Legibility and Connectivity in Campus Areas: Case of Karadeniz Technical University

 

ABSTRACT Successfully designed campuses help to balance university’s academic, research and service missions with its educational services and raise learning performances. High level of design and planning service has close relation with campus legibility. Kevin Lynch, one of the leading theorists, did several research on legibility used cognitive mapping as a tool and defined five fundamental legibility elements, has been widely used in design research. In this study, Black Sea Technical University is selected as the research area and its legibility level has determined. Aim of this study is to define the legibility level of the campus by students’ perceptions. In this context, Lynch's five fundamental legibility elements directed students to generate cognitive maps of the campus, and each student's perception level on campus area is determined. Additionally, integration levels of the areas in the campus will b Respondent group include students from Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning departments. End product is the analysis of the cognitive maps, produced by each student, based on legibility elements. Cognitive map of the campus has created, and the legibility level of the campus is determined. Following, the results are classified as the areas with high, medium and low cognition. Furthermore, depth maps and integration levels of the Campus will be analyzed in depthmapX application to compare the results with the cognitive maps. Finally, possibility of raising university’s educational and research activities through design are discussed.