Housing and Rural Environment
Year:2011 | Volume:30 | Issue:134|Papers Count:7

The purpose of environmental design practice is not only to provide an artistic medium to express themself artistically. Best design solutions and satisfactory design approaches arise from identification of problems and objective orientation toward design issues. This necessitates the identification of users’ needs and concerns in the beginning of the design process, in order to produce desirable and efficient solutions, although it may not always interest designers.Identification of various aspects of design problems includes getting access to the proper knowledge regarding to environment and its constituent parts such as suitable settings and furnishings as well as identification of the activities. This implies that the product of designing buildings and any other physical environments must be based on understanding the human nature and characteristics which means that design need to respond to culture.In fact no design solution can claim perfection, it can only achievable when it is based on the best available information and data at any given moment in time; Therefore culture as representative of people - environment interaction, should be regarded as the main area of investigations and it is the subject of change and transformation according to the advances in human knowledge. Design must consider culture and information that leads design process towards achieving appropriate human - environment relationship. This requires to give priority to a comprehensive research, based on the state of the art of related studied, and the most upto-date available knowledge, rather than to the designer’s personal preferences. Their intuition might form hypotheses which is important for design disciplines to learn. In order to examine the success of a design solution, it is critical for designers to set the goal and objectives in advance to any exploration of ideas and artistic endeavors.

Adverse effects of vagrancy and homelessness due to unexpected disasters in different countries, as well as Iran, led to search for fast and adequate ways of settlement in emergencies and temporary conditions; which is an important stage of reconstruction after disaster. Although, temporary shelter is a short period of living for survivors and injured people, usually about few months till completion of permanent housing. Also emergency shelter is in the shorter period, as we should be concerned about the quality of victim's life in this period. Considering the quality of space as basic for life, and upgrading its quality, especially for disaster victims, whom have caught pains and hurts of disaster, which needs special attention in reconstruction architecture.From this perspective, the temporary and emergency spaces have to be designed in such a way that to protect people in different conditions, such as, heat, cold, wind and rain, as well as guaranteeing their comfort. From this point of view to improve conditions of settlement during all times, Reconstruction Architecture consider to be as a special concession in successful reconstruction.This article is trying to examine and introduce different aspects of paper, including building technological characteristics, its experiences and method of usage in disaster victims Settlements. The First part is an introduction to explore, the need to use new materials for temporary and emergency shelter such as paper, its characteristics and method of production.Second part, considers experiences of using paper in building and architecture with successful examples in this field. Third part will examine the use of paper in building during disasters and its global experiences in types of temporary buildings which have been designed and executed in reconstruction after disaster. Finally concluding with abilities of using paper in building and its future perspective in the role which is going to play in architecture.

Participation of villagers in preparing and implementing development plans is an issue taken into consideration by many researchers working in the field of rural studies as well as the responsible people engaged in rural implementation affairs. In this regard, along with a variety of methods and experiences of rural planning, the issue of people's participation in preparation and implementation of these plans is assumed to be inevitable and necessary for many years, and its observation is recommended. But the fact is that either the planning and implementation process in rural areas generally exclude the role of villagers completely or the villagers’ participation does not occur in its true meaning and is pretty superficial or in the most optimistic mode, their participation is quite a symbolic device used by officials to, give legitimacy to the project. Despite all the concerns and unsuccessful experiences of those types of rural planning, in which the collaboration and participation of villagers had been considered, ultimately the open and unanswered question is that whether the villager’s participation in planning their own settlements is really achievable today with regard to all social, economic, cultural and executive restrictions or not. And how is people's participation in preparation of rural development plans possible? How, and with what programming procedures and in what fields, is the participation of villagers really feasible? What tools could be effective to extend the rate and range of participation? Starting with raising the above questions and planning to find their answer, and considering the importance of local public participation in rural development plans, the present paper tries to present all the features of the rural planning implemented with villagers’ participation and introduce the participatory planning as something uncomplicated and possible.In this regard, describing the experience of fabric planning of some parts of Bandar-e Loft in Qeshm Island, the paper explains that people should determine the objectives and policies of the plan and help planners and designers achieve these goals through consultation. In addition, if experts do their task properly, they can also give consultation to rural villagers regarding their development plans. Villagers may have not entered higher levels of participation like spontaneity and self-determination; however, the task of planners, designers, managers, policy makers and officials is to provide the ground to facilitate this spontaneity, and helping villagers to have an active participation.

