Maremat & memari-e Iran
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:9

The variety of criteria used in preserving the authenticity during the process of conservation of historical heritage has been itself reckoned as an index of international cultural diversity. Thus, paying a close attention to such vernacular approaches would be effective in deepening the worldwide understanding of the concept of authenticity. To strengthen this hypothesis, the results of reviewing the Sadraean doctrine of principality of the existence were applied to promote the common method of authenticity evaluation. Seven commonly used criteria of authenticity extracted from the theoretical texts of conservation and the practical attitudes were analyzed for their dependence on the specific cultural discourse from which they were arisen and their general limitation in concentration on limited existential dimension of the historic work. In response to this challenge, a feasibility study was accomplished to present a different interpretation of authenticity of historic work as a dynamic unity by reviewing the approach of Sadraean doctrine toward key-terms of historic conservation literature such as time and materiality of heritage. As a result of this study the concept of “continuity of vernacular culture of artistic creation” has been introduced as a new criterion for evaluation of authenticity especially for those monuments which still play a role in the dynamic social life of urban textures or religious places.  Respecting the physical manifestations of this concept in the old and new parts of a historic work (i.e. repairs, reconstructions, and additions) would results in further coordination of conservation process and vernacular values as well as deepening of worldwide understanding of the authenticity.

Bagh-e Shah (King’s Garden) was built, originally functioning as Divan-Khaneh (a royal visiting place) in Safavid period. This edifice located in Ashraf al-Belad (today known as Behshahr, one of the northern cities of Iran) has undergone major changes from the time of its establishment. The extent of changes in the neighboring surroundings, however, has been much more than those of the interior. Serving once as the most famous landmark of the city, the royal garden now has been entangled among the local houses and alleys devoid of slightest glory which it used to be proud of. Bagh-e Shah is in fact, one of the surviving prime examples of the Persian gardens in humid climate, unique in its kind; it vividly represents the traditional function of a royal garden in a distinct city like Behshahr- the summer capital of the country in Safavid period. Therefore, an appreciation of the interaction governing between the Bagh and its surroundings and of destructive factors threatening its identity seems unavoidable. This study aims to investigate the available historical records of Bagh-e-shah garden on its situation, position and function at the time of establishment in the town of Ashraf al-Belad and the damages imposed to its originality.

Reconstruction and revitalization of historical fabrics has long been the challenge for professions of urban conservation, planning, design, and architecture. In these fields, various theories have been proposed based on previous conditions and experiences. Failure to properly identify and analyze the urban historical fabric, lack of conducting and applying comparative studies, fail in understanding the specific characteristics of historical fabrics and lack of knowledge about the causes of historical fabrics recession could be named as a few of the major causes for most historical fabrics rehabilitation plans-and in a more comprehensive view, urban plans- to remain unfinished. Ignoring the social, cultural, identity and historical values set behind the face of historical fabrics as well as highlighting the administrators’ museum-based perspective on historical fabrics has led to a mere physical definition of reconstruction and has caused many historical fabrics repair either remain in studies stage or fail to result in desired purposes, even after conducting. Continuous social life is one of the major features of a valuable historical fabric; a concept which has no place in our recent urban refurbish.The viewpoint considered in this research on the historical fabric revitalization is a melange with the concepts in urban design and flow networks in historical fabric suffused with social dimensions. This research attempts to build a logic relationship between behavioral needs of the space users and the environment affordance in historical fabrics with a movement model which could motive the individuals to appear within the fabrics and restore vitality of urban districts and increase social interactions as well as increasing the social capital in urban places of historical fabrics and in this way, it could strengthen the sustainable social life which is fading due to the decline of environment qualities in historical fabrics. The ultimate goal in this research is to offer a model based on mathematics, formulating a strong defined network in relation with the main urban structure which could enhance the pedestrian flow according the region’s tourism potentials and provide conditions for increasing social interactions. Achieving the research ultimate goal i.e. increasing social interactions has been targeted based on environmental qualities and affordance and applying the available potentials and in this regard, the space capacity and urban upgrading costs to conduct the model have been taken into consideration. The proposed model, due to the great size of the problem and high complexity of the time, has been solved by Meta-Heuristic (NSGA II) technique. The results of the model solving determines the proper movement paths in the studied region which helps to identify strategic and key points in the region by using the Multi criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique.

