Problem statement
The university is the most important educational setting for acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to enter the world of work. In recent years, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing spread of the virus, educational activities within the physical environment of universities were suspended, while disruption and underperformance in university education, particularly in architecture, cause irreparable damage to the future of the profession. The case study of this research comprises a number of faculties of art and architecture, in order to analyze the space syntax characteristics that help reduce the likelihood of human contact and thereby limit the spread of disease in future pandemics.
Research objectives
The main objective is to identify the configuration-based physical characteristics of circulation spaces that affect the predisposing factors for the spread of respiratory diseases (density, presence, circulation and wayfinding).
Research method
This is a mixed-methods study carried out through computer simulation. Data were collected through library research and field observation. To achieve the research objective, three faculties of art and architecture were selected as case studies and space syntax theory was adopted for data analysis; Depthmap software was then used for visibility graph analysis and angular segment analysis .
Conclusion
The analysis of space syntax indices showed that no configuration pattern is low-risk on its own. The ring pattern, with the highest choice and lowest intelligibility, concentrates flow on a limited number of segments and is more vulnerable. The linear pattern, with high integration, low depth and high intelligibility, facilitates wayfinding and the guidance of flow but requires density management. The centralized pattern, with lower choice and higher intelligibility, reduces network-level concentration of flow, yet its central nodes act as local foci of contact. Spatial resilience depends on balancing integration, depth and legibility, and on managing nodes.