A considerable body of research, as well as common sense, suggests that people have difficulty finding their way and describing complex settings. However, the spatial definition of 'complexity' is not clarified. Recently, several studies of small buildings have found that 'Space Syntax' measures of environmental form are useful in understanding the relationships between the environment and the search patterns people use when they explore a building or wayfind in it. This study replicates the research in three large buildings and explores environmental understanding as a third pattern that can be rigorously described and linked to environmental form and patterns of search. In addition, the study employs Space Syntax and other format descriptive tools to comprehend the development of environmental knowledge as people explore a setting.; One hundred twenty-eight volunteers participated in three large urban hospitals: they performed 'open searches' where they attempted to become familiar with the hospital, 'directed searches' where they sought specific locations and various cognitive mapping tasks. Environmental variables were categorized into local, relational and global variables.; Correlational analysis revealed that Space Syntax measures of connectivity and integration were good predictors of the use of spaces during both open and directed search. However, when people were initially exploring the setting, they relied more on local qualities, such as how many additional nodal decision points could be seen from a given node. As they got to know the setting better, their wayfinding behavior was better predicted by global qualities such as the Space Syntax integration. This suggests that people rapidly move from a local to a more global topological understanding as they learn a setting.; Additionally, it was found that the possibility of gaining subsequent information from any space, labeled 'expectation of exploration' was an important predictor of use. Furthermore, overall search patterns are influenced by the characteristics of the starting point: if an entry is shallower with respect to the rest of the building people will tend to have a quicker understanding of the layout.
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