Symbolic meaning of house facades both in local and foreign house styles

This study aims to see the local residents of Kahramanmaraş who are not in the design profession, to know how they find connotative meanings in house styles concerning different cultures and to see how these meanings differ according to socio-demographic qualities. It is believed that foreign examples would be preferred as a statue indication compare to the local ones which might be considered as `warm?. Regarding this, totally 102 respondents, some of which middle age people (age around 50) and some others students (age around 21) has evaluated the facades of 12 houses through using five-point semantic differential scales under four headings namely: Familiarity, Impressiveness, Complexity and Liking. The results have shown that different styles with different form, elements and materials have been evaluated differently by the respondent groups. While the most impressive foreign vernacular examples were defined as the statue indication, the most familiar local vernacular examples were indicated as the most warm house facades. Amongst these results, it was also noted that the students liked very much the foreign vernacular examples and found them attractive than the middle age respondents.