Perceptual Evaluation of Traditional Turkish House Façade

Abstract

Purpose This study aimed to make a comparative evaluation of the differences between the original façade (original) and the modified façade of the traditional Turkish Houses (collected from Afyonkarahisar city) based on perception. Design/Methodology/Approach In line with this purpose, digital images of eight sets of original and modified street silhouettes with gray color scales have been produced on the computer. Two different groups consisting of 80 people (architect and non-architect group) have evaluated the prepared images by the semantic differentiation scale consisting of the adjective pairs. The main hypothesis of the study is "The original façade would be more preferred than the modified façade". Also, gender, architect and non-architect group comparisons were made in the evaluations, too. Findings The results have shown that the participants liked the original traditional Turkish House façade more. The tidy/untidy and proportional/non-proportional adjective pairs have had the biggest difference in this evaluation. In another result, male participants have evaluated the traditional Turkish House façade views liked more for all dependent variables except for familiar / unfamiliar and qualified / unqualified adjective pairs compared to female participants. In addition, non-architects have liked more than architects the façade views of traditional Turkish Houses for adjective pairs that are beautiful / ugly, not impressive / unimpressive and interesting / uninteresting. On the other hand the architects have liked more than non-architects the façade view of traditional Turkish Houses for the proportional / non-proportional adjective pair. Research Limitations/Implications This study has been conducted only for Turkish Houses collected from Afyonkarahisar city. In addition, only architects and non-architects group attended for evaluation of the surveys. Social/Practical Implications According to the most important finding obtained from the study, the fact that the original state is observed in the restoration of traditional Turkish Houses has caused people liked it more. Similarly, it has been observed that the organization of windows, solid-void relationship ratio, repetitions, horizontal and vertical structural elements (beams etc.) in the Turkish house façade characteristic will have a positive effect on perception. Originality/Value With this study, for the first time in the literature, the evaluation of holistic (comprehensive) street silhouettes was made based on a single façade layout.