ARMANSHAHR
Year:2023 | Volume:16 | Issue:43|Papers Count:17

A large area of Iran is located in a hot and dry climate, so has a high amount of sunlight absorption. Systems providing indoor temperature comfort consume a major amount of energy in different parts of the building. Some passive design techniques, such as solar chimneys can be used to keep thermal comfort in buildings and reduce energy consumption. This study evaluates the thermal performance of temperature distribution through simulation Design Builder Software in a government building in Kerman City. This evaluation has been provided by doing a ventilation process with and without integrating a solar chimney in the southern front of the building during summer and winter. The formic variables of the chimney were then applied to examine temperature variations and thermal comfort in different angles to determine the effectiveness of the solar chimney within 40–90-degree angles in 10-degree steps relative to the horizon line by solving average airspeed and volumetric flow rate parameters. Finally, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used through Design Builder software to measure temperature distribution and airflow. The results implied that the integration of solar chimney could optimize around 16% of the total energy consumption with 40% angel in the best state, and the average value of the thermal comfort index in July reached from 2.97 to 2.25, while this amount reached from -2.93 to -2.24 in January. This value has approached ASHRAE standard 55 and ISO 7730. However, solar chimneys alone cannot provide considerable thermal comfort in extremely hot weather.

It is necessary to move towards creating and realizing a creative city because a city is a place for shaping society's platforms for wisdom, and cities are underlying factors for economic development. components and indicators of this theory can be used to achieve economic, social, cultural, and spatial growth and prosperity. Therefore, the present study aims to review the theoretical literature on the creative city concept identifying components and indicators of the creative city. For this purpose, relevant references were analyzed through a systematic technique. The keywords “creative city” and “urban creativity” were searched among references’ titles, and 58 papers were retrieved from "ScienceDirect" and "Google Scholar" databases. Finally, five social-cultural, economic, environmental, institutional-governance, and functional-spatial dimensions were extracted, comprehended, and classified into 15 components and 134 indicators. The most important indicators in urban development from the viewpoint of creative city include cultural tourism, social capitals, and cultural-social diversity (social and cultural dimension); economic tourism, urban entrepreneurship, and innovation and creative industries (economic dimension); creative governance, integrated management, public participation (institutional-governance dimensions); green urban network and climate quality (environmental dimensions); attention to physical identity, architecture, vernacular urbanism, recreation, and urban branding (spatial-physical dimension). Ultimately, a creative city model was proposed with different conceptual layers, requirements, and implications. The novel aspect of the study was a systematic review of creative city literature by identifying and synthesizing newly available studies and using the PRISMA1 statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses).

Study and recognition of historical monuments especially pre-Islam monuments that received less attention is necessary for researchers to understand the architecture of ancestors and find how the architects dealt with architecture in the past. In this lieu, the monuments with similar functions or times located in different places can be examined to find useful answers to building design issues. Kooh-e-Khajeh is important in terms of location regarding location, strategic status, and sanctity, so this mount has been named in most texts. Ardeshir Babakan Palace is similar to Kooh-e-Khajeh in terms of its location nature and some architectural and functional patterns. Therefore, this study chose these monuments of their similar functions and time. For this purpose, this paper conducted a comparative study between Ardeshir Babakan Palace in Firuzabad and Kafaran Castle in Kooh-e-Khajeh to discover and examine similarities between these two monuments regarding location and general profiles, physical specifications of design, and decorative properties. To do this, descriptive-analytical and historical-interoperative techniques, direct observation of studied monuments, field observations, documentary study, and archeology have been used. The examination results show that the mentioned monuments share some similar properties in terms of general features of design and main patterns of design while having considerable differences in some design details, such as decorations and proportions of spaces.

