In the twelfth session of the class my friend and I had a presentation about residential environment. I mostly focused on cultural differences and meaning of home. When I was looking for resources for my presentation I had a hard time finding general characteristic of American homes. It is related to the fact that America has many subcultures and all these affected the form of homes in America.
Fig 1.
As I realized in my research, one of the most important characteristics of American homes is individuality, which is the significant factor in American culture. Individuality in home design refers to considering internal privacy at homes and specialization of function which means that each room has its own function. Whereas in other cultures they may use one room for variety of functions. Also there is no sign of religion concern in American homes. You cannot find any special characteristic that is based on the religion.
Then I searched for Iranian home architecture. Iranian people are introverted and this characteristic transferred to their architecture. It may comes from Iranian mysticism that is mostly concentrates on the inner self than the material world. The key factor In Iranian traditional homes was privacy. Privacy from the outside and in inside.
Fig 2. Traditional Iranian house in Kashan
In order to achieve this goal, architectures divided house in two sections: inner and outer. The inner part devoted to the members of the family who lived there and the outer part devoted to the guests and strangers who are invited or visited. Also concern of religion can be seen in some parts of the design like using different doorknockers for men and women that made different kinds of sounds.
Fig 3. Inside Iranian traditional house
In general, architecture and especially home design are influenced by culture and so it has variety. What is so common between people around the world, without concerning their cultures and religion, is their attachment to their homes. It is the strong feeling that may remain with us even after leaving the place.
Fig 4.
I experience it myself nowadays. I just left my home three months ago and now everyday when I wake up I still have the image of my old bedroom in my mind. It takes me some time to remember where I am and recognize the new bedroom that now I live in. Finally the question is as a designer, how can we make use of this strong feeling of human toward a space? How can we design a place or space with feelings?
References
Fig 1. Retrieved from http://www.haynsworthrealty.com
Fig 2. Retrieved from http://www.simoontravel.com
Fig 3. Retrieved from http://www.travelpod.com/photos/6/Iran/Kashan.html
Fig 4. Retrieved from http://www.homeinsurancefacts.com/
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