Explaining design position patterns based on bodily experience (Case example: Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz University of Islamic Arts)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Elmira Karimipour ¹

Hamed Beyti ²

Leila Medghalchi ²

¹ PhD student of Islamic Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz University of Islamic Arts, Tabriz, Iran

² Associate Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz University of Islamic Arts, Tabriz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/context.2025.90076.1001

Abstract

Teaching architectural design is related to teaching skills that teach a person through strategies in the field of practical knowledge, including reference to examples and records of architecture. Every action is based on types of tacit and explicit knowledge, and tacit knowledge has a bodily root to be recorded in memory through bodily memory. Since human senses participate in his bodily perceptions and affect his judgment; As a result of the stimulation of sensory evidence, a person mentally simulates or embodies that evidence through mirror neurons in the nervous system. Therefore, the architect can deal with similar situations according to the patterns of the design situation that he learned through experience. The research aimed to improve architecture education through the strategy of referring to architectural examples, and sought to answer the question, "How can one arrive at the presentation of design situation models from personal experiences?". In this regard, the qualitative research was conducted in two stages. In the theoretical exploration stage, the research was done in a descriptive-analytical way, collecting library information, and then in the practical exploration stage, it was exploratory, with the phenomenological method through semistructured interviews based on three central questions, until theoretical saturation was reached. Qualitative analysis of the text of the interviews was done using the Max Van Manen method and coding was done using the Creswell method.

