B.

Arch (5th Year) Dissertation Study Area

Basic Observation up to a Broad Image of the Study

The basic observation done by myself is different and somewhat interesting; Ayurveda is
practice which is in the possession of spatial and cognitive concepts that link and balances the
relationship between the human beings and the environment. Therefore, should not the nature
of architecture be apparent through the spaces in which the practices of Ayurveda are
conceived? Nevertheless, the pathetic situation at present is the existence of the spaces in
which Ayurvedic practices and carried out being confined to mere buildings; the ancient
hospital complexes in Sri Lanka and ‘Swasthi Nikethen’ in India are the instances.
Nevertheless, Architecture upholds remedies for this issue.

When perceive through an enormous sight, it is apparent that most of the present spatial
designs are kept aloof of their actual concepts; an explicit disjoint. As denoted by Roger
Scruton, ‘a building is ought to be aesthetical and meaningful; the objects should be created
by steering on a creative purpose based on an intellectual process’. A building, not as a mere
object but as a living thing should be perceivable by the human beings who linger in it. For
this purpose, its spatial configuration should be of a sequential and precise order. The
architectural vision of ‘Order of Architecture’ may contribute to this situation.

In accordance with the idea of Bill Hillier, ‘the configurational nature of a space addresses
the human mind as well as relate to social experiences’. Moreover he points out that the
attaining of a common space to a configuration is the attaining from ‘visibility’ nature to the
‘Intelligibility’ nature. Thus, such configured spaces which facilitate the human
understanding are defined as ‘Cognitive spaces’.

A cognitive space goes beyond the metric values; a space through which the social perception
is embodied rather than physical, geometric center points and axial lines. A particular theory
for this concept has been facilitated as space Syntax by Bill Hillier. Accordingly, pursuing
this background, this study evolves to the observation of the way how the concept of
Cognitive space could be applied on an architectural design. For this purpose, as an honor to
the basic observation, a study on spatial configuration on human cognitive response on spatial
configuration is carried out to see which aspect could be relevant to an Ayurvedic Scholar
setting. Through that, an introduction of cognitive spatial references for all the spaces of the
whole setting is intended.

Bandara G.P.M.C.M. (Chathura) 1