Analysis of the Physical Sense of Place in the Traditional Houses and Modern Residential Apartments

This paper is a research conducted based on the basic question that why house belonging is removed from today houses. Answer of this question will further demonstrate more importance and necessity of such studies compared with previous studies. This is because addressing such studies plays an important role in recognition of the principles of traditional architecture while modern designers and architects can use these principles to improve physical sense of place for residents of today's residential complexes as the dominant paradigm of contemporary urban housing. In order to answer this question (why house belonging is removed from today houses), some case samples of traditional houses with inhabitants and new residential complexes of Shiraz city were chosen and compared. Accordingly, document and field research methods were used in this study to collect data from various view point of residents by the questionnaires representing features such as shape, size, texture, decoration and relationships as the physical layout of each house. Next, the questionnaires were tested and analyzed. First, based on obtained data it was concluded that the rate of the sense of belonging to house is more in traditional houses than modern complexes. Next, in order to understand the aspects of this sense of belonging to house, the main characteristic of a sense of belonging to a house in terms of traditional houses and new residential complexes, i.e. structural elements of the house with its main features, were investigated. In this study, the most important physical factors (diagnostic criteria for a house), which included the shape and size of elements, relationships, arrangement, context and ornaments were tested. The obtained results showed that the physical sense of place in the traditional house is more than that of obtained in the new complexes. ­This sense of belonging to place is more represented in the two features of shape and size of elements (including the size and shape of the yard, porch or portico, skylight and windows), context and decoration (including items such as yard decorations, building decorating and interior decoration) in the traditional houses. But the feature of relationships and arrangement (including access to other living spaces in the house and access to the street where the house is located) in the new residential complexes has a higher mean when compared with traditional houses. Finally, according to the obtained results, people who live in new residential complexes want to consider the characteristics of traditional houses like increased area of courtyard or terrace, increased external and internal decoration of the house, increased size of hallways and decreased residential units within complex integrated design. Therefore, in new complexes, contemporary designers and architects can identify these features in the new apartments by considering the financial situation and options for residents of a house based on the fusion of traditional and modern architecture for contemporary residential design. Designs based on traditional houses and by considering the characteristics mentioned above will increase sense of physical belonging of residents to their houses.