Keywords

design position pattern

architectural examples

mirror neurons

bodily simulation

sensory perception

---

The author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

References

1. Abel, C. (1981). “Function of Tacit Knowing in Learning to Design”. In Design Studies, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 209-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/0142-694X(81)90052-1
2. Aglioti, S. Cesari, P. Romani, M. & et al, (2008). Action anticipation and motor resonance in elite basketball players. Nat Neurosci 11, 1109–1116. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2182
3. Akbari, A. and Niroomand Shishavan, M. (2019). The Status of Lived Experience from the Perspective of Philosophy of Body in Process of Designing and Creating Place. Journal of Philosophical Investigations, 13(26), 25-52. https://doi.org/10.22034/jpiut.2019.8023 (In Persian)
4. Azvar sandisi, M. (2023). Investigating the effective factors in improving the teaching of architecture courses in line with the academic progress of students. A new approach to children's education quarterly, 5(1), 111-118. https://doi.org/10.22034/naes.2022.374022.1283 (In Persian).
5. Badri Benam, N. Moosavi, M. S. Akbari Namdar, sh. & Iranzadeh, S. (2021). Explanation of the Place’ s Social Sustainability Pattern with the Aim of Improving the Quality of Place in Educational Spaces. Hoviateshahr, 14(44 ), 33-46. https://doi.org/10.30495/hoviatshahr.2020.15019.
6. Beyti, H. , Gharehbaglou, M. and Pourjavadasl, B. (2021). Historical Houses as Architecture Schools in aspect of Student Lived Experience; Case study: Tabriz Islamic Art University. Soffeh, 31(1), 83-96. https://doi.org/10.29252/soffeh.31.1.83.
7. Blakemore, S.J. Bristow, D. Bird, G. Frith, C. &Ward, J. (2005). Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of vision-touch synaesthesia, Brain, 128, pp. 1571–1583.https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awh500
8. Böhme, G. (2010). Atmosfere, estasi, messe in scena. Milano: Christian Marinotti.
9. Böhme, G. (2017). Atmospheric architectures: The aesthetics of felt spaces. Bloomsbury Publishing.
10. Bonini, L. Rozzi, S. Serventi, F.U. Simone, L. Ferrari, P.F. & Fogassi, L. (2010). Ventral premotor and inferior parietal cortices make distinct contribution to action organization and intention understanding, Cerebral Cortex, 20, pp. 1372–1385. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp200.
11. Buzan, B.G. (2007), People, states and fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era. ECPR press.
12. Calvo-Merino, B. Glaser, D.E. Grèzes, J. Passingham, R.E. & Haggard, P.(2005). Action observation and acquired motor skills: An fMRI study with expert dancers, Cerebral Cortex, 15, pp. 1243–1249.https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhi007.
13. Calvo-Merino, B. Grèzes, J. Glaser, D.E. Passingham, R.E. & Haggard, P.(2006). Seeing or doing? Influence of visual and motor familiarity in action observation, Current Biology, 16 (19), pp. 1905–1910.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.065.
14. Casey, E. S. (2000). Remembering: A phenomenological study (2nd ed). Indiana University Press.
15. Casey, E.S. (2000). Remembering: A Phenomenological Study, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
16. Cesari, P. Formenti, F. & Olivato, P. (2003). A common perceptual parameter for stair climbing for children, young and old adults, HumanMovement Science, 22(1), pp. 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-9457(03)00003-4.
17. Chao, L.L. & Martin, A. (2000) Representation of manipulable man-made objects in the dorsal stream, Neuroimage, 12, pp. 478–484. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2000.0635.
18. Chemero, A. (2003) An outline of a theory of affordances, Ecological Psychology, 15, pp. 181–195. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326969ECO1502_5.
19. Chemero, A. (2009) Radical Embodied Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
20. Collins, H. (2010). Tacit and Explicit Knowledge. University of Chicago Press.
21. Collins, H.(2011). Analysing Tacit Knowledge: Response to Henry and Lowney. Tradition and Discovery: The Polanyi Society Periodical 38 (1): 38-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/traddisc2011/201238110.
22. Collins, H.(2013). “Building an Antenna for Tacit Knowledge”, In Philosophia Scientiæ. Travaux d’histoire et de Philosophie Des Sciences, No. 17-3, pp. 25-39. https://doi.org/10.4000/philosophiascientiae.882.
23. Conway, H. Roanisch, R. (1994). Understanding Architecture. London: Routledge.
24. Costantini, M. & Sinigaglia, C. (in press). Grasping affordance: A window onto social cognition, in Seemann, A. (ed.) Joint Attention: New Developments, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
