حمید ندیمی

There is a body of historical evidence indicating the conscious use of colour in human lived spaces. However, today’s prevailing attitude is against colours, leaving spaces neutral and. The quest to understand the motivations behind usingcolours in the history of architectural thought has never brought definitive laws into light, as colours themselves have not held stable, cross-cultural meanings. Sparcehistorical studies on the presence of colour in architecture revolve around two approaches: understanding colour within a specific timeframe and tracking the presence of colour in the works of a particular architect. Ultimately, this has not led to a comprehensive knowledge regarding the historical role of colourin architecture. Given the substantial evidence of a correlation between colour and human emotions, developing knowledge in the field of colour is essential for empowering architects to manage visual forces and the emotional dimensions of architectural spaces. The present article serves as an introduction to establishing the knowledge about colourin architecture, and aimed at understanding the prevailing approaches in architectural thought and practice up to the modern era. 

The research can be categorised as interpretive-historical, as it reviews history while interpreting and analysing narratives and architectural works to present patterns governing the presence of colour throughout architectural history. The methodology is based on library studies, involving an in-depth examination of texts, images, and available films of buildings from various historical periods.

Available sources do not encompass all dimensions of colour-related thought throughout history, with the passage of time having distorted colours, and colour photography not always available. In this context, referring to statements and examining architectural works that reflect the presence of colourinpre-modern interiors, as well as in contemporary exteriors, indicates two general currents. The first is termed Chromophilia, itself comprising of three approaches: colour as symbolism, colour as ornamentation, and colour as a structural aspect of architecture. The second current is chromophobia, which results from a tendency towards whiteness and eliminating colour pigments from the architectural space, resulting in the emergence of white and grey spaces as neutral backgrounds for human life. While the history of colour in architecture thoroughly refutes the claim that colour can be reduced to general laws, managing the presence of colour in architecture requires principles that transform it from merely an ornamental perspective into an integral aspect of architectural form. At the conclusion of this research, a new perspective on architectural colour emerges, viewing it as a structural element of architecture. A history review partially clarifies the initial necessities of this viewpoint, and further development of this knowledge necessitates broader field studies, which could be the subject of future research.

The topic of sustainability in architecture education is mainly reduced to the teaching of “sustainable architecture” as a field in architecture schools. This research seeks to explain the concept of “sustainable education of architecture” and distinguish it from “sustainable architecture education”. In sustainable education of architecture, in addition to acquiring knowledge of sustainable architecture, the nature of architecture education also has the intrinsic meaning of sustainability. Then the traditional education of architecture, which was the result of intuitive perception and lived experiences of students with traditional teachers, in the context of architecture, society and nature, and architecture students, go through degrees of belief, character, knowledge and practice of architecture in a gradual and long process, is analyzed. This research, with a developmental approach and with a “descriptive-analytical” method and based on the “logical reasoning” strategy, has recognized the meaning of sustainable architecture education by relying on the understanding of traditional education of architectural and with a holistic thought, and at the end as achievements and research results, the seven stairs of sustainable education of architecture including “motivation”, “insight”, “ethics”, “knowledge”, “ability”, “creativity”, “action” along with the strategies and solutions for realizing each of the this stairs has formulated.

The identification of factors that contribute to “good architecture» is important to many architects, teachers, and researchers in the field. Despite the efforts made to achieve various aspects of good architecture, in some cases there are still various conflicting views. In many cases, designers collect various data about architectural components, and face decision-making problems when designing. It seems that some of these problems are often caused by the lack of appropriate standards, components, and specific value criteria for evaluation and judgment. Over time, architectural experts have presented different views and theories about good architecture, which seem to identify and examine them and can be considered to know the components of good architecture. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify and validate the main components of good architecture based on the perspective of contemporary thinkers. It is hoped that the results of this research will determine the basis for paying attention to the criteria and components of good architecture in education and specialized professions so that a desirable architectural design can be achieved. To achieve this goal, the grounded theory research method based on the descriptive and analytical method of architectural theorists’ point of view has been used. The statistical population was found using snowball sampling and content analysis among them was targeted, refined, and selected. In this search, 200 identification theories were identified and investigated in the years 1950 to 2020. Among them, 42 theories were selected that emphasized more on the components and description of “good architecture”. By examining several theories and extracting relevant components, common themes emerged that could clearly define the critical elements of good architecture. The results show that the components of materials, design and construction methods, geometry, physical elements, form and function, aesthetics and decorations, nature and weather, environment, and world of feeling are expressed in the description of good architecture. However, these components have broad implications, the degree of importance and the way each theorist looks at them is different.

