The Architect of Organizational Psychology

Globalization, used in the architect of the organizational psychology world, often evokes images of a shrinking world, in which accelerating flows of information and travel technology compares time and space in the relationships between world cultures, political economies and the built environment. In the world of organizational psychology, the field of organizational psychology is a byproduct of business (organizational behavior and management), psychology [clinical and industrial and organizational psychology (I/O)], and culture. The one common paramount connection between architecture and organizational psychology in the world of globalization is (or the corporate/organization) culture. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is the architect of organizational psychology, with an emphasis on culture. Specifically, Geert Hofstede's dimensions of cultural (corporate and organizational) identity, and how culture influences architecture and business in globalization.

City of Beats

The flâneur is the urban vagabond in search of experiences and inspirations from serendipitously exploring a city environment. This construct is put beside post-modern stances about the suburban areas built and populated after the Second World War industrialization, along with considerations about ecological psychology, cultural materialism, and sound theory. The main concept is to provide those places with a communication level that would be pleasant to discover while wandering without a destination. Therefore, it is desirable to conceive a meta-design tool able to incorporate creativity, ownership, and conviviality.

The Communicative Nature of Space in Organizations

This chapter examines the important role of space in communication. Design scholars have long recognized the importance of context, but few have gone further than to acknowledge that space has a communicative dimension. While design research has investigated certain aspects of communication (especially some of the symbolic properties) in organizations, it has not examined the full spectrum of symbolic and physical properties of space that affect interpersonal, group and organizational communication needs. The physical setting communicates messages through its symbolic properties. Just as importantly, it supports or impedes our ability to use visual, auditory, tactile/haptic, and olfactory cues through its physical properties that help convey and interpret messages in social interaction. Design solutions that effectively utilize symbolic and physical properties of space to accommodate interpersonal, group and organizational communication needs support organizational strategies to maximize worker opportunity to perform in today's workplace.

Evolution of Construction Systems

This chapter is going to deal with the evolution of structural systems; traditional structural systems, modern structural systems and more than traditional approach to the structural systems. Beyond this, even though this chapter is related with structural systems as an integral part of architectural design, it is also going to explore the link between culture, traditional structural techniques, and influence of culture, cultural beliefs and local materials, natural constraints as local available materials, climate effects and disaster risks as drivers affecting the evolution of structural systems. Structural principles of traditional construction techniques will be analyzed. The link between modern buildings and their structural systems and traditional construction techniques will be discussed by tracing modern buildings and structural systems in terms of their evolution. The subject matter will be approached in a descriptive manner. The examples given will be used to trace the link between past and present as a way of associating cultural effect with the architectural uniqueness.

The Fundamentals of Social Capital

This chapter explains the overview of social capital (SC); the dimensions of SC; SC, culture, and architecture; SC and economic growth; SC and knowledge management (KM); SC and social networking sites (SNSs); SC and health perspectives; and the significance of SC in the digital age. SC refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society's social interactions. SC involves establishing trust, norm, and network. SC is a quality derived from the structure of an individual's network relationships in the community, and relates to architectural design, culture, belief, economic growth, and business success. SC provides the relationships through which an entrepreneur receives opportunities to utilize human capital and financial capital in global business. The chapter argues that promoting SC has the potential to improve business performance and gain sustainable competitive advantage in global business.

“Bridges” and “Gaps” on Maps of Multicultural Cities

The city is a sum of feasible expressions of social and historical evolution and space identity. The uniqueness of a place is formed not only by contemporary infrastructure, but by the cultural environment deeply anchored in the historical context. The object of the study is the South Russian agglomeration as a feasible example of ragged edges of multicultural history of the region and constantly challenged collective identity. Multicultural cities in Russia carry a burden of the pre-Soviet and Soviet urban policy, weighed down by complex historical environment. As a result, cities are closed in a coterie: reliance on Soviet and post-Soviet legacy – conservative economic policy –– fragmentary and spontaneous development of the city architecture and infrastructure. The term of splintering urbanism coined by Steven Graham and Simon Marvin is focused on the historical circumstances and socio-cultural environment of urban communities in the South Russian agglomeration, describing symbolic forms of bridges and gaps in the collective urban identity.

Human Figure as a Cultural Mediator in Architectural Drawings

In architectural drawings, human figures generally express the scale of design space. Their presence is supposed to be a sign of a particular sensibility toward human scale and needs and over the centuries, figures were capable of playing a number of different cultural roles. From the anthropomorphic attitudes of Renaissance architects to the Functionalists' diagrams, human figures have illustrated and mediated the cultural development of human environment. Even if architects maliciously used them to convey layered meanings into their architectural renderings, they are an implicit index of different ideas about men and women and express architects' ideological positions toward society often beyond their intents. This paper analyzes the use of human figures in architectural designs with a particular attention to the twentieth century, to the passage from the mechanical to the digital age, in which the diffusion of cut-and-paste procedure is changing and enhancing their use in the globalized architecture.

The Role of Cultural Indoctrination in Architectural Style

This chapter examines the potential influence of cultural indoctrination (CI) on architectural style worldwide. Based on an encompassing literature review, this chapter focuses on the mediator of religion among the seven factors which are included in the established conceptual framework for CI; namely, Child Development, Cultural Institutionalization, Cultural Intelligence, Social Learning Theory, Religion, Social Capital, and Values Orientation Theory (VOT). The conceptual framework is presented for potential future application in architectural style and practice.

Psychological (and Emotional) Architecture

Wilson calls biofilia an “innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes” (Wilson, 1984, p. 1), an “innate emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms” (Wilson, 1993, p. 31), or an “inborn affinity human beings have for other forms of life, an affiliation evoked, according to circumstances, by pleasure, or a sense of security, or awe, or even fascination blended with revulsion” (Wilson, 1994, p. 360). The research in this area is indicating that bringing elements of nature into the workplace, whether real or artificial, is beneficial in terms of employee outcomes. Nevertheless, although investigation into the benefits of biophilia for individual well-being is relatively new, there is clearly mounting evidence that biophilic design can have a positive impact, from reducing stress and anxiety, to improving the quality and availability of respite from work and in increasing levels of self-reported well-being.

Two Unique Protected Sites with a Modern Heritage in Historical Peninsula in Istanbul

Suleymaniye and Zeyrek areas in the Historical Peninsula containing a combination of the architectural works of different religions, different cultures and communities are two districts which were entitled to be included in UNESCO world heritage list from Istanbul in 1985. Traditional architectural texture in Zeyrek and Suleymaniye among some unique districts of Istanbul, which brings neighborhood-centered lifestyle of Ottoman period in the past to the present, basically consists of wooden houses. Diverging process has affected on these two unique residential areas having their own hierarchical and political characteristics by planned development activities in time and it was forced to sacrifice many works belonging to Ottoman period within the borders. Another modern building obtained as a result of the competition in the Republican Period practically undertakes the task of combining these two estranged areas. Characteristics of the said two protected areas, diverging process and modern heritage acting as a buffer shall be examined in this study.