Soundscapes, as one of the qualities constituting the territory of sacred places, with distinct perceptual, behavioral, social, and symbolic features, play a key role in mentally preparing pilgrims in the hierarchy of pilgrimage to these places. Therefore, urban designers and planners can contribute to the environmental richness of these sacred and spiritual territories by properly managing the soundscape according to contextual values. Today, the decline of pleasant sounds and the dominance of unpleasant sounds in the peripheral territory of the Shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh cause its cultural soundscape to require more attention. So, the present study aims to evaluate the soundscape in the peripheral territory of this holy shrine. The present study is descriptive-analytical mixed-method research. The soundscape in this territory is evaluated qualitatively using the soundwalking technique and quantitatively by measuring the Equivalent Continuous Sound Pressure Level (Leq) using a TES-1358 Sound Level Meter (SLM) in two periods of day and night. Quantitative findings indicate that the day-night equivalent sound pressure level is higher than the standards approved by the Iranian Supreme Commission for Environment, and the values obtained during the day were higher than those obtained at night. In the pedestrianized areas specified for pilgrimage to the Shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh, such as the Bahar walkway, Eram walkway, Enghelab walkway, and the area surrounding the holy Shrine in Astaneh Square and Imam Khomeini Square, the average day-night sound levels were within a more favorable range compared to other areas, with Imam Musa Sadr, and Taleghani axes and especially, Motahhari Square with the highest average sound level. Moreover, considering the spiritual and religious role of this territory, qualitative findings indicate the presence of numerous religious and cultural sound marks, among which the holy shrine is considered the most significant sound mark in this territory. However, the dominance of noise and anthrophonic sounds influence the identity of religious and cultural sound marks in this territory. Moreover, geophonic and biophonic sounds appropriate to the context of this territory, account for a small part of pleasant sounds.

A learning disorder is one of the prevalent problems during childhood, which is usually diagnosed during school years although is diagnosable in pre-school ages. This disorder causes some education problems, such as weak academic performance, being rejected, and even dropping out of school resulting in the incompatibility of these students in the school and disorder in the education process. If this disorder is controlled during childhood, the irreversible damage in adulthood will be minimized. Regarding the effect of the environment's role on human behavior, this research asks what are properties of a standard educational space are for improving the performance of children who suffer from learning disorders. This study aims to explain the design principles of educational environments or settings to improve the performance of children with learning disorders. This is applied research with a selected descriptive-survey research method. Findings indicate that because children with learning disorders have different needs based on their disabilities, the schools must provide a set of educational places that meet the various needs of these students. Seven general models (normal classroom model, consultation model, mobile model, reference room, special classroom, separate day school, and boarding schools) have been proposed for the educational space of children with learning disorders. The result of this study comprises a set of principles for the design of educational settings that have been classified based on their effects on the improvement of performance among children with different types of learning disorders (dyscalculia, dyslexia, and dysgraphia, as well as the shared characteristics of these three disorders). The results of this study show that architectural qualities (form quality, qualities related to light and color, sound qualities, functional quality, layout, and furniture qualities, design qualities based on the perception and sense related to nature, security quality, and psychological peace of space) would promote performance of children with learning disorder.

Indoor plants are increasingly used nowadays in office environments due to their psychological benefits and aesthetic values. However, there is no information about the preferences for indoor plants from the viewpoint of employees in the indoor spaces of these environments. The present study seeks to identify indoor plant preferences from the viewpoint of employees in various office departments and the impact of the green space of the office complex on these preferences. Since employees' preferences may vary in different workspaces, plants in the "management room", "employee department", "meeting room", "waiting room", "pantry" and "WC", are separately examined. Using a simulated visual questionnaire of office indoor spaces, the present study evaluates the preferences for 362 residents of two office complexes (with green space and no green space) in Tabriz, Iran, through "plant density", "physical body of the plant (leaf size, stem height, and plant color) "and" plant distance from the worktable". Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test. The results showed that employees generally prefer high vegetable density, short-stem, fine-leaf, flowered, and light-green plants at long distances from the worktable. However, these preferences vary in different parts of the office environment. Results showed a significant difference between the preferences for the two office complexes (with green space and no green space) regarding the plant color, the leaf size, and the plant type, emphasizing the importance of green space in the office complex. By introducing some plant species, the results can be used by designers to enhance the use of green space and optimize the quality of indoor space in office environments.

