Architectural and urban ambiences system in oasis space: Case of Tolga

Abstract

Assessing an architectural or urban ambiance remains an uncertainty in the absence of a scale for its measurement and its design. The research, specifically conducted in an oasian space, aims to innovate a pragmatic tool of evaluation and application for the conception of the architectural and urban ambiance perceived on the limits of the places’ senses and identity. The investigations, which took place on vernacular sites of great Oasian identity in Tolga, are a collection of subjects’ drawings. The ambiance, as a system of a great complexity whose value exceeds the sum of its components, is treated through the verbalization of Kevin Lynch’s mind map and the entropy of Claude Shannon’s communication theory. The analysis checked the periodicity of the appearance, the meanings of the natural identity indicators and those of the built frame on the subjects’ drawings. The syntax diagram, result of this research, forms a pragmatic vernacular reference tool for measuring and evaluating the architectural and urban ambiance in oasian space. It is a scale of natural environment, architecture and urban planning indicators, constituting an orientation table for the conception of the oasian city of today and tomorrow.

Keywords

• ambiance
• oasis space
• perception
• conception
• vernacular
• tolga