Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
2
Master of Architecture, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
Abstract
Architectural experience is a perceptual, multi-sensory, and embodied process through which the quality of space, material, and scale is evaluated by the integration of multiple senses, and awareness emerges from the synthesis of sensory impressions transmitted to the brain. This study, drawing on the phenomenological theories of Merleau-Ponty and Pallasmaa regarding the embodiment of perception and the multi-sensory experience of space, seeks to interpret such an experience as an architectural practice. In fact, experiencing a space through all senses can be considered a form of practice that enables the architect, through recognizing and understanding their own bodily presence in space, to propose architectural solutions. In this regard, the research adopts a phenomenological (first-person) approach to offer a qualitative analysis of the multi-sensory perception process in the area of Agha Nourollah Najafi Passage in Isfahan. The research process involves recording the lived experiences of the researcher through flânerie in the study area, conducting sensory observation and note-taking, analyzing and categorizing these experiences in the form of sensory maps (visual, auditory, olfactory-gustatory, and tactile-muscular), and finally integrating these maps into a multi-sensory map. To this end, going beyond the traditional use of maps as navigational tools, the study employs cartography as an aesthetic tool to represent the lived multi-sensory experience of space in visual form. The research findings indicate that urban spatial experience is a composite of diverse sensory stimuli, which are synthesized into a unified perception through the experiencing body. For example, the combination of the smells of soil, greenery, and food, environmental sounds, and the tactile qualities of the path (including movement, wall textures, and muscular stimuli) conveys a sense of dwelling and livability within the space. As a result, multi-sensory mapping, as an innovative method, enables the representation of this complex experience and can serve as an analytical and design tool for architects and urban designers.
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