Lack of attention to the needs of rural people and their settlements causes a proliferation of migration from rural areas to the cities. The construction of building industry in villages have been increased by the city dwellers in the form of villas, but these houses are not correlating with it’s nature environment in the rural context with respect to materials, architectural features and character which is the main problem, especially for the rural regions of northern Iran. This type of development is a considerable threat for both the rural character and the natural environment. This study asserts that an Urban Village model can be an efficient remedy for the described problems as well as a good solution for controlling the proliferation of inessential buildings. In this study, researchers analyze the benefits of using this method in the case study of Miyanlat Village in the Safarud Region. Research findings revealed that consideration of the following factors are necessary for successful use of this method in each region:1- Emphasize on identity and human scale in designing of living spaces,2- Compact form with appropriate development of mass and space,3- Pedestrianization and use of public transit,4- Efficient use of land and energy sources,5- Appropriate mixed use of activities, land use and variety in building architecture,6- Specific attributes and dimensions of region with clear stationing of community, and7- Respect of the natural environment by usage of natural resourses in the context of rural buildings.

In the architecture of various ethnic groups, windows are one of the main elements which are fundamental in forming the appearance and depicting the architectural characteristics of residential buildings. If windows contain environmental and cultural characteristics of where the building is located, they can present the architectural identity of that environment. In the structure of windows of traditional buildings such characteristics can be seen. However, with the progression of time, the increased use of disproportionate architectural features within buildings has created a lack of variety and cultural characteristics for windows. Without the ability to demonstrate the culture of the land they came from, windows have lost their historical role in our current everyday human life. Furthermore, most of the once recognized traditional windows have now lost their meaning and function amongst the majority within societies. To be able to understand better the concept of windows in traditional architecture it seems helpful to notice the literary meaning of the particular window in question. This includes its current and ancient synonyms in Persian and other languages. As most of human knowledge and experiences are saved in the form of words and terms, which are then continually transferred to other generations, it is necessary to draw such attention to languages. In the ancient Persian language, different types of grid that were placed to fill the space in wall openings or “light holes” (Rowzan) were called “Panjereh”, the word that is used nowadays for window. During this historical time other words were used to refer to and describe different types of windows. The word window usually gets its meaning in houses while in public and religious buildings they usually used “Rowzan”, meaning light gap. Additionally, some words used to refer to particular windows were denoted according to the name of the rooms or living spaces they were used in.These variations in the words that were once used to describe windows by their structural or functional means, exemplify the social and cultural relations and cultural richness of their historical time. This is confirmed by the use of such words in Persian literature and mystic poetry. In Persian, most of the words used for windows have meanings related to light and radiation. In some other languages as well the meaning of this word is related to environmental and climatic concepts. Despite the contemporary scientific belief regarding the importance of environmental issues affecting shape, size and variety of windows, our study reveals that shape and size of windows in Iran is more under the influence of architectural culture and living spaces that make other issues less important.

Housing as one of the basic human needs always considered as a priority program in economic development. Growing trend of rural households and the existence of a considerable number of worn-out rural residential units on one hand and low volume production of rural housing on the other hand caused a serious problem to rural housing. This study aimed to evaluate quantitative and qualitative indicators of rural housing in Kermanshah Province, using 15 variables with descriptive - analytical study. The study reveals that the rural areas of Kermanshah in 2006 about 17, 779 new residential units were needed. Structure of 43.8 percent of rural housing in Kermanshah Province durable, 33.9 semi durable and 22.2 percent are undurable. More than 74 percent of residential units have less than 100 meters built up area and 25 percent of residential units are more than 25 years old. From Seismicity point of view, it shows that the east of province covers 24% of total area and 19% of population in the province can have very high seismic risk. To prevent effect of natural disasters, it is necessity to improve the status of rural housing, therefore the master plan which was developed. In this regard should be considered.

In spite of the speedy process of the urbanization in Iran during the last decades, this country is still known as a rural-urban society. In fact, many of the small cities of Iran, although had some apparent changes, but they are more identical to the villages in respect of socio - economic relations and cultural characteristic. Villages are considered as dynamic inhabitants in socio economic and Physical - Spatial aspects, in which the attitude, interests and ways of responding to needs or confronting with the limited parameters could be witness in the physical construction and formation of the space. Dynamism has required permanent and at the same time, slow changes in the village structure. Paying attention to the effective parameters in the formation and process of the rural life, these changes may be deemed as the secret of village development in the future. Village architecture in Iran for the purpose of its functional nature and responding to the human needs, popular activities, production and environmental elements may be deemed a homogeneous set of relations, functions and multifunctional role of their spaces. The village of Sangan is not an exception to the rule, and its entirety consists of a set of elements, which may be understood by a logical relationship between the set of activities, behaviors and Physical of the village in a structured form. The structure of Sangan is formed and grown during an organic process based on the interaction between the natural and human factors. The context and housing of the Sangan village is under the effects of this process and formed by the local architects. Sangan is in the outskirts of the Kan District, which is located in the north-west of Tehran County. Having consider its location, which is near the capital, the interference conducted in its architecture and Texture during the recent years; The formulation of models and regulations of design, construction development of Texture and housing is based on the indigenous structure which may be fruitful in the stabilization of its physical identity.