Architectural components for the formation of sweet collective memories in the "in between space" of residential environments

The "in-between space" in residential environments is placed between the street and residential units. This arena has a mediating role and creates a connection between different arenas, including the private arena and the public arena. The "in-between space" is known as a platform for the formation of meetings, encounters, and interactions between neighbors, but nowadays in most residential environments, this area has been removed or is not of much attention in terms of quality. "in-between space" is the first place that residents encounter after leaving the private territory inside their home; It is a suitable platform for the formation of sweet collective memories; memories that have been directly experienced by people or they have gained knowledge about it in various ways, such as memories of national ceremonies and "Nowruz Eid", religious ceremonies and Muharram mourning, family and friends birthday celebrations, memories related to the current affairs of life, etc. Memories that are the introduction of place identity, In a residential environment where the necessary grounds for social communication are provided, more collective memories are formed and in this way, the probability of human attachment to that environment increases. therefore, identifying the architectural components in these areas is necessary to form sweet collective memories to improve the quality of "in-between space" in residential environments. This research aims to answer this main question: in the "in-between space" of residential environments, what are the effective architectural components in the formation of sweet collective memories? The research method is qualitative research. They studied community as specialists in the fields of architecture and urban planning, housing, and environmental psychology. The sampling method is a combination of theoretical sampling with an available sample approach and snowball sampling. In this research, architectural components for the formation of sweet collective memories were obtained according to the opinions of academic experts after an open-ended questionnaire with experts through contextual theory and open and axial coding techniques. The results of this research indicate that in the "in-between space" of residential environments, Sweet collective memories are formed through the presence in the place, sociability, the possibility of events, and imagery, although these components are necessary for the formation of collective memories, they are not sufficient. Every presence or every social interaction or every event or every image does not cause the formation of collective memories, and for each of these components, the micro-components affecting the formation of collective memories should be known. This research concludes that for the formation of collective memory through the presence of 3 micro-components of functional efficiency, flexibility, and naturalism, it is necessary; Also, for the formation of collective memory through the sociability of 3 micro-components of scalability, marking to create distinction for behavioral domains, adaptability of space and furniture; For the formation of collective memory through the event ability of 3 micro-components of spatial integration, diversity of behavioral locations, physical-structural hierarchy, and  for the formation of collective memory through the visualization of 3 micro-components of sensory richness, the familiarity of form, the visual quality is necessary.