Evaluation and analyze the different meanings of home in two patterns of apartment and Independent courtyard house. (Case study: Shiraz city)

Home is not just a place to live but also the home of each person's body is his identity So that each person shows what he is or what he like to be in his home. So, the home has a meaning beyond the shelter. This place has a different meaning for different people and understanding this meaning could be laying the groundwork for creating a desirable place to live. There is so many researches in the desirability of home space and factors which made this desirability. It seems that the home desirability is dependent to its inhabitant’s satisfaction. So, the meaning that people percept of their own living environment effect on the satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the home environment. Therefore, it seems that by understanding the different meanings that people perceive of their own home environment, can be achieved optimal mental picture of desirable house. This study sought to examine the different meanings that different people percept from their living environment. So, two common settlement patterns in contemporary housing including apartments and independent pattern courtyard was chosen as case study and try to extract the different meaning in which its occupant perceive from them. It is obvious that the extraction of semantic differentiation in the settlement patterns can sometimes be the development of the quality of people's lives.

In this article, the two main questions are answered as follows: - What are the different meanings that people perceive in the home environment? - Which of these meanings is more appealing to apartment dwellers and which to homeowners?

In this study, thirteen meant for home is explained as the theoretical framework of the study that was extracted from the house meanings literature review, the elite and internal survey. In the next stage, the possibility of this meaning was measured for apartment and independent pattern courtyard settlements. The study population were 338 people from settlements of apartment and independent pattern courtyard who were lived in different district. The data collection tool was closed questionnaire and in-depth interviews with people. Data analyses in the quantity section was based on K-2 test and logistic regression and in the qualities, section was based on content analyses method.

The results showed that the change in the people life style and separation between people work place and their home, made their home as a place for relaxing from the bustle of urban life. Also, part of the meanings of houses is made by the social interactions between people and their family. So, this kind of meaning which is created due to social interaction between its occupants, is created in two kind of home in the same quantity. However, the meaning such as “Freedom”, “Belonging and rootedness”, “Difference”, “Continuity” and “Identity” are more evident in the independent pattern courtyard house. It seems that this is because of the different affordance which this type has than apartment patterns. Some of these affordances are independent courtyard, Ivan, the possibility of growing vegetation, more area level, more specific areas, a large reception hall and such these. However, in apartment style, because of affordances such as having a controllable iterance, dwelling in height, the presence of nearby neighbors and such these lead to creating Security sense for its occupants.