People, just as they are products of their social environment, also shape the physical environment. This statement by Jung directs our attention to the importance of considering the environment as a factor and examining its impact. On the other hand, the family, as the most important social institution that greatly influences mental health and the stability of society, is formed in an environment called home. Therefore, this examination of the environment must undoubtedly focus on the most important environment, which is the home. To explore this, we will examine two Iranian houses: Vartan House, designed by Houshang Seyhoun in 1948-1949, and Zinat al-Molk House, a traditional Qajar house built between 1873 and 1884. We aim to gain insights into human-environment relationships in three areas: environmental behavior, perception and cognition of the environment, and environmental aesthetics.
First, theoretical foundations will be briefly discussed, albeit incompletely, and then we will focus practically on a case study.
Here, images of different parts of two houses will be provided as space.
Altman defines four concepts: privacy, personal space, territory, and crowding as the basis for individual and social behavior in relation to the environment. For example, regarding the provision of privacy, he says, “Privacy provision is so important that in densely populated families living in small apartment units, some individuals use the Hozkhaneh Room for reading or thinking because it is one of the few parts of the house where they can be sure of having maximum privacy.”
On the other hand, the behavioral setting is considered as units of the environment that an individual experiences and becomes involved with in everyday life, and different situations in which a person becomes involved throughout their life, and in each one, they behave in a way that changes as they move from one situation to another. This behavioral setting is inherently personal and has morphological elements. It acts as a regulator and performer itself. This view emphasizes the nature of human behavior in the environment.
In another branch of perceptual science, we encounter four theories:
A) Brunswik’s lens model: Scattered categories of processed information create a systematic perception. In this theory, the details of the space, such as the arrangement of furniture, are interpreted as actual beauty, and the level of utility and comfort of each component is interpreted as perceived beauty.
B) Ecological theory of perception: The world is experienced in meaningful wholes, and we do not perceive separate stimuli. In this theory, the individual must know and often learn what to look for, and perception is meaning-based and, ultimately, perception based on environmental information (which can be said to be the architecture of senses according to Johann Palasma) is described. The ecological perception systems are as follows: auditory system, tactile system, gustatory-olfactory system, and visual system.
Lastly, in the limited and undeveloped field of aesthetics, we encounter concepts of beauty, aesthetics, the meaning of the environment, and the sense of place, which are approached more conceptually to the issue of the relationship between humans and the environment.
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