Abstract
This study, as discussed herein, tries to understand how modern commercial buildings occur and develop in certain type of social and cultural conditions. There are many words standing for modern society, of which the most remarkable one is 'commercial society'. Commercial society is where goods are manufactured to one's taste and consumption is a way of communication and a way of discriminating one from the others by using different code. Nowadays, architecture gets more and more popular and becomes commercial object which is intended to the sign of the social meaning. So, the sign of commercial buildings varies according to the social and cultural backgrounds and kitsch is applicable to it. The original meaning of kitsch, which usually is considered an inferior copy of an existing style, is examined and applied to architecture in order for comprehension. Throughout this study, the types of commercial buildings are selected and immanent meaning to the psychology of consumers as applicable to commercial buildings is considered. Also, the trend of kitsch in commercial buildings is analyzed by classifying the image and code of a building's shape. In a conclusion of the study, two major points can be found; commercial building has a significant meaning in terms of design, and commercial building is the conceptual result of a continuous change in the relationship between society and art.