The sensible and intelligible approach to communication and spatial sensibility in islamic architecture:examination of Damascus madrasas

The issue of meaning is considered to be one of the extremely polarized issues in dealing with the field of Islamic architecture, especially the role of theology in its own construction. An approach seems to be shunned away from design considerations in contemporary Islamized architecture, this approach could be manifested through the relationship of Al Hissi-Al Aqli (The Sensible-Intelligible) and spatial sensibility in Islamic architecture. this relationship was put under the scope of perennial philosophy as the timeless language that embodies the abstract to comprehend the esoteric, it was totally ignored in the researches of orientalists and was opposed by the rationalist approach. This thesis discusses the problem of Hissi-Aqli by deeply examining the bond between the metaphysical presence of the divine (metaphors of distance-transcendence) and the spatial archetype in Islamic Madrasas during successive periods (11th to 13th century) in Damascus, where both the socio-cultural and theological aspects have witnessed significant changes in the religio-political exchange. the proposed methods associate spatial ordering analysis, perceptual processes "Space, Shape, Surface, Matter and color investigations to define the "Hissi" and (semiotics study) for tracing the relation to hidden theological attributes. Keywords: Hissi-Aqli "Sensible-Intelligible", Communication, Spatial Sensibility, Space Ordering, Semiotics.