Mapping out the path

Tired of getting lost in Cornett? Let the work of a UVic grad guide your way

by Joy Poliquin

Yoshii and one of his maps.

For students new to the university, not to mention visitors or old hands, finding your way around the Cornett Building can be a daunting task. In fact, a long-held urban myth is that the building is modelled after the human brain.

But now, the Cornett labyrinth is a lot simpler to navigate, thanks to environmental psychology graduate Ryosuke Yoshii. As part of his term paper, Yoshii worked with psychology professor Dr. Bob Gifford to model and implement a new series of maps to help simplify the building's plans.

"This building is so complicated," says Yoshii. "On some floors you can only access the floor below, and not the floor above. Before this project there weren't many maps, only emergency exit signs, so once you were in the building, there were few useful directions."

Yoshii used his psychology studies to create maps that are easy to read.

"I tried to incorporate as many psychological theories as possible," he says. He colour-coded the maps to distinguish between the A and B wings and added many small pieces of information, such as room numbers and the locations of photocopy machines and wheelchair-accessible washrooms. The design eliminates details that a person doesn't need to navigate the building.

Yoshii completed the project before graduating this June. Forty-three maps have been posted throughout the building, after Yoshii conferred with UVic's facilities management department.

Originally from Nishinomiyashi, Japan, Yoshii first came to B.C. in 1998 when he began ESL classes at Camosun College. He joined the university transfer program six months later. After earning an associate's degree in psychology he transferred to UVic in 2001. He graduated with a major in psychology and a minor in linguistics.

Yoshii is returning to Japan this summer with plans to pursue graduate studies in environmental psychology in Tokyo next April. "I'm looking forward to the future," he says, "but it's kind of neat to be leaving something lasting and useful behind."