Analysis of the effects of body and gender concepts on architectural design

This study is about how architectural design can be shaped in the context of body and gender; and the effects of body and gender on architectural design are discussed. The main aim in architecture is not sex discrimination. On the other hand, by looking with a different angle we try to develop a new approach in architectural design. The study will try to research how we as individuals with an existing body and with our sexual identity tend to differently touch architectural areas. From this perspective, we try to develop a new approach in architectural design.The study consists of five sections. In the first section, there is an introduction in which the aim of this study and its content is described. In the second section, the human body is described as a physical entity (with help of information from medicine). After giving information about the human body?s anatomical development and the formation of gender, the body?s relation with space is examined.In the third section, the study is focused on the fact of gender as a distinguishing part and its role in the psychological, sociological and philosophical perspectives. Because the body is part of social life with obtained sexual role and with new sexual concepts (homosexuality), it is a sociological entity. Consequently, in addition to discussing sexual roles in social contexts, feminist theory and the statues man-women in social life are also mentioned in this study. Furthermore, this section includes discourses about gender from western philosophy.In the fourth section, the way how an architectural discipline is shaped with body and all its historical processes are discussed first. Then, gender concept itself, along with its relation to space and how it shapes a space is argued. Moreover, the effects of body and gender on design from different perspectives will be discussed. The effects of gender within the context of urban life are also discussed and mentioned.The final section will aim to discuss the concept of gender and architecture by assessing the results of a survey that has been made in field study; and the questionnaire in which groups of architects and students studying architecture provided answers will be assessed. The questionnaire aimed at focusing on concepts of architectural design and the gender concept. Both the survey and the research suggest that question of gender plays not a primary but a secondary role in architectural design. And furthermore, it was observed that it is in general not at the design stage but after an architectural structure comes into being that the question of gender is discussed.Keywords: Body, Space, Gender, Architectural Design