Disorder in the facade of residential buildings in contemporary cities are issues that are mentioned a lot in the literature of architecture and urban planning. Managers and urban designers believe that the design factors and individualism of contemporary architects is one of the effective factors in creating the above situation. For this purpose, solutions and laws have been established in the form of architecture and in terms of form and visual in order to control and intervene to improve the current situation, which seems to have not had the necessary efficiency and acceptability in practice. This research is in search of a theoretical framework for a deeper understanding of the issue and rereading and explaining it again, which seeks to strengthen human togetherness and solidarity by accepting the inevitable reality of individualism in the contemporary era. a framework that can rely on the importance of the facade as a face that the owner and designer of the building imagine for themselves, change the way architects think in defining themselves and its effect in the interpretation phase of the facade problem and its framing, and as a point of departure in the design process. Based on pragmatic epistemology and the theories and methods proposed by Richard Rorty, this research is looking for a theoretical solution specific to the present time. The present research has been done in a qualitative way and by observing the current situation and relying on library studies. At the end, empathy with the other is suggested as a way to develop the concept of self (designer-owner), thinking and creating solidarity in the face of residential buildings. An idea that is based on collaborative and user-oriented designs in architecture and by expanding its scope in the design of residential facades, it encourages coexistence instead of competition with others in neighborhood spaces.

Architecture and urban planning are deeply intertwined with the environment, which serves as a vessel for individual and collective human experiences that form memory. Memory studies, a rapidly growing research field, span various disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, landscape studies, architecture, and urbanism. In Iran and worldwide, research has explored memory in built environments from diverse perspectives. This article seeks to analyze and interpret the body of work published in Iran, aiming to prevent redundancy in this field while identifying existing research gaps.

This research adheres to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement list for information collection and document screening. The study sample was selected based on internet searches of related keywords (e.g., memory and place memory) across Mogiran, SID, and Ganj-Irandoc scientific databases. No time limits were set for the search, but the focus was on publications between 2006 and 2022. Initially, 206 articles were retrieved from the Mogiran site, 101 articles from SID, and 16 doctoral theses related to architecture and urban planning. Following a thorough screening process that involved reviewing titles, abstracts, and content relevance, a final selection of 38 articles from scientific research publications was made, rated from A to D in the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology's scientific publications portal. Additionally, 4 doctoral theses were selected for in-depth review after similar screening.To systematically extract and categorize information, a table was designed based on each article's publication year. The data analysis and interpretation were conducted through coding and grouping similar content. This systematic approach enabled the authors to interpret and describe various aspects of the phenomenon under study, ultimately contributing to a comprehensive understanding of place memory in Persian language research.

This research focuses on the publication and evolution of scientific studies on place memory in Iran, examining both the structure and content of these studies. A central theme in the research is the concept of collective or individual memory. The majority of studies emphasize collective memory, a shared memory among the people of a region or city, often detached from individual experiences.In the context of place memory, the processes of memory formation, recording, transmission, continuity, and recall are distinct yet interconnected. Depending on the research's case study—whether it involves a city, village, single building, or urban spacethese processes include various components. Generally, these components can be categorized into three main groups: spatial, social, and emotional.Sociologists like Maurice Halbwachs and Pierre Nora have noted that the sociability of a space significantly influences collective memory. One result of sociability is face-to-face communication, which relies on the space's ability to accommodate people together—a crucial factor in memory studies. In essence, a space's potential to become memorable is closely tied to its capacity for social interaction and presence.Interestingly, few articles explore the topic of memory in relation to homes that are not linked to childhood experiences. Another notable issue is the relationship between age and memory. From an early age, individuals develop positive and negative feelings toward their environment, which can be shaped by physical changes in residential areas. Such changes not only impact children's spatial behavior but also influence their psychological development.When public spaces fail to consider children's needs, expectations, and desires, their design—crafted solely by adults—can negatively affect children's social, cultural, and mental development. Public spaces are often the only areas where children can play and socialize outside their homes and schools. This underscores the importance of creating environments that engage children constructively, making residential areas where significant childhood memories are formed more livable.

