Cultural Buildings Design between Visual Creativity and Psychological Impact

Abstract

Creative Design solutions of cultural buildings are visions of the designer's ability to manage vocabulary and expression in new contexts to convey a certain meaning, and thus to understand and interpret it. What distinguishes the creative act is the ability to perceive the visual system of the metaphor before it takes shape, which the designer reaches into a dialogue language that stands between the visual and the mean. In this context, the embodiment of cultural symbols has become a goal pursued by any nation to highlight its unique characteristics. As culture includes intellectual content, the design is at the forefront of the cultural features that could embody authentic national issues, represented in the design that plays a prominent role in reaching a specific identity that reflects cultural reality. In the frame of spreading cultural and national awareness, cultural buildings such as museums and cultural centers are the most important platforms to shed light on the stages of life development, support channels of communication with the world and attract attention to our Arab issues. The design of these buildings depends not only on the functional basis but also on enriching the design philosophy with intellectual determinants that have the potential to have a psychological impact on the users of these buildings. Some international models that use non-stereotyped design methods have been introduced, and non-traditional intellectual trends have been adopted based on new visual creativity such as uncanny architecture, exotic design with psychological effects to create a civilized language embraces artistic heritage, historical and express humanity, and its path in a new image away from the manner of indoctrination. The problem of the research focuses on the dialectic of the conflict over the trends of architecture that are not familiar between the control of visual creativity of the design production in the Arab world and the inability to express local cultures. This confirms the existence of an intellectual and design crisis as a result of neglecting the role of unconventional design solutions to enhance identity, and visual effect on the recipient, as well as to reflect the psychological impact on the users of these buildings to interact with Arab issues. The research aims at uncovering the effectiveness of symbolic projection of hidden values and messages behind the design and finding factors determining the nature of the dialectic between design data and psychological effects. The research includes a theoretical study based on the method of description and analysis of the concepts of research axes and an analytical study that includes case studies of cultural buildings that deal with national issues through analysis. The research concludes with applicable results by drawing up a list of design criteria to benefit from the philosophical approaches to nontraditional architecture and uncanny arts to create a positive interactive field with Arab issues.