Finding a safe place inside a building in an emergency can be a difficult task for disabled people, as they are expected to be able to find an “Area of Refuge” (AR) and wait there until rescued. Wayfinding is influenced by\ud building features and type of instructions given. Two studies were carried out with the aim of exploring how the type of instructions affects wayfinding. In Studies 1 and 2, participants accompanied a wheelchair-bound friend inside a virtually reproduced medical clinic and once they reached a target zone, a fire alarm was sounded. Participants received either general instructions on how to behave in the event of a fire emergency, or specific instructions focusing on how to reach an AR, or no instructions (Studies 1 and 2); or alternatively they could look at a map or receive specific instructions accompanied by a map (Study 2). The results showed that participants who were given no instructions looked for more means of escape, and took more time to reach the AR than the other groups. In addition, this group also performed more actions during the pre-movement time. These findings\ud highlight the importance of correct information in influencing wayfinding performance and suggest novel design solutions. The design of our study made it possible to examine not only the effect of different instruction types\ud but also of different building features

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The COVID-19 spread abruptly changed the fruition of indoor environments, where necessary adaptive measures have since been implemented. Buildings open to the public were suddenly equipped with physical devices aiming to encourage users’ appropriate behaviors, such as hand sanitizing, social distancing, and temperature monitoring. Through a twofold architectural-psychological perspective, the paper presents a research aiming to understand how users perceive these devices in the Italian context and to identify the design features that could improve their effectiveness in enhancing individuals’ awareness. With an interdisciplinary approach, four methods were adopted: observational field surveys, background and normative framework analysis, survey research through an online questionnaire, and case studies survey research. The results confirm the overall effectiveness of the implemented anti-COVID strategies, their suitability in encouraging individuals’ appropriate behaviors, and the importance of regulating the users’ flow indoors. The research allowed defining the devices (hand-sanitizing devices and temperature-measurement instruments) and wayfinding systems more suited to be included in the prevention strategy and identified their more appropriate design features in relation to the users’ feedback. Operational suggestions are presented as well. The adopted experimental approach can be useful in supporting decision making in managing of the built environment in both the current and future contexts.