The growing volume of studies in various fields necessitates summarizing and interpreting existing research, identifying frequently studied areas, and finding research gaps to inspire new topics for future exploration. This study addresses the critical issue of place memory within Persian language research through a systematic review.The relatively small number of existing studies in this field suggests that place memory research is still in its infancy, with limited depth and focus. The concept of memory has not yet reached saturation in any of the discussed fields, presenting future research opportunities. The most critical factor in strengthening memory in a place—sustaining mental patterns—has been scarcely discussed in the literature. Topics related to memory, such as revival and reconstruction in historical contexts, identity, belonging, and attachment to place, have been repeatedly examined. The importance of understanding identity and the solutions some researchers offer by referencing the past, alongside the growing trend of memory studies, highlight the significance of further exploring this topic.

The architecture student encounters extensive emotional challenges in design studios, which is due to complex interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and the emotional aspects of training. The way to respond to these requirements involving people's emotional intelligence – their ability to understandprocess and use emotional information in the process of cognition and thinking –is influential in their learning. By explaining the importance of emotional intelligence, this study focuses on the design studio in order to improve learning. After identifying emotional requirements of students, it considers responding to these requirements depending on the application of emotional intelligence in two interconnected dimensions, and synergising 'regulation of emotional experiences' of students and 'developing their emotional skills' by design tutors. Since nurturing emotional skills aimed at improving learning requires a coherence of emotional education with design training, the utilisation of the potential capacities of design training and the internalisation of emotional teachings has been recognised.Also suggested is the development of these skills in a synergistic cycle by promoting learning in the design studio and through the application of indirect emotional training (based on reflection and practice) in the context of design training, and using methods such as narrative, communication, cooperation and emotional design. The results are presentable to design tutors in the form of recommendations to meet the emotional needs of students and strengthen their emotional skills.They show that the fulfilment of students' emotional requirements in the design studio depends on both the tutor's and the student's emotional intelligence, and that it takes the tutor's emotional intelligence and their attitude towards the importance of emotional issues in the design studio,to provide students with the opportunity to utilise their emotional skills.

This research focuses on the values of the Iranian national railway heritage and the importance of conserving and optimally utilizing these values. It introduces and emphasizes the key role of these values in the development, management, and conservation plans of the railway heritage, as well as the sustainability of tourism. Using descriptive, analytical, and survey methods, the research evaluates and prioritizes the values of the railway heritage based on their importance and impact on conservation and development.As a result, this research can assist managers, stakeholders, and decision-makers in the field of railway heritage conservation and development to formulate and implement their programs and plans based on the priorities of these values. This approach can contribute to the preservation and continuity of these values. Additionally, this research can help researchers and enthusiasts in the cultural heritage and tourism sector to identify the best solutions and strategies for the conservation and utilization of these values.The use of the ANP method has prioritized the recognition, prioritization, and scoring of the railway heritage based on values. The achievement of the research has been comprehensive prioritization and categorization, with a focus on the shared aspects of conservation and tourism. The first priority is given to the perspectives, the second priority to the bridges, the third priority to the central railway stations, the fourth priority to intangible aspects, and the fifth priority to the tunnels. The recommendation emphasizes the attention of managers, stakeholders, and decision-makers to base their programs and plans on this prioritization.

Architecture as a built environment has an important role in the quality of experience. Architecture experience is one of the educational strategies for knowing architecture. In some educational approaches, experience means observation, while based on the embodied cognition, environment experience is more than an observation. According to this approach, lived experience is deepest than obsevation. Relying on this approach, people's lived experience has a profound effect on their knowing about the environment. This research seeks to investigate how this experience affects the training process, especially the acquisition of architectural knowledge by students. In this purpose, we try to give a theoretical framework by referring to the basics of embodied cognition, in order to answer the research questions. These are: How is the student's lived experience formed in the architectural training? And what is the effectiveness of the student's lived experience in the process of architectural training? So, at first we definite lived experience and its educational function in the field of architecture. The information in this section was gathered from the study of written sources and correspondence with some experts in the field of embodied cognition. Finally, with logical reasoning based on the theoretical framework, we show that student's lived experiences about architecture were completed in the architectural training process. It can be use as an educational strategy in the architecture schools. Furthermore, the quality of architecture experience is a based component of lived experience that influencing the student's academic life. It can be closer to his/her lived experience and turned into the effective strategy in architectural training. The other component is the self-body. In the paper we analyse the role of student's body in the quality of architecture experience and training process, too.

