Soffeh
Year:2018 | Volume:27 | Issue:79 |Papers Count:7

The present paper is aimed at improving architectural design education at foundation levels, which is of particular significance for architecture schools. It focuses on collaborative learning method which, authors believe, is capable of fulfilling many educational objectives. As a learner-centred teaching method, collaborative learning is based on new constructivism theories. The main focus here is on the question of ‘which collaborative teaching approach suits architecture foundation courses best’. To answer the question, a study of the governing principles of the learner-centred teaching method was conducted, followed by a critical review of the research findings on collaborative learning, and its applications in architecture education. In order to identify the educational objectives of architectural design foundation workshops, two sources were consulted: 1-Course descriptions, from the curricula of the Iranian, as well as the world’s five top ranking architecture schools, given that course descriptions incorporate the visions of curriculum designers. 2-Practical and research achievements of design tutors in the architectural design foundation workshops, through their publications. The research method is descriptive and based on content analysis. The findings portray the main objectives of workshops as developing creativity in students, increasing their confidence, exploring their potentials, and also creating a constructive interaction with their tutors. Bearing in mind the priority of training over mere teaching in foundation courses there is a need to adopt corresponding approaches and methods. This brings the research to the conclusion that collaborative learning approaches best suited for foundation courses particularly due to their stronger training potentials.

As office workers spend a lot of their working time in buildings, environment design aspects such as outward views can play a key role in their job satisfaction and work efficiency. The aim of this research is to study the effects of outward views on workers’ satisfaction with their environment. The assumption here is that people with better access to windows and outward view would express higher degrees of satisfaction with their work environment. Furthermore, the location of the worker in the building, it has been observed, plays a role in generating a sense of spatial airiness and desirability. Assessing measures of inward and outward views expressed by workers of Tehran District 1 municipality building, the research tries to clarify the role each one plays. The method used is based on quantitative studies, data collection through questionnaires, and their analysis using SPSS and Space Syntax’s Depthmap software. The findings demonstrate that in cases where workers have suitable outward but poor inward views, their satisfaction levels drop meaningfully. There are concluding design recommendations as to how to take the role of inward views into account and create outward views in office buildings.

According to the country’s annual energy consumption statistics, over a third of energy is consumed in Iran’s buildings. Having socioeconomic roots, important energy efficiency obstacles include those related to micro economy, energy markets and a resistance against changing habits. These factors are identified in the present research using library search and officially released data. They are then put into test through discussions with sustainability and sustainable architecture experts and also by observing the real conditions of the society. Using the structural model of Amos (23), it is investigated how these factors affect each other and how their impacts can be reduced or the eliminated. On this basis, the use of advanced building energy efficiency, and effective energy codes are identified and proposed.

Located in District 22 in west Tehran is the 134 ha Lake Chitgar. Early schemes and planning for the lake date back to 1968, but it was eventually in 2010 that it was placed in the municipality agenda. The design and implementation of the water expanse was complete by 2012, and it was filled a year later. There has been a variety of occasionally contradictory criticisms in academic and professional circles regarding the lake’s location, water supply sources and its environmental impacts: from the designated density of surrounding urban areas to quality and quantity of incoming water and even the city’s ecologic capacity to retain such a lake. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the landscape architects’ disinvolvement from the project’s macroscale decisions, and thereby the negligence of coastal landscape debates, the present paper attempts to pay particular attention to such neglected debates concerning this project. The paper reviews the views and concepts employed in coastal landscape architecture, the most important of which being those of green infrastructures and taking advantage of natural elements. The attention to ecological concept was also considered in order to create a suitable ground for animal life and its growth, and thereby users’ contact and familiarisation with these phenomena with learning and social objectives in mind. It should be noted, however, that the authors believe that authorities’ unfamiliarity with these concepts have contributed in the scheme’s part-failure, and non-implementation of many original ideas. A further level of training is proposed in response, to familiarise authorities as well as the public in order to help mitigate the present situation.

