Contribution of colour-zoning differentiation to multidimensional spatial knowledge acquisition in symmetrical hospital wards

Symmetrical hospital buildings often use a colour-zoning differentiation strategy to vary the repetition and monotony of their architectural structures. However, there is scarce scientific evidence or systematized research regarding the cognitive effects of interior colour schemes applied to the entire building. The present study investigated the effect of colour schemes combined with geometric plan configurations on multidimensional spatial knowledge acquisition. In total, 192 participants navigated 12 virtual environments – combinations of three distinct geometric plans and four colour schemes of varying contrasts and hues. Generalised linear models were used to predict the effects of environmental factors (plan configurations and colour schemes) and individual factors (age, gender, sense of direction and gaming experience). The results indicated that the colour scheme significantly contributed only to landmark and route knowledge, and acquiring survey knowledge was only significantly affected by plan configuration. Women were more significantly influenced by environmental factors and men by individual factors, regardless of varied environmental attributes.