EXAMINATION OF SPATIAL BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL BUILDING WITH ATRIUMS THROUGH SPACE SYNTAX METHOD

Abstract

The child's environment consists of basic spatial units such as home, street and school. The most important part of the child's development process is the education process and the school spaces where the child receives education. School is a spatial system that regulates social relations and behavioral patterns and acts according to certain norms, roles and programs. The spatial characteristics of the school help to understand how children's developmental needs and behaviors are affected. In this direction, the aim of the study is to examine the effects of "atriums" on student behavior in school buildings with atrium. The main research question of the study questions the effect of the atrium on students' social interactions. Two different methods were used in the study: observation and space syntax analysis. In this context, spatial and social behavior data obtained from observation and syntactic data obtained from space syntax analysis were comparatively examined in the circulation areas around and outside the atrium. As a result, it was determined that atriums increased social interactions among students.