Placeness in Architecture: Principles of Attitudes to Placeness in Iranian Caravanserais (Case study: Shah Abbas Caravanserai of Damghan, Iran)

This research aimed to explain the principles of attitude towards a place at the Shah Abbas Caravanserai of Damghan using structural elements and such components as view and body, order, identity, and memorability, representing the placeness of this Caravanserai. The present study uses a qualitative philosophical and inductive reasoning approach and library and field-based data-gathering methods to conclude that the Shah Abbas Caravanserai of Damghan has a simple, environmentally-compatible view which indicates simplicity. Meanwhile, what has given this building's placeness importance is that it arouses emotions of the observers who behold a building structure with green and commercial spaces in the region where it is located. In the meantime, structural and repetitive elements of the structure of this caravanserai have established unity, which underlies one of the most basic factors of attitude to place because it creates a unique picture. For this, one would claim that a phenomenological approach to the Shah Abbas Caravanserai of Damghan suggests that the semantic dimensions and unique identity of the place indicate the interconnection and rich interaction between the place features of this structure and the mental conceptions of the users. Therefore, establishing an extricable link with the surroundings' social, cultural, and environmental components. In sum, the caravanserai is considered a place with a stable identity due to the historical and cultural importance it has gained from its architectural components.