The inherent duty of urban design is to manage the improvement of urban design qualities in both content and procedural dimensions. Without simultaneous attention to these two, even the purest urban design theories may remain ineffective in reality. Improving the quality of the landscape, in addition to the need to formulate comprehensive, clear, and more or less flexible regulations, requires the definition of a precise and efficient executive structure so that it can be a suitable leverage for the implementation of these rules. Façade committees are one of the methods regarded for the control and implementation of these approvals, which play a significant role in achieving the goal of landscape improvement. Mashhad City has been one of the main pioneers in this field in the country by compiling approvals and forming committees to control and guide urban landscaping. The present research aims to evaluate the performance of the Mashhad façade Committee by examining its damages, challenges, and achievements as well as providing effective suggestions to improve this performance. Applying a mixed method and alignment methodology, this study has evaluated the performance of the façade Committee in two quantitative and qualitative phases. The research findings state that the most important challenges of façade committees are qualitative decisions, applying personal interest, weakness of legal position, and lack of criteria for action and executive guarantee. It's most important achievements are drawing the attention of the specialized community to the significance of the public landscape, citizens' rights and interests, and strengthening the architects' position in the development process. Some suggestions have been proposed for improving the performance of the façade committee in the procedural section that includes improving the organizational administrative level of the façade committee, forming a project steering committee, preparing periodical performance reports. Some other suggestions were proposed in the case of the content section, including planning for participation and opinion polls, and acculturalization for Iranian architecture promotion.

Sacred art is hidden at the heart of traditional art and is directly related to the truth and divine encryption while linking the body of holy architecture to the covert essence. Hence, this study aims to explain spatiality in contemporary mosques of Iran based on the material elements of sensory perceptions available in the setting to find the quality of the external environment or exterior of the contemporary mosques. For this purpose, a hypothesis is designed indicating a direct relationship exists between spatiality and sensory perceptions, and physical elements in the external environment of contemporary mosques in Iran shape this spatiality. Using qualitative research methods, philosophical approach, and inductive reasoning as library and field methods for data collecting, the present study concluded that spatiality in Al-Ghadir and Al-Reza Mosques in Tehran is in line and in size of embodying the material affair based on the physical elements located in the external environment, symbols, form, and human presence in this space, and is created regarding the movement and dynamism in the environment along with sensory perceptions. In Al-Ghadir Mosque of Tehran, the pilgrim is involved in a limited space and does not feel any new experience of moving in the space at any moment when moving in the space. In the Al-Reza Mosque of Tehran, the form and materials used in the external environment of this mosque indicate that it has not been constructed to improve pilgrims' sensory perceptions of the external environment and help them to travel to the world of mysticism. Hence, this mosque does not represent a mystical environment for pilgrims as much as the setting provided by Al-Ghadir Mosque. In Al-Ghadir and Al-Reza Mosques, therefore, geometry and volumetricity (cubism) are more important than Qibla for the spatial arrangement of the external environment; hence, the concept of eternity is not conveyed to the pilgrims when attending these mosques.

Developments in the decoration art of Qajar architecture in Iran were influenced by modernism and architectural development approaches after the kings of this period enhanced their communications with the Western world. These changes in decorations or ornaments of the Qajar houses in Kermanshah appeared in a wide area of historical fabric. This paper asks how these decorations are used especially in the Qajar houses of Kermanshah City, Iran, and how much architectural development patterns influence the ornaments of these houses. The mentioned questions have not been evaluated in previous studies. Research method of this study is historical-interpretive that is done through following steps: “examining the patterns of decorations and determining the components influenced by traditional and western architectures in the houses,” “comparative analysis of the method and extent of the influence of traditional and western architecture on decorations of Qajar houses in Kermanshah,” and “explaining and evaluating how and how much the decoration patterns are influenced by the traditional and western architecture in Qajar houses in Kermanshah." Thematic analysis of this study was done through comparative identification, organization, and evaluation. Analysis and summarization of results obtained from the process of evaluating the main indicators influenced by traditional and Western architecture in this study show that developments and influence on the decorations of Qajar houses in Kermanshah have been manifested as practical developments during three periods of architecture, including traditional, western, and mixed patterns. These developments have been influenced by ancestors and kept the identity under the influence of decoration components of Iran's traditional architecture in the first period, while these developments have appeared with the beginning of influences of Western architecture in Iran influenced by components of Western architecture ornaments during the second period. In the third period, these developments appeared as mixed ornaments under the influence of ancestors and Western architecture.

