Semiosis of resort interiors

This study attempts to construct a methodology, originating from semiotic knowledge that enables to analyse the communication between the developers of tourism places and their users. It questions the legibility of intended meanings in the design of contemporary rising trends of touristic spaces by their receiver; the tourist. The choice of the subject is influenced from the rapid proliferation of themed resort hotel, which is taken as a complex of architectural objects -considering it as 'interior space' from the limits of its outer boundary and presupposed as a 'precoded system'. This statement expresses existence of two distinctive parts: the 'encoder' as designer and the 'decoder' as the tourist. This study probes to define variable characteristics of the precoded system to manifest the representations of meaning in architectural object. A particular emphasis is given to reproduction in the context of tourism. An interactive analysis of a case, the 'Topkapi Palace Resort Hotel', by conduct interviews with encoders, and informal interviews with decoders is to identify the intentions of the designer and meaning of the designed space -medium of these intentions- for the tourist. Indeed, the object of the study is to investigate how the precoded system is encoded. Moreover, the concentration is on the analysis of the 'decoder', the tourist, the authenticity of her/his experiences with the touristic space, to find out how the encoded system is decoded.Keywords: themed resort hotel, meaning, tourist experience, authenticity, Topkapi Palace.