Analyzing the Characteristics of Cultural Meanings of Architectural Elements in Semiotic Layers

Culture is a dynamic and continuous set of codes. Every text has a network of codes in its heart and thus introduces the culture that emerges from it. This complex system of codes is built in different layers and produces meaning based on the interaction of these layers during reading and studying. But in the meantime, apart from culture, text, and author, another factor is also influential in the production of meaning: the audience. The work of codes within the text only begins when it engages with the mind of an audience. When facing an architectural sign, the audience's mind does not lead to only one signified. Each element of a building produces different meanings in different layers. In this study, these layers were the following: functional, environmental, aesthetic, and phenomenological. The functional layer refers to the primary use of the audience; the environmental layer is focused on the essential relationship of the elements with humans and the surrounding environment of the building; the aesthetic layer focuses on the way sense is produced through elemental art; and the layer of phenomenology is related to the platform that each building provides for understanding man and his relationships with the surrounding world. The meanings created in these layers in a hermeneutic process leads to an indeterminate meaning. The main question of the present article is how the cultural implications of architectural building elements interact with each other in different layers. In this regard, the architecture of Mellat and Astara cinema campuses were examined as a text under four functional, environmental, aesthetic, and phenomenological layers. Each building was analyzed in three stages open, central, and selective coding. The results showed that Mellat campus has led to the complete integration between the four layers and the strengthening of the meanings of each layer by the other layers and the achievement of a new definition of the architectural and artistic space. In Astara campus, it has led to focusing on the functional dimension of cinema and neglecting the communication between layers and the lack of satisfaction of the audience from being in the artistic space. The most important components of interaction between layers are the importance of creative form and the expression of different ideas, the prominence of architectural elements, the importance of the relationship between humans and the surrounding space, and a limited adaptation of form and function. The interaction of semiotic layers in the studied buildings presented some important results 1- The content of each building plays a fundamental role in the way the layers interact. The commercial complex has economic content, the cinema campus has art content and the mosque has religious content. This content acts as a central tool for bringing the layers closer together. In cinema campuses, artistic content increased the importance of sense. In such a way that the layers of environment and aesthetics and phenomenology interacted with each other based on this idea. 2- The layers of aesthetics and phenomenology, as expected, have a lot of interaction with each other, and in a way, the understanding that is created in the audience's mind in the field of phenomenology is a complement to the production of aesthetic implications. Therefore, these two layers can be studied in future research on religious buildings. 3- Although the functional layer is less important than the others in appearance, it is the foundation of any understanding that comes from the building because the function of each architectural element is the first interaction of the audience with that element and the underlying understanding is built in the first encounter.