ABSTRACT
Imageability is a recurring message for designers and environment-behavior researchers. Lynch wrote that mental images are the result of a two-way process. Building and street form convey an environmental message reflecting the inner life, activities, and social conceptions of those who influenced the form, in association with the actions and value of the users. Numerous studies have examined the effect of meaning on environmental response. In a study of contextual compatability, color photographs of various urban scenes were shown to experts and nonexperts. The selection of the urban scenes involved an initial review of the professional literature, procurement of color photographs, and a preliminary sorting of infill design approaches. The results of the study confirmed that non-architects generally find the starkness of modernist architecture incompatible with its classical predecessors. Using social science techniques such as the adjective rating scale or the semantic differential, in conjunction with photographic images, can promote an effective information exchange between designer and client/user.
