Soffeh
Year:2004 | Volume:13 | Issue:37|Papers Count:13

The most devastating tragedy in the past half century of Iran and the past 25 years of the globe, the Bam earthquake destroyed a vast area including the city of Bam and its surrounding settlements. It received national as well as international attention. Now that the reconstruction plans are under preparation, it is time to mention a few points to stimulate further discussion. As explained by disaster management theories, although disasters interrupt the process of development, they can provide otherwise impossible opportunities in the reconstruction process. This is only possible if there is a prudent planning for reconstruction. Emphasizing that reconstruction is a distinct discipline as compared to architecture, engineering, construction or urban design; the article reviews Bam earthquake recovery efforts until recently and then treats challenges and possible remedies which are key factors in defining a comprehensive master plan.

A universally coveted feature of urban development, the participation of civil society has been successfully experienced by some countries while for some other countries it still has to be established. This can be attributed to the history and evolution of the urbanization in each country.The definition and interpretation of public and private domains in the Iranian city versus the European settlements has made it impossible to promote or imitate the European model of civil participation in the Iranian city. The article tries to search for the roots of this discrepancy by a comparative historical analysis of urbanization, while addressing traditional differences which are instrumental in forming impediments in civil participation in Iran.

A translation of the second chapter of the authors' book on Architectural Research Methods (New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2002), where the authors define the notion of 'Inquiry Systems' to explain the impact of research paradigm on research questions, methods, data collection and data analyses techniques and sometimes even the research activities.    

Architecture is essentially an effort to bring into unity a set of diversified elements or rather present a unified picture of a pluralistic whole, which may then and only then have a meaningful interaction with the observing human being. The article attempts to clarify the role of details in spatial cognition in time and place- drawing equally on a theoretical treatment and detailed pictorial analyses

There was not much philosophical debate in aesthetics before 17th century when beauty was not treated per se. The main two theories on beauty were those of Plato and Aristotle, which were not essentially very different. Nevertheless after the 17th century, the individualistic approach to artistic creation caused a variety of sometimes contradicting philosophical views to the subjects. This article however avoids philosophical discourse to find aesthetical rules which are practically applicable in creating a 'beautiful' built environment.        

Although assumed as two distinct opposing value systems in the thinking of the past two centuries, art and technology are complementary entities closely linked to each other with however different fates. This can be explained from three different points of view: Modern understanding of art and technology as regards meanings, objective and process; the dualistic nature of art and technology in the Modern age; and the unified 'truth' of art and technology in the Modern aesthetic interpretation.

The aging population in Iran is gradually increasing, which calls for environments suitable for social interaction of different age groups. Based on the research project Guidelines for Architectural Design of Housing for the Elderly, this article reviews psychological, emotional, and personality characteristics of the aging population to develop design guidelines for improving their surrounding built environment in terms of both access and spatial quality.    

A translation of the study conducted in Southridge College describing the importance of 'social art' in balancing design decisions.

Known best for his artistic treatment of engineering problems. Santiago Calatrava is indubitably one of the landmarks in contemporary world of engineering, as well as art and architecture. This is a translation of the article on his approach to the design problem originally posted on www.calatrava.com