After the rising environmental crisis, solar energy use became a significant, effective measure in reducing the pollution caused by fuels and energy consumption. Hence, it is necessary to adopt modern technologies in the architecture of educational spaces. Solar cell systems (photovoltaic (PV) systems) and hot water collectors have a considerable impact on heating providing usefulness in this case. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of these two components in heating and reducing energy consumption in educational buildings located in cold and mountainous climates. In this study, the first step is to extract effective components using library and documentary studies. In the second step, the solar water heater is first simulated using TSOL software through the dynamic method in the Urmia climate, and then one of the schools located in Urmia is assessed and analyzed. By simulating the proposed educational building designed in Design Builder and modeling the solar water heaters and PV cells on the building, their effectiveness and function are examined in heating, output energy, and hot water supply (%). According to the results, in the solar water heater, the hot water supply equals 81.3%, the efficiency of this system equals 49.9% and saved gas equals 2670m3. The energy produced by the PV system supplies 47% of the electricity consumption in the rooftop power plant, while supplies 22.3% in the power plant of south side walls. According to the comparison between the current mode and the proposed designed mode, total savings equaled 80.3%. Therefore, hot water collectors and PV cells have a significant effect on the minimization of energy in educational buildings.

Modern society must encourage creative children to do its activities. Many studies have examined this topic over recent years, but the effect of architectural space design on creativity flourishing has received less attention. Hence, this study aims to identify the indicators affecting creativity and skill training among children. The main purpose of this study is to create a space for intellectual growth and flourishing social skills in children of the 2-10 age range, motivate inner challenges, challenge attitudes, and develop skills, and examine the role of education and the effect of architecture on the educational environment. The key question of this study is whether the indicators affecting the design of the elementary school and children's creativity center can improve creativity and increase social skills in the educational environment. This study used a descriptive-analytical method and collected data through the documentary method, interview (questionnaire), field visits, and observation. The questions of the questionnaire are distributed among statistical society (ordinary individuals, trainers, children's parents), and the hypotheses are designed and evaluated then the findings are analyzed based on the effective indicators for designing elementary schools and creativity centers by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to identify and prioritize the elements, SWOT to evaluate strengths and weaknesses, SPSS software for statistical analysis, and EXCEL software to divide and organize the results. Ultimately, it was concluded physical indicators and natural factors of the outside environments, cultural and social variables, and favorite architectural elements of children in addition to architectural design and creating legibility in design facilitate creativity and social skills. Regarding the design components of child space in the selected settings, it was found that design components have a positive effect on creativity growth and skill training among children. Moreover, research hypotheses that aim to confirm the effect of physical components of child space on activity development and skill training were realized.