One of the issues in architectural education is the gap between knowledge and its application in the design practice by students. So far, this issue has been addressed from different approaches in many research studies and some solutions have been proposed. However, the issue persists and architectural education continues to grapple with it. This research attempted to rethink this issue from a different approach. The approach is based on the embodied cognition. The basics of embodied cognition clarify the role of human body in the cognition. Cognition means perception of the environment. In this paper, we collected these basics from the written resources. The resources that studied are based on the Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception. He showed that the human body is both subject and an activist in the environment. He emphasized that the interaction between body and environment is the most important agent in perception. Therfore, the research methodology is logical argumentation. The methodology is underlying on the phenomenology of perception and embodied cognition. Also, some part of the methodology is experiment. In the experiment, we selected naive architecture students from Payame Noor University of Iran, who participated in the “understanding and presenting of environment” course in their first semester. Some of the exercises in the lesson were body-based practice. We surveyed all the exercises of the students and compared them with the basics of the research. The results show that one of the reasons for the gap between the knowledge and its application in the design practice is that the cognitive role of student body in the architectural training is not taken into account. Then, if the architectural knowledge and design practice were both based on the embodied cognition, the cognitive, actionable, and representative role of the student's body, the gap between knowledge and its application in the design practice will be reduce. Finally, the student body has a basic role in the architectural knowledge and design. In the body-based practices, we showed what and how the practice can help the student’s body to become active in the training. However, the training and body practice is not the same as some sports, but the practices that can help students to understand the environment and present their understanding. We present some of these practices and students' responses to them. We showed that the name of that practice is embodied experience and it is helpful for architectural students. Then, we proposed other embodied experiences to have an embodied architectural education and training: the same as geometry understanding by showing the Pahlevani and Zoorkhaneh rituals. The rituals take place in the geometric spaces and all actions are based on that geometry. The other one is understanding the structure by doing the bridge movement in bodybuilding sport. It helps students to understand the bridge structure and bearing forces by bridge building.

In the past three decades new cognitive sciences viewpoints have highlighted the influential role of the body in cognitive processes; a role long neglected by the dominance of mind-body dualism in cognitive and intellectual domains such as architectural thought, despite the seminal role of the body for discovery and cognition of the world. Such cognition is experienced through interactions between objective micro-worlds such as that of architecture, and the third-person and first-person (lived) bodies. Has this body and its cognitive role always been neglected in the history of architectural thought? To answer this question the present paper tries to investigate this role and its influence in the history of formation and evolution of architectural theories in the West. Using logical reasoning and a descriptive-analytical approach, parts of Western history of architecture are rethought, due to its close associations with the Western philosophy in the formation of this history.The results show that different ideas about the body can be identified in history, ranging from corporeality to embodiment. It is then anticipated that the embodiment, the cognitive role of the body and the above viewpoints will gradually influence architectural theories leading it towards notions of "close relationship between the first-person body and architecture".

Human life is full of various and frequent activities and events, occurring in time and space with different rhythms. This description of human "life" emphasizes the crucial role of rhythmanalysis for architects and urban designers, who’s creative job is to organize and pattern their "living" built environment.In the present article, while exploring rhythms of everyday life, designers' attention is drawn to the importance and necessity of recognizing these rhythms in development of architectural design knowledge. Therefore, first, an overall view of the day to day life rhythms in architectural spaces is presented, using logical reasoning and based on the research precedents. This overall view shows a hierarchy of rhythms in space, from natural rhythms to human-based ones including biological, personal, socio-cultural and physical-spatial rhythms.In order to corroborate the necessity as well as the mechanisms of rhythmanalysis, an educational complex was selected for a case study, in which non-interfering close observations, in-depth interviews, and qualitative content analysis, were applied, as methods of inquiry.The results indicate that in many spaces, more than one activity and event occurs. Thus, users have to constantly change the furniture in each space, or move from one space to another, to be able to accomplish their intended activities and/or to provide suitable venues for events to take place. The results also connote that it is not sufficient to draw merely upon established design standards, but also the frequency of activities and events in time and space must be taken into account.

