Mapping Research on Museum Spatial Design and Visitor Experience

Designing space in museums can influence visitors’ experiences, as it can impact visitors’ ability to navigate through the museum and to engage with as well as learn from exhibits. Although extensive research exists on museum architecture, exhibition design, and visitor behavior, this body of work remains conceptually fragmented across disciplines. In particular, there is limited systematic understanding of how spatial design research has evolved in relation to visitor experience. This study addresses this gap by offering a bibliometric synthesis of scholarship at the intersection of spatial design and visitor experience in museums. Based on an analysis of 252 publications indexed in Scopus, the study examines publication trends, intellectual foundations, and thematic structures within the field. The findings reveal a research landscape anchored in spatial configuration and architectural theory, while simultaneously expanding toward experiential, behavioral, and digitally mediated perspectives. However, the analysis also exposes a persistent imbalance: Advanced spatial frameworks are widely employed, yet visitor experience is often inferred through movement and visibility patterns rather than examined through integrated cognitive, emotional, and behavioral measures. By mapping how spatial design research has clustered and evolved in relation to visitor experience, this study clarifies conceptual alignments, methodological gaps, and emerging directions within museum scholarship. The findings contribute to theory-building by highlighting the need for integrative approaches that link spatial metrics with experiential data. These findings also provide a foundation for future empirical research aimed at developing more holistic, experience-driven museum environments.