Designing quality housing provides a favorable atmosphere for residents by creating a balance between architecture and the environment. Inefficient fabrics, due to some problems, require more attention to factors affecting the quality of housing design to solve existing problems in them to prevent these areas from depopulation, in addition to solving the problems in it, by creating quality residential space. The present study aims to investigate various common interventions applied in the design of housing in the inefficient middle fabric of Isfahan City (i.e. Oman Samani Neighborhood) to identify the most important factors affecting the quality of residential space design in inefficient middle fabrics. It is descriptive-analytical research carried out in two stages. The first stage includes data collection and the explanation of the theoretical research framework, including examining the approaches to housing design in inefficient fabrics as well as determining the quality components of residential space, by library studies, reviewing previous research, interviews, and observations. The second stage includes the prioritization and weighting of the components according to the experts’ opinions and using a questionnaire. The results indicated that, nowadays, due to the main problem of inefficient middle fabric, which is the presence of small plots (whose areas˂200m2), in most cases, the aggregation (integration of lands) is utilized as a way to solve the housing renovation problem. Moreover, the neighborhood scale with the highest weight, in addition to clarifying the importance of six components of accessibility, physical continuity, diversity of uses and services, adjacency to compatible uses, identity, and social continuity, reveals the need for the accurate recognition of the fabric characteristics before housing design.  The "density" component, as the most important component at the three main scales, shows the need to pay attention to fabric capacities in the neighborhood to prevent the overflow of the population of other areas to the consolidated areas while retaining their old inhabitants.

Many studies have shown that increased access to daylight through larger windows would improve the interior quality of hospital spaces; in terms of higher energy efficiency of the building, heat transmission through glasses is added when the size of windows becomes larger, which leads to less energy function of the building and more need for cooling load in summer. The smaller size of windows not only increases energy consumption in another way but also reduces the environmental quality of the hospital. In a climatic condition like Mashhad with a considerable temperature difference between interior and exterior spaces, windows' design is highly significant for increasing the energy efficiency of the building. This study aims to find those physical features of hospitals' windows in Mashhad that can create thermal comfort and increase energy efficiency in the building through optimal solar energy absorption. For this purpose, the conventional construction techniques for the design of hospitals, the methods resulting from the instructions of the 19th Topic of National Construction Regulations of Iran, and the proposed methods of this study for insulation increase were compared. The study is conducted using algorithmic simulation of building conditions within energy and light plugins (honeybee and ladybug) through Grasshopper software and data are described and analyzed through comparative method. As a result, the spaces shaped based on the instructions of Topic 19 provide more energy saving than the existing building; moreover, the methods proposed by this study can highly reduce energy consumption. The role of some considerations such as insulation is determining but limited in decreasing energy loss. Although the windows with 32-40% would bring useful light in all modes, it is necessary to consider the lower limit of this range to increase the energy efficiency of the building. The results of this study apply to the design of hospitals located in similar climates and this technique can be used in design of the spaces with similar time functions.

Congenitally blind people require finding solutions and relying on environmentally-compatible behaviors to understand and perceive their surrounding environment and acquire physical and social independence. In addition to their external senses, they need to use their internal senses of memory, imagination and subjective perception. Therefore, perception for these people is a kind of understanding the external world that comes from combing sensory data and thinking mechanisms and may differ from objective reality. This study aimed to respond to the question: “How is the perception of the environment made by congenitally total blind people?” For this, the study aimed to understand their process of environmental perception, which can be used as a better design foundation for the feasibility of greater presence in public spaces and the creation of equal chances for blind peoples, and also for providing them with unconstrained, safe and independent accessibility to the environment, disregard of their physical and sensory abilities. The present study fell under qualitative research in terms of nature and was an applied study in terms of goal. It also used a descriptive analytical procedure and qualitative content analysis, together with a deductive reasoning approach. Data were collected by investigating scientific documents and their qualitative content analysis. This study used the inferential method to investigate blind people’s process of the physical environmental perception through two sensory and subjective perception categories, and finally provided recommended solutions to facilitate the blind peoples’ perception within the urban environment. Findings revealed that total blind people use non-visual sensory perception as well as auditory, tactile, and kinetic visualization-based subjective perception, which is dependent on various individual, social and cultural factors, to perceive their surrounding environment. For this, it is critical to focus on these factors in designing the physical environment to help all people of the community, especially the blind, to perceive the environment and utilize the facilities contained in there.

