Spaciousness and body awareness: rereading the concept of space in architectural experienceCase study: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

 The variety of space-place experiences can be regarded as a feature that differentiates modern men from traditional men. Man’s existence across natural and social realms, not only has a theoretical and epistemological history but also various distinctive perceptions of experiencing natural and social places. Throughout history, distinctive perceptions have had a unique spirit on one hand and a common spirit in human body on the other. Nevertheless, body and its corporeal and physical characteristics have not been given their due attention in dominant architectural discourses. Body has always been considered a passive object. The present study aims to investigate bodily perception as a source of inspiration for redefining the concept of space in architectural experience. The secondary purposes of the study include examining the manifestations of reading space by incorporating bodily perceptions, as well as scrutinizing the integration of human senses in space perception. The current study is qualitative and uses a hermeneutic phenomenological philosophical approach. The study is “interpretive” in terms of research “purpose”, and aims to produce new insights so as to use the findings to improve the existing knowledge about the topic of interest. Hence, the “results” are “pure”. The “logic” of the study is “inductive.” In the present study, a deep interview was conducted to infer and extract the “subconscious” from the responses of interviewees. The data analysis method includes qualitative content analysis via open and axial coding. The results suggest that phenomenal reading of spatial perception experience can be categorized into three levels of complete perception, dynamic perception of space through senses; space as a medium for perceiving collective nostalgia, and space as the possibility of intuition and perception of the other.