Aesthetic, perception and preference for historical and modern buildings

Abstract

Mura 2005), a big difference could be found among the buildings built after and before 1950s. Furthermore we hypothesize that preference for buildings is related to the complexity of the facades— higher in most ancient buildings—because of the process of structuration of a specific visual environment. This process has been analysed according to the rules of perception of the macro-morphemes from the level of the road: exterior walls, roof, window openings, entrance, principal divisions of the solid and other large elements (Niezabitowski 2001–2002, p 5). The appreciation for western cities characterized in a different way by modern or ancient architecture (renaissance, modern, contemporary) was analysed to understand if the preference derives from the identification with the social group (preference for the historical buildings of one’s own city) or from a more general preference for ancient architectural typologies. Starting from this consideration, our research aims to deepen the relationships among buildings’ age, familiarity and expressed aesthetical preference. Twenty-one buildings of the city of Cagliari, divided into