25. Craighero, L. Fadiga, L. Rizzolatti, G. & Umiltà, C. (1999). Action for perception: A motor-visual attentional effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25(6), 1673–1692. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.25.6.1673.
26. Creswell, J.(2007). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
27. Creswell, J.(2012). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
28. Cross E.S, Hamilton A.F, Grafton S.T.(2006). Building a motor simulation de novo: observation of dance by dancers. Neuroimage. 31(3):1257-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.033
29. Ebisch, S.J, Perrucci, M.G, Ferretti, A. Del Gratta C. Romani G.L, Gallese V.( 2008). The sense of touch: embodied simulation in a visuotactile mirroring mechanism for observed animate or inanimate touch. J Cogn Neurosci.20(9):1611-23. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20111
30. Ellis, R. & Tucker, M. (2000). Micro-affordance: The potentiation of components of action by seen objects. British Journal of Psychology, 91(4), 451–471. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712600161934.
31. Fogassi, L. Ferrari, P.F. Gesierich, B. Rozzi, S. Chersi, F. Rizzolatti, G.( 2005). Parietal lobe: from action organization to intention understanding. Science.308(5722):662-7. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1106138.
32. Frampton, K. (1985). Towards a critical regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance. In H. Foster(Ed.), Postmodern culture (pp. 16–30). London, UK: Pluto Press.
33. Gallese, V. (2000). The inner sense of action: Agency and motor representations, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (10), pp. 23–40.
34. Gallese, V., Sinigaglia, C. (2011). How the Body in Action Shapes the Self. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18(7-8):117-143
35. Gero, J. & Kannengiesser, U. (2007). The Function-Behaviour-Structure Ontology of Design. Design Computing and Cognition ’06, Conference paper http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6338-1_13.
36. Godet, M. Gerber, A. (2006) Creating Futures Scenario Planning as a Strategic Management Tool, First Published, in France, Brookings Institution.
37. Gordon, A. (2008). Future Survey: Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions, Manage Uncertainty and Profit from Change, AMACOM.
38. Grafton, S.T. Fadiga, L. Arbib, M.A. & Rizzolatti, G. (1997). Premotor cortex activation during observation and naming of familiar tools, NeuroImage, 6 (4), pp. 231–236. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.1997.0293.
39. Grèzes, J. Tucker, M. Armony, J. Ellis, R. & Passingham, R.E. (2003). Objects automatically potentiate action: An fMRI study of implicit processing, European Journal of Neuroscience, 17, pp. 2735–2740. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02695.x.
40. Griffero, T.b. (2008). Quasi-cose: Dalla situazione affettiva alle atmosfere. In L. Bagetto (a cura di), L'apertura del presente: Sull’ontologia ermeneutica di Gianni Vattimo (pp. 75-92). Roma: Aracne.
41. Griffero, T. )2014(. Atmospheres: aesthetics of emotional spaces. Trans. Sarah de Sanctis. Farnham: Ashgate.
42. Griffero, T. (2017). Quasi-things: The paradigm of atmospheres. Suny Press.
43. Haslinger, B. Erhard, P. Altenmuller, E. Schroeder, U. Boecker, H. & Ceballos-Baumann, A.O. (2006). Transmodal sensorimotor networks during action observation in professional pianists, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, pp. 282–293. https://doi.org/10.1162/0898929053124893.
44. Haverkamp, M.(2013). Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a Multi-Sensory Approach. Birkhäuser. January
45. Haverkamp, M. (2009). Look at that Sound! Visual Aspects of Auditory Perception. III Congreso Intyernacional de Sinestesia, Ciencia y Arte. Granada.
46. Hojjat. E.(2004). Creative education – experience, Honar-ha-ye Ziba, 18(18), . (In Persian)
47. Holloway, I. ,Wheeler, S. (2010). Qualitative Research in Nursing and Healthcare, 3th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
48. Ishikawa, M. Toda, M. Mori, S. & Kaya, Y. (1980). An Application of the Extended Cross Impact Method to Generating Scenarios of Sosial Chenge in Japan, Technological forecasting and social change 18 (3), pp. 217-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1625(80)90024-4.
49. Jahan-Tab, M. (2010). The effect of social capital on the feeling of security, doctoral dissertation in sociology, Allameh Tabatabai University. (In Persian(
50. Jeannerod, M. Arbib, M.A. Rizzolatti, G. & Sakata, H. (1995). Grasping objects: The cortical mechanisms of visuomotor transformation, Trends in Neuroscience, 18, pp. 314–320.https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(95)93921-J.