The transition from an industrial era based on material production methods, into a knowledge era based on knowledge production has fundamentally changed the economy of cities, giving rise to a knowledge economy on the cusp of the 21st century. Based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information aimed at providing products and services through knowledge-intensive activities Knowledge economy demands new urban spaces different from those required by the material-based production. The knowledge-based production demands urban knowledge places for the exchange of ideas and transforming them into innovative products, services and solutions. The creation of such knowledge places involves a long and complicated process influenced by various factors. In spite of the importance of them in the formation and success of a knowledge-based economy as a driving force for socioeconomic development, the creation of such places has not been given due consideration in Tehran’s research, planning and policy-making, and their influencing factors are left unexplored. In response, the present study focuses on the exploration of the factors influencing the performance of Tehran’s knowledge places, and their prospective role in knowledge economy. To this end, using the documentary research method and the systematic literature review, the theoretical foundations associated with knowledge places and the factors influencing their performance have been traced, providing a framework for the analysis of those factors for the city of Tehran. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of science and technology parks across Tehran, and analysed using the deductive qualitative content analysis based on a qualitative research approach. The results show that in line with global efforts to make use of the opportunities provided by knowledge economy, attempts have been made to develop knowledge-based activities and the locations required for such activities in Tehran. Despite the fragmented nature of such efforts, and that knowledge places in Tehran are not comparable to their counterparts elsewhere, it would still be possible to enhance the performance of knowledge places and exploit knowledge opportunities in Tehran through improving the knowledge production infrastructure such as those investigated in this paper, transforming the nature of the activities of the units located in knowledge places into innovative activities, and enhancing their innovation potential, as well as their mutual cooperation, strengthening the legal framework supporting knowledge-based activities, and developing a market for innovative products for the city.

The occurrence of earthquakes can have serious social and economic ramifications in economically valuable urban fabrics such as traditional bazaars. Despite the significance of such fabrics, there have been few studies on earthquake safety upgrading and crisis management in historic fabrics: a fact that necessitates further research on such topics. Aiming at better understanding seismic hazards in economically valuable historic fabrics, the present paper proposes a new model based on hazard measures, seismic vulnerability and confrontation capacities against earthquakes. These measures and quantitative components were determined based on a study of the consequences of previous earthquakes, the related technical literature, and analytic, comprehensive assessments. Also, the weighing factors of these measures were determined with reference to expert opinions and the AHP method. The proposed method was then applied in the Ardabil’s traditional bazaar, studying the methods of correcting hazard measures to correspond with operational interventions. The assessments showed that the proposed model is capable of assessing seismic hazards in traditional bazaars, and can be used to identify and prioritise hazard reduction interventions, and propose short-, mid-, and long-term programmes.

The preservation of cultural landscapes is a multifaceted, interdisciplinary matter, and needs attention to multilayer, interconnected characteristics of landscape. Bearing in mind the listing of many works as national cultural landscapes, a need is felt to adopt an appropriate approach towards their preservation. Taking advantage of reasoning and deductive strategies, the present research tries to investigate domestic and international references and documents including WHC, ICOMOS and NPS, in order to propose principles for preserving cultural landscapes to preserve and comprehensively recreate natural, built and formative human factors influencing long-term historic, sensory-cognitive, cultural, natural, social, vernacular, environmental and economic values, with an interdisciplinary, collaborative nature. Preservation strategies are studied here in the case of Qazvin’s vernacular-historic garden place as a nationally listed work. In order to do so the garden place is introduced as a type of vernacular-historic landscape, with its inflicted damages studied from natural, built, and human angles. The preservation principles emphasise on protecting originality and integrity of the landscape whilst creating new facilities, services and functions, and prioritises vernacular preservation management and gardening in order to reinforce keepers’ connection with the garden place. The present research has extensively explained and located strategies for built heritage such as preservation of original physical elements, empowerment through new functions (such as ecotourism) and new ‘ultra-structures’ (such as gardening service centres), and restoration of damaged parts. The research method for theoretical literature is of descriptive-explanatory type. Analytical methods have been adopted for field studies using means such as studying documents, field surveys and preparing sketches and pictures.