This study has concentrated on the role of architecture in revealing meanings and concepts using an experimental approach. Due to the importance of mosque architecture in urban social life, as well as the issues on requirement of compatibility of form and function in mosque architecture, the exterior mosque architecture has become the issue of study. 14 cases, 7 traditional and 7 innovative are chosen for the study. Four respondent groups are chosen to measure the meanings and concepts revealed through architecture. The Semantic differential test is the basis for measurement of meanings. Personal construct psychology is used for development of the bipolar adjectives needed for the semantic differential test.
The early results of this research show that the two architectural types are well distinguishable by all the respondent groups. Also in all the cases, except for the youth respondents, the traditional type is preferred for mosque architecture. Due to the length of the present article, the recognized dimensions of meanings and their relation with the environmental preferences as well as the cases representing and revealing meanings are presented in another article.
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