#74 | What Gaming Teaches Wayfinding

How do we find our way through spaces we have never visited before? And what happens when orientation is shaped less by signs and more by atmosphere, landmarks and subtle spatial cues?

In this episode, Christian Lunger speaks with Ari Lorenzana and Simon Borg from Populous, a global architecture and design firm specialising in large‑scale public venues. Their work spans sports environments and immersive settings, always with a focus on how people move through and experience a building.

The conversation explores how gaming influences our understanding of navigation. Open worlds instead of linear routes. Exploration rather than simple direction. Spaces that guide through their own character.

Ari and Simon describe how these ideas can be translated into real architecture: through spatial choreography, through light, through landmarks, through buildings that lead without instructing. And why wayfinding becomes more meaningful when it is considered from the very beginning of the design process.

A calm, focused half hour on movement, perception and the question of how spaces can speak — quietly, but with intention.

Shownotes

https://populous.com

https://www.motasdesign.com