الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Architecture has long focused on the visual sense with the neglect of the other human senses. However, due to the influence of phenomenological writings, there is now a growing recognition that our perception of place and of the world around us is actually multi-sensory in nature, involving all our senses. Consequently, there are more calls for the need for a multi-sensory approach to architectural design. Emerging research appears to confirm that multi-sensory environments provide users with a more holistic and richer experience of place during the experience and a memorable vivid one. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the multi-sensory nature of experience in the perception of place and thus contributing to the knowledge needed for a multi-sensory design approach. Because the process of perception plays a more important role in the experience of new places where the senses tend to be more alert than in the experience of familiar places, hence the thesis is focusing more particularly on the experience of newly visited places. The thesis relies on a phenomenological research approach. Two phenomenological studies are conducted to explore the lived experiences for newly visited places approaching different types of users in different types of settings. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between spatial qualities and the multi-sensorial perception of the built environment. Due to the fact that vivid experiences are more likely to occur when different senses are stimulated hence, the first study objective explores accounts with vivid experiences. Through the exploration of such vivid environmental experiences, the study intends to determine the multi-sensorial spatial qualities of the built environment that can induce an unforgettable experience. Since the visually impaired and blind rely on their other senses which makes them appreciate other spatial qualities. The objective of the second study is to understand how they experience and perceive the built environment through their compensatory senses. More specifically, the study is intending to determine the spatial qualities that can enrich the multisensory experience in the built environment. Through the exploration of such capabilities, the study extracts multisensorial spatial qualities that cater for such capabilities. The vivid experiences are documented through personal diaries. To complement information obtained from the diaries, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. While for the second study it relied on two different types of narratives. First, the autobiography of Taha Hussein “The Days” as a past experience of a blind person is selected. Second, in-depth semi-structured interviews and guided tours with ten visually impaired and blind informants are conducted. For each of the studies, a phenomenological interpretive explicitation of the collected data is carried out to identify the main themes related to the multi-sensory nature of the experience for the perception of place. Through inter-subjectivity that synthesizes the general essence of the phenomenon, the phenomenological interpretation permitted to identify four themes that describe the holistic multisensory experience. The findings show that sensory perception of physical characteristics such as volumetric configuration, geometric configuration, opening (size/location)/building orientation, detecting obstacles, and finishing materials acted as a dominant theme helping in cognitive processes such as constructing mental imagery/ cognitive maps, and operating in the built environment. Untimely such a cognitive process provided an emotional affect or meaning and role in capturing an ambience or set of ambiences that is associated to the whole multisensory experience. Among those ambiences are tenseness, vibrant, ambiguity, attractiveness, tranquility, and predictability |