Rhetorics of designed space

Neuroscience research, which has been developing rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century, shows that all thoughts, feelings and behaviors of people are the result of a series of electrochemical reactions in their brains. The sensory stimuli they receive from their environment determine the actions of people, with the feelings that give information about the inner state of their bodies along with their memories from their previous experiences. Therefore, each place contains messages that will cause people to act in one way or another. Existing studies examining human-space interactions are more user-oriented about the effects of the built environment on people. There is no designer-oriented research that examines the effects of the designers' choices of materials, structure and spatial organization to users' behavior. In this study, rhetoric, an interdisciplinary field of study on perception and behavior management, has been discussed in the context of spatial design; it is foreseen that the designers can use rhetorical strategies to refer the users to certain thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The main parts of the study, which is based on the neurological infrastructure of the perceptional and behavioral systems, are determined as Aristotle's three elements of persuasion: Logos, Pathos and Ethos. In the Logos section, the perception of the elements such as light, color, form, sound, which constitute the spatial discourse and their effects on the people, were examined. The use of rhetorical figures in spatial design is also described and illustrated in this section. In the Pathos section, the basic emotion systems common to all people, their relations with the spatial design and how these basic emotions can be awakened in users are examined. In the Ethos section, formations of spatial character in different types of spaces were examined through examples. As a result of the study, it is understood that rhetoric strategies can be used in all areas concerning communication, including spatial design.