Role of Kaplan's Preference Matrix in the Assessment of Building façade, Case of Gorgan, Iran

Buildings play a key role in organization and arrangement of city appearance. Specially, their facades have profound impact on the quality of urban landscapes while playing an important role in assessing urban environments by citizens. The introduction of superior building facades in terms of popular preferences is mostly based on visual elements of building facades. Furthermore, aesthetic preferences should not be explored without investigating the consequences of their interaction with environment which forms mental concepts; whereas, few studies have explored building facades based on preference of observer. Therefore, current research has been conducted as a survey in order to evaluate the role of each variables in Kaplan’s preference matrix on building façade preferences. Our questionnaire was based on information factors including “coherence”, “complexity” and “mystery”, while excluding “legibility”. In this survey, 100 respondents have rated their preferences for 48 building façades located in Grogan, via a photo questionnaire. Data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed by using SPSS software. According to the correlation test, there was a significant correlation between preference and triple information factors (coherence- complexity- mystery). Furthermore, according to the regression test, the model consisting triple information factors (coherence-complexity-mystery) can predict 62.3% of preference toward building facades. In addition, it was revealed that complexity and mystery are significant in predicting the preference for building facades compared to cohesion. Finally, it is suggested that the focus of design on building facades should be based on complexity and mystery as they make building facades to be more preferred.