What Makes a Space Relatively Memorable?  A Study on the Recollection of Spaces through Space Syntax and Imageability Theories

Zeynep Tarçın Turgay; Alper Ünlü

doi:10.15320/ICONARP.2025.322

Authors

Zeynep Tarçın Turgay Gebze Technical University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8392-023X
Alper Ünlü Özyeğin University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-4726

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15320/ICONARP.2025.322

Keywords:

Architectural space, Cognitive map, Imageability, Space syntax, Spatial memory

Abstract

Space is a fundamental component of our existence, without which we cannot live or think. During our daily lives, we perceive various components of space concurrently and we build an understanding of the environment in our memories. The spatial properties/qualities of the environment have their own unique place in this context and have been studied in psychological and several non-psychological disciplines such as architecture, phenomenology, sociology and geography. In this frame, imageability theory focuses on the environment’s visuo-spatial quality, whereas space syntax theory focuses on its spatial configuration, and they both enable the systematic evaluation of numerical data.

Starting with the question "What makes a space memorable among all its different components/features?", the research aims to investigate the effect of certain spatial qualities on spatial memory through quantitative research on an architectural scale. Within a multidisciplinary framework, the methodology presents a unique approach that integrates space syntax with memory data. Firstly, content analysis was applied to cognitive maps, and the obtained data were redefined according to the configurational (syntactic) and imageability qualities of the real environment they represent. Secondly, the redefined data was tested to evaluate the effect of spatial qualities on memory. 77 participants (age 23-75; 52M/25F) attended the case study and drew the plan schemas of the school building they graduated from. The relation between memory and (1) spatial units’ imageability categories is searched through ANOVA tests, and (2) spatial units’ syntactic values is searched through correlation tests. The significant results reveal that configurational and visual qualities of spaces are essential factors on what will be stored in memory depending on their lead of participants’ spatial experience routines via their formal qualities. Furthermore, the case study presents multidisciplinary data that contributes to architectural design, environment and behavior, and space syntax theories and provides new insight into cognitive research on memory.

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Author Biographies

Zeynep Tarçın Turgay, Gebze Technical University

Zeynep TARÇIN TURGAY received her B.Arch (2004), MSc. (2007) and PhD. (2018) degrees from İstanbul Technical University (ITU) Faculty of Architecture. Currently works as an assistant professor at Gebze Technical University. Her major research interests include architectural design theory, cognitive psychology, environmental psychology, environment and behavior theories, space syntax; and she investigates human-space relations in terms of perception, memory and behavior processes.

Alper Ünlü, Özyeğin University

Alper ÜNLÜ obtained his B.Arch. from Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture in 1979 and M.Sc. in Architecture from ITU-MMLS Program in Architecture in 1980. He attended the “Ph.D. Program in Environment-Behavior Studies” at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee between 1984 and 1985 as an “Aga Khan Award for Architecture” scholar and obtained his Ph.D. in Architecture from ITU Science and Technology Institute in 1987. He taught architectural design and theory courses at ITU as an assistant and associate professor between 1988 and 1990, as well as architectural design and post-occupancy evaluation between 1991 and 1993 at King Faisal University, KSA. He continued to teach architectural design at the undergraduate level, environment-behavior theories, architecture, and epistemology at the postgraduate level between 2002-2018 as a professor in Architecture at ITU. Currently works as a professor at Özyeğin University. His research focuses on architectural design theories, environment-behavior studies and theories, space syntax theory, and epistemology.

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