Spatial Interaction in Educational Buildings: The Effect of Semi Open Space Usage on Student Behavior

Urban areas hold significant importance for the dynamics of people’s lives. Paving the way for the interactions between spaces and residents, cities can also be considered as social areas that gather people. Urban space, which defines the built environment, the voids, and the relationships between them, can be interpreted as a system that integrates and gives meaning to these components. Site-specific design approaches enable residents to utilise their spaces efficiently while also allowing them to experience these spaces across various time periods and changing environmental conditions. Considering seasonal variations and climatic effects, flexibly designed open and semi-open areas enhance user comfort while supporting the continuity of social interaction. In this context, the accurate configuration of spatial components becomes a determining factor in user behavior. Correct behavioral patterns or personal and collective behavioral stances depend on the correct and flexible planning of spatial elements and components. Efficient and flexible space formations within designs reflect on the behavioral patterns of urban residents and help cities have a transformed image in an environmental context. The study was conducted in the front yard of an educational building in Erzurum, a cold-climate city characterized by long and harsh continental conditions. Students’ behavioral patterns in the semi-open space located in the schoolyard were observed, and their relationship with the space was evaluated. The individual, interpersonal, and group behaviors of students, as well as their interactions with the semi-open space, were examined separately, and recommendations were developed for the effective use of semi-open spaces in educational buildings. The findings indicate that well-designed semi-open spaces can enhance students’ social interaction, spatial comfort, and behavioral diversity, while flexible and context-sensitive open space design may support their physical, cognitive, and social development and increase spatial efficiency.