The making procedures is a neglected aspect of architectural education in many schools and curricula. To address this neglect, some architectural schools around the world use the Design-Build method in teaching architectural design. This method aims to integrate research, design and construction. The questions of the present study have been compiled after a review of the literature, identifying and studying the resources related to more than thirty Design-Build courses in architecture schools around the world. A semi-structured interview method has been used to answer the questions of this research, with sixteen interviews with academics involved in Design-Build courses around the world. The transcriptions of these interviews are than used as the basis for discussions and conclusions. Among the results are outlining the possible scope for replacing mainstream methods with this alternative, the executive structures used, such as those of financing and communication with clients, the role of legal factors, and also failures in shaping design-build projects.Considering the influence of mainstream worldwide education on Iran, the results of this research provide a framework for defining different approaches to Design-Build methods and important theoretical bases for better understanding and implementation of this method in architectural education. A deeper understanding of this field can result in more conscious uses of this educational method in Iran.

onsidering users' interaction with a space to predict its future function is a key issue in the architectural design process. In this regard, a well-known approach is a scenario-based design. This approach is used in software design, product design, and graphics to predict aspects of the user experience interacting with a system. However, it has no clear application in architectural design. Nevertheless, users often have an uncertain position in the architectural design process. Users are rarely consulted, probably because architects do not have direct access to them and their views. Architects often overlook the diversity and spatial experience of users. When visualizing future users, they use their personal experiences as the main reference.Research Question: This study seeks to answer the following questions: "What components are needed to write a scenario in architectural design?" And "How can a framework be proposed for the scenario-based design process in architecture based on user experience inspired by methods developed in other design disciplines?"

This is a qualitative research that uses a case study. In theoretical discussions, drawing upon documentary research methods, scenario components and the concept of "scenario-based design" in architecture were explained. A series of field studies were then conducted to identify the user experience to develop a scenario-based design framework based on user experience. For this purpose, a non-profit girls' secondary school in Tehran was selected as a case study. Data were collected through participant observation, activities and events, and semi-structured interviews with various school users. For interviews, purposive sampling and theoretical saturation criteria were used. The text of these interviews was then analyzed using quantitative content analysis to extract the influential components in the users' spatial experience. By coding the text of the written interviews, i.e., the school users' narratives of their spatial experience in the building, six main categories were finally obtained. The components were physical-spatial (spatial quality), physical-functional (users' functional requirements), safety, physiological-biological, psychological (individual and social), and cultural-religious (culture and religious ethics). Then, the personal characteristics of the representative of each group of users (including age, gender, profession, needs) were compiled along with the abstract of the narratives of their spatial experience, in the form of a series of sheets called "User Persona Sheet."

The findings showed that scenario-based design in architecture is possible by using various methods in navigating users' spatial experience in existing buildings of the same type, addressing the current and desired functional scenarios of the spaces. In response to Q1, transferring the scenario components in other design disciplines to architectural design, helped identify the components needed for scenario writing in architecture. These were the user, the user's desires, the location, the user's activities, the events, the time period of the activities, the time sequence and the relationship of the activities to the spaces (scenario plot), and the final product (architectural space). The "User Persona" sheets provided us with the information required to take the above steps. Q2 relates to the framework and steps of scenario writing in the architectural design process. The first step involves appointing a representative from each user group and setting up a "user persona sheet" for each of them containing personal details, needs, a brief account of everyday space experiences, and their view of the desired spaces. In the second step, the current function scenarios of the spaces were illustrated in a format similar to a "storyboard." To this end, it was attempted to represent the narrative of a user's typical day-to-day activities along with his or her key explanations in a chronological hierarchy. In the third step, the scenarios of the desired function of spaces were carried out. Here, according to the current function scenarios and the users' views of the desired situation, an idea was developed about the desired future scenarios of the spaces, containing design ideas. So far, everything has been done based on the spatial experiences of users. In buildings such as schools, with management systems, goals, policies, and norms, a "normative scenario" is added to the pre-proposed scenarios. It reflects the norms, rules of behavior, organizational and common goals of all user groups, affecting the architectural spaces.

