The differentiation of perceptual effect of the dome in contemporary mosque architecture according to architectural education level

The dome, as an architectural roofing system, has been used since the prehistoric time. It has reached today after a process of development under the influence of different cultures in different geographies. During the development process of the dome, the mosque architecture, which has come up with the birth of Islam, had a significant effect and vice versa. The domed structure types had a crucial influence on mosque architecture development stages. Consequently, the dome with its structural and symbolic features became a crucial element in the Islamic architecture as well as the other architectural cultures. Even if the dome has lost its structural importance by the development of building technology, it still maintains its importance today due to, its symbolic features. The current public acceptance of the mosque architecture in Turkey is the most concrete indication of this situation. It is noticeable that, the majority of the mosques, built in this era, have a tendency to emulate the classical Ottoman mosques. Moreover, the mosque construction process does not go through a comprehensive inspection, rather the mosques are shaped according to the appreciation perceptions of the user group and the knowledge and the skills of the foremen. Therefore, the majority of the mosques today cannot reach a successful architectural quality comparing to the imitated classical mosques in terms of the relationship with the context, the balances of the masses, the proportions and quality of the interior space. In addition, the public acceptances of the mosque architecture, restricts the contemporary quests of trying new experiments. In this sense, the authority and responsibility that should be given to the architects in mosque architecture, became out of order in practice . When the content of architectural education in Turkey has been analyzed, it was observed that the students of architecture are adequately educated in the fields of the Islamic architecture, places of worship, perception and formal understanding. This situation makes think that, the people with an architecture education, will be freed of the stereotyped ideas of the mosque architecture. With this approach, this thesis aims to examine the differentiation of perceptual effect of the dome in contemporary architecture according to architectural education level. In the content of the study, perception research towards contemporary mosque architecture has done, perceptual analysis of field study is limited to the dome item. Survey technique were used as the method of the study. Roofing systems were selected from different functions and divided into six groups representing the variations of function, form and stylistic relations. Using the selected samples, questionnaires were prepared to measure the forms of perceptions of participants. A survey was conducted with two different groups; the first was the students who have just started their architectural education and the second was those who are about to complete their education. Through analyzing their responses, the differentiation of the perceptual effect of dome has been examined. As a results of the study, it has been found that, the comprehension and the style preferences of the mosque architecture are effected by the architectural education level. It has been also observed that the architectural education level affects the awareness of the participants in terms of the formal decompositions of domes used in several buildings of different functions. In other words, it has been clarified that as the level of the architectural education increases, the dominant role of collective imagination of the dome decreases in contemporary mosque architecture.