51. Keysers, C.Wicker, B. Gazzola, V. Anton, J-L. Fogassi, L. & Gallese, V. (2004). A touching sight: SII/PV activation during the observation and experience of touch, Neuron, 42, pp. 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(04)00156-4.
52. Lawson, B. (2004). What Designers Know. Elsevier/Architectural Press.
53. Lawson, B. (2019). How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified (H. Nadimi, Trans.) Routledge: Basic Books. (Original work published 2005).
54. Lawson, B. & Dorst, K. (2013). Design Expertise. Routledge.
55. Loenhoff, J. (2015). Tacit Knowledge: Shared and Embodied. In Revealing Tacit Knowledge:Embodiment and Explication, 21–40. transcript Verlag.
56. Mahdelikoa, A. (2015). Dr jastojoye tajrobiat jadiede badan be vaseteĥ̉ faza (tarjamĥ̉ Mehrdad Parsa). etlaat hekmat va marefat, 10(6), 36-42.(In Persian).
57. Mansori, S. (2015). Analysis of Key Factors Affecting the Development of Sustainable Transport in the 1404 Horizon of Tehran Metropolis (structural analysis method). MJSP; 19 (2):1-32. http://hsmsp.modares.ac.ir/article-21-8161-en.html (In Persian)
58. Mirjany, H. & Nadimi, H. (2022). Active Experience Model in Architectural Education A Method to Gain Practical Knowledge through Design-Oriented Experience of Architectural Examples. Journal of Iranian Architecture Studies, 7(14), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.22052/1.14.5. (In Persian)
59. Moosavian, S., Amin Zadeh Gohar Rizi, B. and shahcheraghi, A. S. (2019). Explaining the conceptual model of the effective components on the formation of the architectural experience. Journal of Architectural Thought, 3(6), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.30479/at.2019.11332.1290. (In Persian)
60.  Morselli, E. (2019). Eyes that hear. The synesthetic representation of soundspace through architectural photographyYeux qui écoutent. La représentation synesthésique de l’espace sonore au travers des photographies d’architecture. Ambiances. https://doi.org/10.4000/ambiances.2835.
61. Murata, A. Gallese, V. Luppino, G. Kaseda, M. Sakata, H.( 2000). Selectivity for the shape, size, and orientation of objects for grasping in neurons of monkey parietal area AIP. J Neurophysiol. ;83(5):2580-601.https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.2000.83.5.2580.
62. Naghdbishi, R. Barghjelveh, Sh. Islami,S.Gh. & Kamelnia, H.(2016). Considerations of Gibsonian Affordances in Systematic Exploration of Design Process Model in Architectural Education.Hoviatshahr.,2(75-84). https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17359562.1395.10.2.7.4(In Persian)
63. Neisser, U. (1991). Two perceptually given aspects of the self and their development. Developmental Review, 11(3), 197–209. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/0273-2297(91)90009-D.
64. Pallasmaa, J. (2009). The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture. Wiley
65. Passive Defense Organization of the country, (2019). Strategic document of urban defense, published by the author, Tehran. (In Persian).
66. Ranjbar, H. Haghdoost, A.A. Salsali, M. Khoshdel, A. Soleimani, M. A. & Bahrami, N. (2012). Sampling in qualitative research: A Guide for beginning, Annals of Military and Health Sciences Research, 10(3), 238-250. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/96654/en (In Persian)
67. Rizzolatti, G. Camarda, R. Fogassi, L, Gentilucci, M. Luppino, G. Matelli, M. (1988). Functional organization of inferior area 6 in the macaque monkey. II. Area F5 and the control of distal movements. Exp Brain Res.71(3):491-507. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00248742.
68. Rubin, H. J. & Rubin, I. S. (2005), Qualitative Interviewing, London, Sage.
69. Salmani, M. Kazemi Sani Ataallah, N. S. Ali, B. & Motavaf, S. (2016). Identifying and Analyzing the Impact Resilience Indicators in the Rural Areas of North and Northeast Tehran. jsaeh, 3 (2):1-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.18869/acadpub.jsaeh.3.2.1 (In Persian).
70. Schmitz, H. (1978). System der Philosophie /3,5. Die Wahrnehmung. Bonn: Bouvier.
71. Schmitz, H. Müllan, R. O. & Slaby, J. (2011). Emotions outside the box—The new phenomenology of feeling and corporeality. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 10(2), 241–259.https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/s11097-011-9195-1.
72. Schulz, C. N. (1963). Intentions in Architecture.
73. Sedaghati, &. Hojjat, E. (2022). The Instructional Content of the Architecture Education in Iran and the Success Rate of the Bachelorsâ Degree Course in the Transfer of this Content. Journal of Iranian Architecture Studies, 8(15), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.22052/1.15.91. (In Persian).
74. Seidman, A. (2016). interview as a qualitative research method; A guide for educational, social and human sciences researchers. Translation: Ali Koshazadeh, Alireza Jabri and Sara Hosseini Arani. Tehran: Mahkame Publications. (in Persian)
