From Functional Space to Experience Space: Applying space syntax analysis to a museum in China

Abstract

Space syntax starts from the ontology of space to quantify the space and uses mathematical logic to reveal and describe the logic of the space structure. However, the application of space syntax analysis to museums in China has rarely been explored. In light of this, this study employs space syntax to analyse the Gulangyu Organ Museum (Xiamen, China) and uses the topological depth, visual graph analysis, and agent simulation to describe the structure of the museum space. Accordingly, several suggestions are proposed, including rearranging the layout of the museum's functions and transforming the museum from functional space to experience space. This study can serve as a valuable reference for the application of space syntax in the design and optimization of space design and functional layout. We believe that the findings of this study can also be applied to other cultural institutions (e.g., galleries) with similar characteristics.