Soffeh
Year:2013 | Volume:23 | Issue:60|Papers Count:8

Intellectual property rights are recognized in the Iranian jurisprudence both in form of International Conventions to which Iran has acceded, as well as laws adopted by the national Parliament. The Law for Protecting the Rights of Authors, Composers and Artists (1969) particularly considers architectural designs and drawings as an intellectual property (article2.7). Thus, the originator (architect, designer or engineer) is entitled to a set of intangible and tangible rights with regard to a certain property. There are certain criteria for a design to qualify as intellectual property, however. The intangible rights of the originator are not limited to a physical or temporal sphere and are not transferrable, while there is a limited protection period and territory for the tangible rights. Criminal and civil liabilities are envisaged in this law in case intellectual property rights are violated.

To clarify the role of memory in design thinking, this paper first reviews the evolution of memory models. Memory was initially thought to be a mnemic capacity attributed to the ancient Greek Goddess, Mnemosyne. The nature of memory was further developed in Platonic and Aristotelian models. In Islamic psychology, memory was defined as one of the five cognitive abilities which stores the cognizable. Modern cognitive psychology theories employ dynamic models based on schemata as syllogistic figures. These theories consider the memory not to be solely a storage capability, but rather as a constructive capacity, that both stores and analyzes. Thus they explain the role of memory in generating design alternatives, tacit knowing of designers, and their unconscious reasoning.

A memorial is a structure built with the intention to commemorate a person or an event. It also represents beliefs, values and the identity of a people or territory. Design of a memorial thus becomes a complicated architectural problem. Several memorials were designed and built pursuant to the Iran-Iraq war (1980~1988) to commemorate its heroes or events. These can be divided to three categories: (i) story-based memorials that depict a certain event; (ii) symbolic memorials that employ commonly accepted symbols of war and martyrdom; and (iii) conceptual memorials, which are abstract expressions of an epistemological impression, linked to their specific location. This paper analyzes three sample memorials in terms of their design concepts, function, location, symbolic expression, etc. These include: the Chamran Martyry built in Dehlavieh Village, Khuzestan; University of Tehran Martyrs Memorial, built in Tehran University Main Campus; and the Holy Defense National Memorial to be built at the entrance of Holy Defense Museum in Tehran. Recommendations are made in conclusion for an improved design of memorials.

Located some 270 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital city of Mashad, Nashtifan Village is subject to strong windstorms for a period of about 120 days per year. The row of windmills built in surrounding mountains of the village is an ingenious solution that both shields the settlement against windstorms and yields a sustainable source of energy. This paper explains the creative mechanisms employed in building windmills by presenting a detailed survey of design, materials, and operation requirements of one such mill.

The formal composition of urban elements or the urban physical organization followed the need for vehicular access under the principles of Modern Architecture. Urban design in a postmodern age however, emphasizes the role of physical organization in creating a sense of place. In a purely functional view, the positioning of urban solids facilitates the flow of vehicular traffic through urban voids, i.e. urban spaces. The organization of openness and enclosure thus becomes a function of urban mobility. On the contrary, the postmodernist approach to the organization of urban physical elements prioritizes pedestrian traffic to foster human encounters, enrich cognitive experience of an urban environment, and thus create a sense of place. This approach thus affects the organization of such urban elements as buildings and parcels; streets and squares; urban blocks and urban patterns, both at macro and micro-scales.

Urban resilience is defined as the capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to public safety and health, the economy, and security of a given urban area. Its dimensions include social, economic, environmental and physical resilience. Resilient urban design is based on two models: the equilibrium model and the non-equilibrium model. The former model attempts to reduce vulnerability and increase response capacity, while the latter emphasizes the adaptability of physical form and city functions to hazards. In terms of content, both models require certain quality features to be envisaged in urban design as regards function, environment and aesthetics. In terms of process, resilient urban design requires a knowledge-based strategic approach that is both interactive and participatory.

This paper examines the formation of Shiraz historic fabric in response to its lifelines by employing a methodology that could be replicated in studies of other cities, as well. For this purpose, (i) the formation of alleys in response to topography and irrigation network is explained; and (ii) the impact of the irrigation network on formation of key monuments is reviewed. The subterranean and surface channels of an important irrigation network Kheirat Qanat- is followed between ca 13 century AD to ca 19 century AD as a case demonstrating this paper’s hypotheses. To this end, a literature review ascertains the gravitational direction of irrigation channels. Then, a hypothetical network of alleys is developed based on topography and the irrigation network. This yields a hypothetical direction for water flow connecting key monuments built in 13 century. Reference to existing documentation verifies the existence of a water aqueduct, while a field visit reveals remnants of its flow. The location of later monuments is thus explained by continuation or disruption of this hypothetical water channel.