Rhythm generally is the repetition of patterns regularly occurring in the phenomena and processes. This concept is understood well in music. The regular succession, tempo, repetition, and harmony are the familiar words that have always been heard. However, rhythm is beyond its audio or visual representations, and it has been studied in philosophy, art, sociology, psychology, human and urban geography, urban design, and architecture, showing its polymorphic nature. Explaining a cohesive framework of the aspects that implies the rhythm and provides new interpretations of rhythm are the focus of the current study. Therefore, the present research aims to answer the following questions: A) What are the aspects of rhythm? and B) How are they manifested in the architecture?In reviewing the literature, a chronological view has been adopted to determine the change in the concept of rhythm by experts in various scientific fields until the beginning of a new era of scientific research by Henry Lefebvre. Among the many experts who have conducted researched on the concept of rhythm and its characteristics, the views of four scholars were selected for formulating the theoretical framework. Those experts include Henry Lefebvre, Irwin Altman, Carol M.Werner, and Mattias Kärrholm. The reason for selecting these experts was that they had an interdisciplinary view in studying rhythm and also their fields of studies are related to architecture, culture and build environment. The aspects of rhythm were extracted and classified from these experts’ opinions.The research method was qualitative based on the logical reasoning approach. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with various school users. The research participants were ten permanent staff of the school (as the representative of the different groups of the school users) selected using the purposive sampling method and theoretical saturation criteria. These participants were: manager, human resource manager, staff of the human resource, manager of the cultural affairs, the executive deputy and support, library manager, the authority of the twelfth grade, photography teacher, service sector staff, eleventh-grade student. Analyzing the text of the interviews was done in three steps of Strauss and Corbin’s systematic coding process (open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) using Maxquda 2020, a qualitative statistical analysis software, to extract the activities and repetitive events of the users in the school.Results showed that intrinsic feature of rhythm is spiraling movement, manifested in the form of aspects of succession (accepting change over time), duration (continuation in time), speed (slow and fast), temporal salience (existing of qualitative and distinct moments), synchronization (Simulating the behaviors and movements of the people in social links). The movement concept can be seen in all aspects of rhythm. In Tazkieh school (Tehran City, Iran), Succession is understood by moving through stairs and different spaces in each floor, and also objective of sun movement during the day. However, daylight in school interiors does not have much effect due to the use of thick curtains to solve the problem of hijab. Succession in relation to erosion of surfaces in any building is a gradual change, indicating movement. This succession occurs in all buildings and its speed is inversely related to the quality of materials and their durability. Users' spatial experiences of daily activities and events in the school, religious, and national annual calendar indicate socio-cultural dimension of duration. Physical manifestation of this aspect of duration is in architectural elements, such as decorations, symbols, and architectural style. The instance of speed is defined by activity types occurring in a place and varies time to time. Mental perception of time is related to the rapid or slow occurrence of activities and experiences in a place that are changing over time. Each place, depending on its function, is host to certain activities that are regularly repeated. The example of a place with different speeds is obvious in the School. For example, the speed of classrooms is adjusted and changed by a mechanical clock between a quiet place during teaching and a fast place during break time and art workshops. The lived experiences and memories of school users of activities, events, and their locations in the school emphasize the temporal salience. Teaching behaviors and their repetition by students in social connections, such as events and ceremonies, is a clear example of synchronization.

During design process, images as visual stimuli are significant tools in reaching creative design ideas. So this issue has resulted in conducting extensive studies in the field of educational technology on the methods of using visual stimuli as an educational tool. Since the visual stimuli can be categorized based on their similarity to the design problem or their quality (clear, ambiguous), in some of the studies, the impact of various types of visual stimuli on students’ design creativity has been examined. The level of students is another factor which could have an influence on students’ creativity when they were using visual stimuli. Also, in some studies, the relationship between the type of the design task and the visual stimuli has been investigated.  However, there is no comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of these methods in the field of architecture design education. As a result, the purpose of the present research is examining the effectiveness of the methods of using visual stimuli in design training.   

