A Space of Ours؛ An Exploration of Identity in Contemporary Architecture

The loss of the identity of spaces in the architecture and urban planning of the contemporary world is a comprehensive and multifaceted issue influenced by various factors such as globalization, rapid urban development and transformations, and new technologies in construction. The crisis is aggravated for the developing countries with a rich architectural heritage that have welcomed modernity and its achievements in building techniques, and their architects have begun to design through the lenses of Western aesthetics in architecture. We might consider it possible to change the view of architects and designers from a purely aesthetic point of view to a life-orientated one. But we cannot still be oblivious to the influence of the imported techniques and materials that play a significant role in the quality of spaces. The profit-seeking point of view has taken away the opportunity to digest the imported architecture. Considering the opinions of thinkers in the fields of humanities and architecture, the present essay raises the question of the possibility of reviving the lost identity on the scope of this crisis and how to maintain the connection to culture and history while accompanying the forced path of the times and the world. Through this exploration, the essay tries to find components for identity in architectural and urban design. The research approach is a theoretical approach in which the opinions of thinkers and philosophers on concepts related to identity, life, and architecture are studied and critically analyzed. Through this analysis, an attempt is made to answer the question: how to plan a way to one’s own space? The question of the lost spaces leads us to the question of the lost self. How can architecture help a dweller to recognize oneself? To know and recognize ourselves, we need a mirror that reflects us to ourselves. The spaces that surround us and the spaces in which we act according to our life are both a platform for our life and a mirror that reminds us of who we are. Self-recognition in the mirror of place and space becomes possible by dwelling. Here, dwelling is used in a broader sense than residing in a building. Whenever man can regain his position in relation to the earth and the sky, himself and his fellow species, or he himself, through the means of space, and can define these relations under the order of building, the matter of dwelling has taken place. Man’s residence in space, which turns it into a place for his life, is possible in the light of the mirror-like ability of space and the unification of man and space. The analysis revealed that consolidation of identity needs both thought and reminisce. In defining the remindful space, its required characteristics and components, and what should be reminded, we return to the definition of man. Man is identified based on his relationship with God, himself, nature, and others. Hence, the question of identity in architectural space as a dwelling place for man is how it can help him to remember and find his relation to these four. So, thought-provoking quality, reminiscence-provoking quality, and meaningfulness are proposed as solutions for this challenge, and strategies are provided for each. Among the answers in this direction are remindful architecture by using familiar signs and forms related to cultural concepts, providing the possibility of belonging, perception and thinking, readability and touchability of space, and enabling the transfer of perception from form to meaning through allegorical quality. After classifying the solutions, the essay presents three main characteristics architectural spaces should have to maintain identity through time. Thought-provoking as providing the dwellers with space and opportunity to engage with deep thought about their being and identity relative to the world’s existence; meaning-making, expressly the possibility of tying meaning with architectural spaces or elements in the context of time and poetic dwelling, and reminisce as establishing and continuing the audience’s perceptual and behavioral patterns based on the common culture of spatial characteristic, are the architectural characteristics that smoothen the stages of establishing and consolidating identity in space and promise its continuity in the context of time. In the meantime, architects should look at how to change the view of architects and designers from a purely aesthetic look to a life-orientation one. And how to strengthen presence, thinking, self-awareness, and life choices based on their own lifestyle in the space for the audience. And, of course, the final answer lies in the reminder that it isn’t possible to regain identity in architectural space, except by the inner return of the dwellers to the abandoned realms of their existence, and the first step is to plan the way of this return.