75. Shams, O. & Qayyoomi Bidhendi, M. (2023). Architectural Historian and the Somatic Ways of Knowing. Soffeh, 33(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.48308/sofeh.33.2.99 (In Persian).
76. Schmitz, H. (2016). Atmospheric Spaces. Ambiances Journal [online]. Available on line at: http://journals.openedition.org/ambiances/711.
77. Soltani, M., Mansouri, S. & Farzin, A. A. (2012). A comparative study on the role of pattern and experience-based concepts in architectural space. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 9(21), 3-12. (In Persian).
78. Sørensen, T. F. )2015(. More than a feeling: towards an archaeology of atmosphere. Emotion, Space and Society, vol. 15, p. 64-73 [online]. Available on line at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa. 2013.12.009.
79. Talebian, H. Mowlaee, M. M. & Gharari, F. (2017). Structural Analysis with Fuzzy MICMAC in Strategic Foresight. Journal of Iran Futures Studies, 2(1), 75-104. https://dor.isc.ac/dor/20.1001.1.63652423.1396.2.1.4.4 (In Persian).
80. Tucker, M. & Ellis, R. (1998). On the relations between seen objects and components of potential actions, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24 (3), pp. 830–846. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-1523.24.3.830.
81. Tucker, M. & Ellis, R. (2001). The potentiation of grasp types during visual object categorization. Visual Cognition, 8(6), 769–800. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506280042000144.
82. Tucker, M. & Ellis, R. (2004). Action priming by briefly presented objects. Acta Psychologica, 116(2), 185–203. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.actpsy.2004.01.004.
83. Turvey, M. T. (1992). Affordances and Prospective Control: An Outline of the Ontology. Ecological Psychology, 4(3), 173–187.https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326969eco0403_3
84. Turvey, M. T. Shaw, R. E. Reed, E. S. & Mace, W. M. (1981). Ecological laws of perceiving and acting: In reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn (1981). Cognition, 9(3), 237–304. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/0010-0277(81)90002-0.
85. Umiltà, M.A. Escola, L. Intskirveli, I. Grammont, F. Rochat, M. Caruana, F. Jezzini, A. Gallese, V. & Rizzolatti, G. (2008) When pliers become fingers in the monkey motor system, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105 (6), pp. 2209–2213. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0705985105.
86. Van Manen, M. (2006). Researching Lived-Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy (2nd ed.), London, Ontario, Canada: The Althouse Press
87. Vermeersch, P.W. (2013).  Less vision, more senses. Towards a more multisensory design approach in architecture. Thesis for: Doctor in Engineering Sciences: ArchitectureAdvisor: Ann Heylighen.
88. Warren, W. H. (1984). Perceiving affordances: Visual guidance of stair climbing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10(5), 683–703.
89. Wicker, B. Keysers, C. Plailly, J. Royet, J.P. Gallese, V. & Rizzolatti, G. (2003). Both of us disgusted in my insula: The common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust, Neuron, 40 (3), pp. 655–664. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00679-2
90. Wolfers, A. (1962). National Security As An Ambiguous Symbol Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
91. Yamini, S., Alimohammadi, P. & Bazrafkan, K. (2022). The Role of Designers’ Lived Experience in Representation of Architectural Archetypes A Case Study of Iranian-born Foreign-Educated Architects’ Designs. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 19(111), 5-16.https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2022.311623.5024. (In Persian)
92. Yazdani, M., Rezvani, A., Vafamehr, M. & khademzade, M. H. (2023). Assessing the Effect of Pragmatic Pedagogy Components on the Promotion of the Bachelor of Architecture Curriculum in Iran. Journal of Architecture and Urban Planning, 16(40), 65-89. https://doi.org/10.30480/aup.2022.3847.1833. (In Persian)
93.  Zebardastan, N, Movahed, kh. & Keshmiri, H. (2017). Defining effective strategies for using sensory Perception in architectural design process with phenomenological approach, Urban Management, 16(48), 245-264. http://ijurm.imo.org.ir/article-1-1988-en.html (In Persian)
94.  Zeisel, J. (1984). Inquiry by Design: Tools for Environment-Behavior Research. Cambridge University Press.
95.  Ziari, K. (2016). Schools, theories and models of regional planning and planning, Tehran University. (In Persian).
96. Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmosphere: architectural environments, surrounding objects. (Mehdi Pirhayati. Trans) Tehran: avvaloakhar. (In Persian)