Enhancing Wayfinding and Fire Egress Systems in Entertainment Centres: Comparative Study of Nigerian and International Cases

Entertainment centres are increasingly common features of contemporary urban life, bringing together leisure, retail, dining, and cultural functions within single, high-occupancy facilities. Because these spaces host large and diverse crowds with varying degrees of familiarity, effective wayfinding and fire egress design are essential to both user experience and life safety. This study investigates how these two systems can be architecturally integrated, drawing on a qualitative comparative case study approach that examines one Nigerian facility, Twinwaters Entertainment Centre in Lagos, alongside three internationally recognised precedents: Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Entertainment City Manila, and Shanghai Disneyland. Evidence was gathered through architectural documentation, observational assessment, and a review of relevant regulatory and design literature. The findings show that facilities characterised by clear spatial hierarchy, strong visual connectivity, and well-integrated circulation networks achieve superior navigation efficiency and evacuation performance. However, the analysis also reveals that the international cases accomplish this integration largely through resource-intensive mechanisms, such as performance-based fire engineering, digital wayfinding infrastructure, and dedicated environmental graphic design, that assume levels of capital investment and regulatory enforcement not consistently available within the Nigerian development context. Twinwaters, by contrast, relies heavily on signage and staff-guided navigation, exposing a wider gap between local practice and global standards. To address this gap, the study proposes a Low-Cost Architectural Integration (LCAI) strategy: an approach that achieves spatial legibility and egress alignment through layout, massing, and material decisions made at the design stage, rather than through added technology or signage. Adopting this strategy is anticipated to reduce dependence on signage and staff intervention, align everyday circulation with emergency egress routes, and improve user orientation and evacuation readiness at minimal additional capital cost, particularly within resource-constrained, emerging urban contexts.

Wayfinding, Fire Egress, Entertainment Centres, Spatial Legibility, Low-Cost Architectural Integration (LCAI)

1. Ching, F. D. K. (2014). Architecture: Form, space, and order (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Devlin, A. S., & McKay, K. N. (2018). Designing environments that facilitate wayfinding: Evidence-based approaches for complex buildings. Environment and Behavior, 50(7), 723–748. doi:10.1177/0013916517708140 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Dickson, P. (2019). Building design practice and fire codes for buildings in Nigeria: Issues, effects and solutions. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 8(8), 45–50. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2023). National Building Code Review Draft. Abuja, Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Hart, I. I., & Bethels, U. P. (2026). Architectural strategies for wayfinding and circulation in multiplex and entertainment centres: Evidence from a Nigerian case and international precedents. International Journal of Engineering and Modern Technology, 12(1), 123–130. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Hölscher, C., Büchner, S., Meilinger, T., & Strube, G. (2018). Signs and maps in navigation and wayfinding research. In H. A. Karimi (Ed.), Universal access in human-computer interaction (pp. 117–128). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Ibrahim, N., Abdul Rahman, N., & Ismail, S. (2022). Architectural determinants of wayfinding performance in public facilities. Journal of Building Engineering, 48, 103977. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Jamshidi, A., Mesbah, M., King, M., & Currie, G. (2020). Wayfinding behaviour and spatial cognition in complex built environments: A review. Sustainability, 12(3), 1124. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Jeffery, K. J. (2019). Urban architecture: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. Buildings, 9(3), 65. doi:10.3390/buildings9030065 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Kuligowski, E. D. (2021). Human behaviour in fire evacuation: Current research and future directions. Fire Technology, 57(1), 7–34. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Kuligowski, E. D., Peacock, R. D., & Hoskins, B. L. (2010). A review of building evacuation models (2nd ed.) (NIST Technical Note 1680). Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Li, R., & Klippel, A. (2021). Spatial cognition and navigation in public buildings: Implications for architectural design. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 48(7), 1858–1874. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. National Fire Protection Association. (2024). NFPA 101: Life Safety Code (2024 ed.). Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Obi, N. I. (2015). Fire protection measures in buildings: The architect's design role. Civil and Environmental Research, 7(7), 27–30. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Proulx, G. (2001). Occupant behaviour and evacuation. In Proceedings of the 9th International Fire Protection Symposium (pp. 219–232). Munich: Hughes Associates. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Ronchi, E., & Nilsson, D. (2020). Fire evacuation in high-occupancy buildings: Human factors and design implications. Fire Safety Journal, 112, 102949. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Shi, J., Ren, A., & Chen, C. (2019). Effects of building layout on evacuation efficiency and occupant movement behaviour. Safety Science, 117, 231–240. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Umo, U. U. (2019). Studies towards understanding architectural wayfinding. Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Re-Validating the Uniqueness of Urban Morphology of the Shekhawati Region Through Reconnaissance Using Hotspot Analysis
• Golden Ages and Emerging Needs: Rethinking old Age Homes as Self Sustained Communities
• The Missing Link between Colonial Jack Arch Roofing and Indigenous Construction Practices in India
• Archiving Kolakopa - A Study on the Present Condition and the Architectural Features of an Evanescing Historic Settlement.
• Analysing Vendor Lock-In in Serverless Architectures