The Emotional Experience of Residential Space Through Immaterial Culture

Abstract

Materials may encompass an important element in interior design, but in fact, what constitutes the spaces and human behavior in themselves is the immaterial culture (the aggregate of values, mores, norms, etc., of a society; the ideational structure of a culture that provides the values and meanings by which it functions). The immaterial culture comprises the main element on which spaces and the distribution of activities are built, and through that, the materials are a translation that supports the functional and cultural perception of space.

Through analyzing the immaterial culture, we can clearly and explicitly reflect culture through material elements. Understanding meanings, however, comes from immaterial elements that form the identities and heritage of other cultures and thus contributes to accepting difference.

In the past decade, Saudi students have faced many hate crimes, which in some cases ended in deliberate murders because of stereotypes spread by false media. Due to the lack of communication between the two communities, this was and still is a stereotype that prevails to this day.

In this thesis project, the two cultures will be integrated through the representation of the immaterial culture in the formation of a safe space that allows the sharing and understanding of Saudi culture in particular through the re-design and distribution of a townhouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.