In the present study, first, a framework for using visual stimuli based on previous studies was suggested which consisted of two sections: in the first section, the relationship between different types of visual stimuli and different aspects of creativity was determined; the second section, the factors influencing the methods of using the visual stimuli by the students were determined that consisted of students’ level, the type of the design task, and the design problem. Then,the methodofpeer review was applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods of using the visual stimuli in the design training. As a result, expert teachers in architecture from Iran and the United States evaluated the compiled text. In this regard, the teachers’ opinions were recorded through interviews and then their opinions were written and analyzed by a qualitative coding method. Peer review as the method of analysis was applied to investigate the validity of those methods. First participants’ ideas were gathered by interview. All their utterances were audio recorded and transcribed. In the next step the data were analyzed by a qualitative coding method. So the utterances of the participants were segmented based on different sections. Then, in the next stage, their content were codified in terms of validation, similar experience; criticism or suggestions.

The opinions of the expert teachers were examined according to two sections of methods of using visual stimuli and also the effective conditions for using them in design education. Besides confirming the methods related to the types of stimulus and design task, the participants also provided numerous educational experiences on the proper interpretation of various types of stimuli. In the second section, besides confirming the impact of the students’ level, and the type of the design problem, some of the teachers offered criticisms and suggestions regarding the classifications of these problems.

The results of peer review, besides confirming the methods of using visual stimuli, provide approaches that can improve the effectiveness of the methods of using visual stimuli in design education. Moreover, the expert teachers offered criticisms and suggestions regarding some problems and also added some suggestions. For example, the visual stimulus which has more similarity to the design problem has more effect on students’ design creativity than those images which have less similarity to the design problem.  Or when using the ambiguous sketches related to the expert designers, the way they use their sketches and the stages through which these sketches are transformed into the final idea should be taken into consideration and these processes should also be taught to the students. In other words, students need to know how expert designers transform those ambiguous images to final design solution. Also, categorizing the design problems into formal and functional has ambiguities and other methods of categorization should be used.   The results of analyzing the opinions of the expert teachers can be used for future research besides the development of the subject. 

In the field of architectural education and design-oriented training, the role of "self" and the inner motives of students is one of the important factors in solving problems and advancing the process of architectural education Spontaneity is a kind of autonomy in the activity of individuals who are affected by their internal motivation. Spontaneous people do something without external forces to improve it and try to increase their knowledge and skills in that field. This is a factor that is also important in the process of architectural education. Because of the long intervals of design training classes in architectural universities (between four and five hours), the training process is more dependent on the self of architecture students and his activities. So, it is important to recognize the effective factors increasing the spontaneous behavior of architectural students; however, extensive studies have focused on motivational factors in education, but most of these studies focused on case studies other than architecture, and fewer studies in design-oriented disciplines. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to achieve the factors influencing the voluntary presence of architectural students in design classes. In this process, because of the performance of personality and the factor of Understanding and Receiving Information in the instinctive act of students and their motivations, so the factors of spontaneous must be assessed on architectural students based on two different personalities named Intuition and sensing personality. These two items which are in the IMBT test are related to perception style and receiving information. The present study is a qualitative approach based on theory rather than deductive method has been made on background. Accordingly, the method of this research is the Grounded theory, and the data were collected using single participant semi-structured interviews, which were guided by the individual participant's responses. Grounded theory is a general methodology, a way of thinking about and conceptualizing data. In this process, fourteen students with two different personalities were selected from different universities who provide access to effective information. In this process, after analyzing the data, the factors affecting the spontaneity of architecture students were categorized into five areas: “technical knowledge," "skill training," "evaluation," "behavioral considerations" and "physical considerations." The results and findings show different preferences of two types of intuition with the idea-based process and sensible type with the program-based process. These differences emphasize the need to pay attention to multiple pieces of training at different stages of the architecture workshop. Therefore, the personality traits of students can serve as a benchmark for teaching architecture education, guiding teachers in choosing more efficient ways and with increasing spontaneity in students. According to comparison studies, it has also been found that identified categories have been directly and indirectly effective in increasing the motivation of other disciplines and have been confirmed by theoretical foundations and previous research. As well as, since research’s outcomes and results obtained in a qualitative process, can be assessed as a new hypothesis in a new study.