Following the powerful earthquakes in Iran, a large number of historic urban areas of the country have been facing a major identity crisis, triggering a particular and sensitive situation in which any kind of action including reconstruction and restoration works will be faced with the problematic condition. The existing experiences in this regard have demonstrated that there has not been a balance between the governmental resources and the people’s expectations. To this must be added the especial care of historic urban fabric of old cities. More often, most relevant governmental institutes seek to compensate people for loss of their tangible assets. Meanwhile the intangible aspects of the disasters such as local identity, social relations and the continuity of tradition and continuity on the degree of vulnerability are often forgotten. This paper is to survey and highlight the role of public participation in the process and the needs of sensitive working with all categories of society and the necessity of all social classes (before, during and after the crisis) based on the researches and experiences hold held by the authors during past years. Experiences in this regard that show the amount of demands of people and the historic urban quarters in which they live, are much greater than the government abilities and initial facilities. In contrast, the public participation and the ability to discover the local capacities by the public are acceptable to the most vulnerable communities. This potential which is not based on the specific situations and particular periods, is also more often durable and reliable to people. Crises of earthquake not only merely include the periods during and following the time of disaster but also a significant part of necessary actions to take to reduce damages affiliating with the preventive measures. Local residents as valuable potentials are well able to communicate together about the issues that affect their lives, making urgent and vital decisions. The field of these inherent partnerships most of the time involve the periods prior to the disaster to the end of it. Building capacity, creating and strengthening a sense of trust, forming an extensive network of collaborative relationships could reduce the expenses of reconstruction and restoration works and much more importantly the cost of spiritual loses of local communities. These kinds of measures can also prevent some parallel works in this regard. Due to the great volume of activities in the times of crisis required by the government, it should be passed to; and shared with the local people who are aware of the local capacities. This process can be organized via a logical, coherent and detailed plan in which the full knowledge of people regarding their social and cultural environments is considered properly, concluding the maximum efficiency.

The Khan Lenjan castle (today known as Qaleh-Bozi) is one of the mountainous fortifications of Isfahan province located on top of the three fields of Qaleh-Bozi Mountain about10 km north east of Mobarakeh. The castle probably was built in Sassanid period and regarding to its strategic position, it was reconstructed during the Islamic periods. Owing to insufficient information on the architectural monuments of the castle (which has been built on three different levels), the present survey aimed to provide a comprehensive and accurate map of the architectural spaces given the topographic conditions of Qaleh-Bozi Mountain. Also in order to identify the reason (s) for the castle establishment, a comprehensive study based on relative written sources and documents was carried out. According to data obtained from the survey and mapping, the area of the castle is about one hectare and the fortifications include a high castle at the mountain’s highest point, and a central fortress and a smaller castle at lower parts. In building Khan Lenjan castle, like other mountainous castles, it has been tried to make the best of the natural topography of Qale-bozi Mountain; the architectural plan of the castle lacks an orderly geometric pattern. Based on data extracted from the textual documents, it seems that the Khan Lenjan castle has had different functions in different periods. In fact, in addition to its safekeeping function, Khan Lenjan castle, in the course of different times, has had residential, governmental, military or defensive roles as well.

The subject of this paper is the title of a field research which has studied more than 30 tombs during past decade. The main aim of this paper is comparative study and also achieving to a proper theory of conservation and restoration for tombs in Tabarestan. Research team found out important result after many research and documentation. These results can be practical in conservation and restoration of such relics. These buildings are located in vastness of west to east of Tabarestan region (today, Mazandaran province), in a mountain and forestial climate. These structures belong to the political and religious history of the region, especially 14th and 15th century (8th and 9th Hejryghamary). The names of these buildings have been mentioned in different documents. Many of them are tombs of descendants of Shia Islamic Imams. Local people also have built other tombs for their own ancestors some of which have survived. In Safavid dynasty, Shia spread out through the country and tomb architecture became specifically related to religious figures. In this time many tombs were built for leaders, instead of religious tombs. In Qajar dynasty many of these tombs in Mazandaran were renovated, rehabilitated and extended in size. After Qajar dynasty, and in Pahlavi dynasty, renovation and rehabilitation of such structure continued without following any specific architectural method. Shams-E all-E Rasoul in Amoul city is a unique sample of such structures in mentioned region. This structure is located in Amoul city Gonbadein territory. Similar to other tomb structures, the mentioned tomb is a subject of natural and human damages and has undergone some renovation. Finding a unity theory in order to achieving a lively balance in such tombs are a part of results in this paper.

The present study examined the correlation between plasticity index (PI) and mechanical properties of cement-stabilized adobes. In doing so, an empirical quantitative bi-variant approach, based on field work studies, environmental surveys and laboratory-based methods, was used. Samples were categorized in three groups of which four different types of clay from four distinct arid areas in Iran were empirically analyzed. After measuring plasticity index in each group of clays, each clay type was divided into three sub-groups into which zero, five and ten percents of cement were mixed. Adobes which were made using these mixtures were subjected to compressive and tensile strength tests. Final Results were analyzed and research hypothesis was approved by a study in accuracy of five-percent cement and a significant relationship between the plasticity index (PI) and the rate of strength obtained after adding cement was proved. According to the results, the more plasticity index (PI) of soil, the more mechanical properties within the stabilized samples would be.