Wayfinding and signposting - using plants to help people on their way

In order to work efficiently, buildings such as airports, hospitals and shopping centres rely on people knowing where they are and where they are going. People craning their necks to find signposts, perhaps in a foreign language, cause bottlenecks and result in delays. Shop owners in large shopping centres need to entice casual browsers into their emporia, and hospital patients need to find their treatment rooms quickly and without adding to the stress they may already be suffering from.

A lot of research has been carried out into the theories of efficient wayfinding. Indeed, there is a whole chapter devoted to this subject in a key text book for environmental psychologists. (See source for further information at the bottom of this page.)

So, where do plant displays fit in? Well designed plant displays can be very useful and inexpensive tools to help people find their way around a building.

Shopping centres

Plants can be used to provide visual cues to help people locate themselves. For example, plants of different styles can be placed in groups at places such as meeting points or outside specific entrances. Palms at one end of the building, bushy Ficus trees at the other and graceful Buddhist Pines in the middle can be one way of helping people to find their place in a busy, bustling space.

Where large shopping centres are zoned (e.g. The Metro Centre in Gateshead, UK), different plants can be used to reinforce the zonal design. This can be achieved by using different types of trailing plants overhanging the balconies in each zone.  These are visible from both the upper and lower levels of the shopping centre. As a shopper moves from one zone to the next, the plants change in a subtle, yet noticeable way. Dark green ivy gives way to variegated Scindapsus, which in turn give way to the feathery foliage of Boston Ferns.

Another idea would be to always use the same plant near each exit or by the escalators. They would be visible from a distance, yet remain subtle and understated. Use different coloured containers to differentiate one place from another.

Airports

Airports rely on the efficient movement of large numbers of people to function properly. Passengers must get to their gates on time. However, many airports are very confusing in their layout. Mile after mile of corridors and walkways all leading to near identical departure gates. Take a wrong turn out of a restaurant or shop and you could be at the wrong end of the airport before you realise it. Add to that the fact that airports are places where people with different cultures and different languages meet. Conventional signs can only be written in a small number of languages. More than three or four on one signboard and they get very confusing. Plant displays are a useful way of guiding people. Plants of different forms, or containers of different styles and colours can be used to point people in the right direction and ultimately mark out the boundaries of seating areas for particular departure points.

Hospitals

Hospitals also need people to move around quickly and to the right place.  Unfortunately, many seem designed to make that task as hard as possible.  Entrances to buildings are difficult to notice and once inside, there is a maze of identical looking corridors to negotiate.

Plants located in strategic places are very useful.  Waiting areas, often wide spaces off corridors, are much more obvious when there is a small collection of plants.  Something that would also aid in relaxation whilst waiting for an appointment.  Visitors also need places to go whilst their loved ones are being treated.  Planted spaces suggest social areas and they are much more obvious along an anonymous corridor than a small sign.

These two corridors are almost identical and you would be forgiven for not knowing for sure where you are.  However, the interior landscape designers at this American hospital have used different plant species in each area to help visitors to tell them apart.

Entrances to buildings must be obvious.  Public entrances need to be distinguishable from private doorways and here again, plants have a role to play.  Because of their organic shape and form, plants are much more noticeable against the geometric shapes of a building than a geometrically-shaped sign board.  They are probably much cheaper too.

Developing the theme further, it might be possible to identify different functions within a hospital by using different types of plant display.  Gynaecology departments might be identified by Lady palms (Rhapis excelsa), haematology by Stromanthe sanguinea and maternity wards by mother-of-thousands (Saxifraga stolonifera).  More seriously, it is much easier to find a room that you have been told has a plant in a pink pot next to the door than it is to follow coloured tapes on the floor or confusing signs hanging from the ceiling.

Hospital corridor - using a plant to show the way

Lift (elevator) lobbies

Lift (elevator) lobbies in high rise buildings are nearly always identical, apart from a numbered sign on the wall.  When a crowded lift stops at a floor, you have a split second chance of spotting the sign that tells you where you are before the doors close again.

Life can be made easier by placing plants opposite the lift doors that are immediately visible.  Each floor can have a different type of plant which will become instantly recognisable to users of the building.  The theme can also be carried on throughout the floor.  Why not have a floor of fig trees and another of Yucca plants?  This is a very good way of defining spaces and giving a sense of individuality and identity to a work space. 

Why do plants work so well? 

The most obvious reason is that they stand out well against the background.  Buildings are made up of lots of vertical and horizontal lines.  Signposts and notice boards also tend to be rectangular in shape.  The only thing that makes them stand out from the background is their colour.  Plants on the other hand (or more especially plant displays, including containers and top dressings) are much less regular in their shape.  Few conform to perfect vertical and horizontal planes.  This makes them stand out against their background.

Buildings of the type mentioned in this article frequently already have plant displays.  Why not make those displays work a bit harder by using them for more than decoration alone.  Plants are good at multi-tasking and never complain of overwork.

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Author: Kenneth Freeman

Source for further information: Handbook of Environmental Psychology, edited by Robert B. Bechtel, Arza Churchman; published by John Wiley & Sons Inc; ISBN: 0471405949.