reflection on how we approach design of architecture to ensure it meets its intended purpose. For older residents living in social co-housing or long-term care residential buildings, the connecting spaces (e.g. corridors) should meet its intended architectural function, which is to connect people to other parts of the building while making it a pleasant experience despite limitations in cognitive capacities.

Author: Feras Alsaggaf || Date: 2026-05-13 || Inspired by The Design of Everyday Things book by Don Norman

Feras Alsaggaf is a PhD candidate at TU Delft Digital Technologies Section. He will present his research at an upcoming PLAIA event. PLAIA is organizing a small gathering among some (former) MSc/PhD students who work(ed) on/with AI and soft values in Design. It takes place on 1^st July afternoon – as an opportunity for students from different MSc programs and disciplines to present their work and get to know each other. It is also an opportunity for architects, researchers, experts to attend and engage in discussions around the topics the students will present.

[banner image AI generated – DALL E]