ONE MORE COINCIDE BETWEEN ARCHITECTS AND LAYPERSONS ON THE AESTHETICS OF ZAHA HADID’S BUILDINGS

Abstract

Purpose This study focuses on the subject of environmental aesthetics and aims to identify the differences and similarities that emerge in the general aesthetic evaluations toward the individual style, particularly examining the physical and connotative meanings in the buildings by Zaha Hadid. The study further seeks to understand how individual style fosters aesthetic awareness or common perceptions on a universal level without causing a cultural difference. Design/Methodology/Approach A survey was conducted to understand the visual aesthetic evaluations of architects and laypersons over 16 buildings of Hadid—an architect who managed to develop her own individual style. The visual images created were evaluated in terms of sensorial and physical concepts in order to understand whether there was a common language by evaluating the aesthetic perceptions of subjects with different backgrounds, and to reveal the effect of individual style in forming a universal tongue. Descriptive statics, correlation analysis and independent t test were performed to conduct the evaluations. Findings According to analysis results, the rhythm and organic lines of a building are the most significant elements for building façades and masses in aesthetic evaluations. In addition, no significant differences regarding the dimensions of “liking”, “ornate”, “attractive”, “meaningful” and “warm” were found between the groups. Research Limitations/Implications The survey was conducted between two different subject groups; architects and laypersons. Specific parameters related to the sensorial concepts of the buildings were used. These parameters included the concepts of liking, pleasant, complex, familiar, meaningful, ornate and warm, while for the physical characteristics of the buildings, the concepts of regular/ irregular, full/ empty, rhythmic/ arrhythmic, soft/ hard, meaningful/ meaningless and symmetric/asymmetric were used. Originality/Value This study is significant insofar as it is among the rare research studies that found there to be no differences between architects and laypersons but rather, similarities between them.