Human factors

Architectural design can be enhanced by the consideration of human factors and this is increasingly recognised by those involved in building design. As well as being aesthetically pleasing a building must support its functional purpose. At the most basic level this can mean accessibility and wayfinding, but can also mean ensuring safety and enhancing user experience.

Architectural design can be enhanced by the consideration of human factors and this is increasingly recognised by those involved in building design. As well as being aesthetically pleasing a building must support its functional purpose. At the most basic level this can mean accessibility and wayfinding, but can also mean ensuring safety and enhancing user experience.

The built environment covers all buildings, but where human factors plays a significant role is where there are large volumes of people or customers. For example, environments such as airports, shopping centres, rail stations, hospitals, transport interchanges, public buildings and stadia.

Our human factors support tends to start with gaining a detailed understanding of the user population and their characteristics, such as, encumbrance, cognitive and physical abilities, nationality, mood, stress levels, and goals.  This understanding of the user profile is then utilised to assess and influence the design.