The Phenomenon Of Touch In Architectural Design And A Field Study For Haptic Mapping

• Published in: Megaron (Istanbul, Turkey) Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 92 - 111
• Main Authors: Pınar Öktem Erkartal, Hikmet Selim Ökem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: KARE Publishing 01.04.2015
• Subjects: affect; architectural design; body; hapticity; mapping; ocular-centrism; senses
• ISSN: 1309-6915
• DOI: 10.5505/megaron.2015.30602

During and after the architectural production process the utilitarian-aesthetic perspective, that dominates the perception of spatial quality and architectural success in the West has been named Ocular-centrism. However, this point of view, which locates the vision as a dominant discourse in architectural design, has been criticized for ignoring the physical and psychological relation created between the subject and the space during the spatial experience, sensual memory, movement and time. The Phenomenon of Touch which can be identified through the interaction between the architecture and the subject depending on the physical and cognitive perception indicates another way of thinking and interpreting the architecture and the presence of another starting point for designing. The aim of this study is to search and describe the Phenomenon of Touch by design concepts, to present the affects of the hapticity in spatial experience on the user and to present a visualization study for this Phenomenon, which is more difficult to express as the features which can be seen and measured numerical. For the fieldwork five buildings designed by Peter Zumthor who declares the importance of the sensation, materiality and the atmosphere in the architectural design process. During the study, Zumthor's abstract design elements, their use in architectural space and the affect was determined using a physical measurement. The findings have been represented in 'haptic mapping'. This visualization study consists of 'haptic scatter chart', 'materiality- affect analysis' and 'sensation analysis' showed that, the Phenomenon of Touch and concepts identify it like sensations, influence, materiality and mental associations are not abstract and inaccessible assumptions, but tools which can be included in the architectural design process.