The sense of place is considered an important phenomenon in developing people-environment relations, and it is usually attributed to a group of people who have experienced a place and have developed feelings towards that particular place. People's age can create different interests in environmental indicators. If a sense of place exists in the environment, there will be potential for the interaction of people of different ages. The present research aims to investigate the role of age as well as to verify the indicators of the sense of place in the residential complexes of NewSide and Jundishapur. In the qualitative section, systematic processes of coding, categorizing, and thematizatization were applied using the grounded theory method to interpret the content of the textual data. First, the experts were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analyzed using Atlas.ti software and open and axial coding methods. In open coding, 44 indicators were extracted, and they were categorized into 9 axes in axial coding. In the quantitative section, a questionnaire with a Likert scale was designed. Cronbach's alpha criterion is used to check the reliability of the questionnaire. Then it was randomly distributed among 373 residents with age groups of 20-40, 40-60, and 60-80. The results show that in the NewSide residential complex, in the age group of 40-20 years old, the largest share of factors was related to activity, memorability, social interactions, and security. In addition, in the age group of 60-40 years old, the largest share of factors was related to security, natural landscape, memorability, and meaningfulness. Further, in the age group of 60-80 years old, the largest share of factors was related to green space, natural landscape, social interactions, comfort, and security. In the Jundishapor residential complex, in the age group of 20-40 years old, the largest share of factors was related to activity, memorability, and social interactions. Further, in the age group of 40-60 years old, the largest share of factors was associated with memorability, natural landscape, and comfort. Moreover, in the age group of 60-80 years old, the largest share of factors was related to memorability, natural landscape, social interactions, and comfort.

It is highly important to focus on environmental components and the human-environment relationship in architectural design. The literature has investigated various concepts affecting this relationship and its application in the architectural design process. One of the most influential concepts in this connection is the concept of affordance. Despite many studies conducted on the relationship between human and the environment, the concept of an environmental affordance in architecture and constructs affecting this concept in forming design guidelines have less received attention. This article aimed to investigate the significance of affordance in environmental design to examine the aspects of this concept and its structural relationship with the components of activity, fabric and meaning. For this, the article aimed to explain the affordances of outdoor spaces (as building blocks constituting meaning) in the Ekbatan Residential Complex and presented a communication model of affordance components in design to examine the role of these components and their impacts on design. This study fell under quantitative and qualitative research and was an applied study. After data were collected and summarized, the article began to classify statistical data, which was performed by tabulating the frequency distribution of activities. Quantitative data of the questionnaires were then analyzed by the statistical-analytical SPSS software. In sum, the correlation relationship, effects and differences between the variables were measured. Another section of qualitative findings resulted from data extracted from semi-structured interviews and observations. Findings revealed that the concept of affordance played a major role in linking users and residential environments. This concept tends to focus on subjective-cognitive dimensions in children and adolescents, while stressing physical and activity aspects of space affordances in adults and the elderly.

High-rise residential buildings in natural environments are an emerging phenomenon in many countries, particularly in developing countries. Many buildings may cause irreversible damage to their environment due to incompatibility. Designers and constructors would build some buildings in line with sustainable development based on their training and principles for environmental preservation; however, sustainability criteria in the design are also responsive for some seasons and cannot cover all seasons. This study aims to examine the effect of ecological criteria in different seasons by extracting shortcomings of the ecologic design of high-rise residential buildings. The research method is a mixed qualitative-quantitative method. In the qualitative step, Delphi's future study with three brainstorming, limitation, and selection is used then the Kendall coefficient is applied for variable refining in case studies. In the quantitative step, the questionnaire is formulated based on the Likert scale and then distributed among 384 stakeholders during four different seasons. Data analysis is done through JMP and Sigmaplot software, and moving averages and graphic correlation charts are finally extracted. The results show that ecological architecture' variables have a correlation rate of 0.73 during summer and winter. The highest correlation is observed between summer and winter seasons, while the lowest correlation (0.0004) is seen between spring and summer seasons, and designers have paid attention to both seasons in their designs.