Investigation of formal aesthetic elements in living spaces

Aesthetic is a natural factor, which is directly related to the emotions of human beings. Aesthetic can be a bridge between observation and emotions. It can easily effect the perception and cognition of users. Aesthetic have different elements which come together to create the sense of satisfaction for the viewers. The main elements of formal aesthetics are Form, Color, Texture, Lighting and Shadow. These elements can come together to create the sense of beauty but the way of using them are significant to achieve the correct solution. One of the purposes of design philosophy is to increase the quality of experience of human beings to know the aesthetic. By utilizing the main elements of formal aesthetics, this purpose can be reach at the end of the design process. In interior architectural spaces formal aesthetic elements can play an important role to give the sense of satisfaction and preference for users. The main elements are examined and emphasized in this study. The problem of this study is, it feels that, the formal aesthetic elements cannot be seen clearly in the duplex houses of Famagusta. These elements are not organized according to the user’s needs in most houses. The aim of this study is to discover the effects of formal aesthetics in living space organizations in duplex houses of Famagusta. By considering the values of formal aesthetics and different usage of formal aesthetic elements, this study will explore how formal aesthetic elements effect the living spaces of houses in Famagusta. Different methods used for this study are space syntax, classification technique, semantic rating scale and iii observation to reach the conclusion of this study. Also, this study is going to be limited to the main elements of formal aesthetic which are color, form, texture, light and shadow. Other limitations of this study is the five different parts of Famagusta which are Walled city, Dumlupınar, Sosyal Konutlar, Gülseren and Tuzla. In the first chapter of this study, the main problem of study mentioned is the lack of formal aesthetic elements in some design processes, which can affect the atmosphere in the interior spaces. The aim of the study is also covered in the first chapter, which is to discover the effects of formal aesthetic in living space organizations in the houses of Famagusta by considering the values of Formal Aesthetics. The main question of this study is: How formal aesthetic elements affect the living space of houses in the examples of Famagusta. Also limitations and research objectives took place in the first chapter, which is going to be explained further. In the second chapter, general information about architectural space and interior space is considered in terms of open, close and functional spaces. At the same time, Perception, interior spaces and space organization, emphasized in second chapter. In third chapter general information about aesthetic and elements of formal aesthetics are emphasized. Also the usage of these elements in interior spaces is researched in this chapter. In the fourth chapter, some duplex houses in different parts of Famagusta are selected as a case study. These cases are 20 duplex houses in the Walled City, Dumlupınar, Gülseren, Sosyal Konutlar and Tuzla. These cases are examined according to the different elements of formal aesthetic. The following techniques and scale measurements used for this study are: iv 1. Space Syntax: to find the location of living space in academic way of study. Also the connection of living room with the other functions examined in this method. 2. Semantic Rating Scale: which helped the study to find the LIKE and DISLIKE ideas of the users. 3. According to the results of the semantic rating scale, classification method was used to find the most and the least impressive elements of formal aesthetic 4. The last method of this study is observation in order to examine all the results. For supporting the observation method that is completed by the author, semantic differential is used by giving different adjectives to the formal aesthetic elements. At the end of these investigations, this study reaches the answers of does people like these living spaces? If yes, what is their first preference? And finally, the study, focused on observation to support the results of previous methods to find the most impressive elements of formal aesthetic in selected living spaces. According to the results, which are achieved at the end of the study, final conclusion can reach from this research. According to the findings, color is the first preferred element followed by form, then texture and the last one being lighting and shadow which users selected. Also about the existence of formal aesthetic elements in selected cases, it can be assumed that Tuzla has the most percentage of users using v these elements in living spaces shortly followed by Gülseren, then Dumlupınar, Sosyal konutlar and the last one was Walled City.