Identifying the perceptual qualities in a heritage precinct-entrance gateway of Thiruvasi village, Tamilnadu

Abstract

Heritage is the one need to be appreciated, cherished and preserved. Loss of identity of any place, event, culture or structure without understanding it, results in failure of meaning for settlement. Temple gopuram is the established sign and symbol of an urban space in the regions occupied by Hindu people where ever they settle. It orients people in the known or unknown environment. On a macro level, it acts as gateway, way finder, gives urban identity, adds imageablity, to micro level it directly influences the human actions and feelings. This study sets out to explore, how the perceptual qualities of the gopuram affect person’s memory and perception. The investigation was carried out with questionnaires to the students of number 32, visited the rural space for their case study purpose. The parameters of perceptual qualities were considered as the visual, social and cognitive image. The result shows that the perceptual quality depends on the visual and the cognitive image parameters than the social image. Though the visit is for a short duration of time of one week or for one day, the Rajagopuram structure influence of the observer in a major way and for the inhabitants it adds a symbol of identity to the place.