Designers usually use precedents in their designs. They may use them through different stages of the design process and to different ends. As this use is important, the study of its positive and negative aspects has encouraged numerous studies to find out about the correct way of using them. In this paper, the use of design precedents is studied by interviewing professional architects and the results have been compared with other studies. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the ways professional architecture designers in Iran use design precedents, how they find them, in which stages they refer to them, and how they utilize them in their design process. Survey research is conducted using semi-structured interviews with nine professional architects of Iran, and qualitative content analysis is performed on the results of the interviews. The results identify different criteria that were used in the selection, study techniques, and adaptation of precedents, and reveal that reference to precedents happen at all stages of the design process. However, the type of selected precedents and the strategies to use them are very important to the final design, and reference to precedents cannot be limited to any special architectural type or to any specific stages of design.

Experience of being in places that associate meanings or memories related to past can lead to a sweet feeling. Sometimes with this experience, a sweat-bitter emotional feeling encompasses one. This feeling which appears as the result of lack of a desired situation and is usually associated with words expressing regret is called nostalgia. The architecture which can evoke nostalgia in people is called nostalgic architecture. Places with this affordance can lead to human’s sense of belonging to environment and present some properties of cognitive beauty that has been neglected so far. Sense of continuity of past, sense of familiarity because of associating familiar elements and meanings are the results of forming nostalgia in architecture. In the meantime due to changes caused by modernism, the nostalgic aspect of architecture has been less noticed as if it has been neglected. This research using classic grounded theory method tries to discover those properties of a place that their existence can lead to a nostalgic architecture. Therefore we hope that it works as a stepping stone to provide tools for architects in order to create nostalgic architecture by using them and improve the quality of living environment

Perceived time can have a significant impact on vital responses to daily activities and behaviors. Studies have shown that the surrounding environment can also affect human perception from time, place or event. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationship between the environment and, more specifically, the architecture and the time perception of individuals. Also, the study of the genders effect, which has been reported in many studies as one of the parameters that affected from the environment and also influencing factors in time perception, has been studied. The research method is causal-comparative. One hundred participants, from available students of different faculties of the Tabriz Islamic Art University, participated in two separate computer experiments. Visual stimuli were architectural images selected with two independent factors of complexity in two levels and the background familiarity of the participants with two levels. Two standard time reproduction tests with a millisecond interval and a time production test of one hundred and twenty seconds simultaneously were utilized in prospective time estimation approach with four visual stimuli. The results analyzed by repeated measures of multivariate analysis and successive LSD test of main effect size. The findings show that individuals judge complicated images significantly longer than simple images. In addition, between factors analysis on the effect of simple and complex images between two sex groups, showed a significant difference. The results obtained in the field of time production and reproduction compared and interpreted with the internal clock, attentional gate and neural coding efficiency theories. Correspondences of findings were more with Eagleman›s neural coding efficiency model in respect of effect of complexity factor on time perception. While the findings on the between factor effect of the gender on the perceived duration, are more consistent with internal clock model. In the end, this study showed and emphasized the necessity to repeat this kind of interdisciplinary studies with more ecological approaches and stimuli closer to real environments to achieve more accurate theoretical framework and findings that are more practical

Independent variables in this research were four Architectural images in two dual group members of simple, complex and Islamic, non-Islamic, to examine the effect of two factors of complexity level and the subjective familiarity of the participants on two dependent variables of perceived time duration and heart rate. Also, the between factor effect of the two dependent variables, of produced time and the heart rate examined. The research design was causal-comparative, and the study population was all students of different faculties of the Tabriz Islamic Art University during the first and second semesters of the academic year2016-2017. The sample size consisted of two groups of 100 students from the population and participated in two separate experiments.The findings show that the complexity of the images affects both the production time of individuals and their heart rate. Familiarity factor of the Islamic and non-Islamic images had only a significant effect on the heart rate. Findings in many respects are consistent with the results of previous studies and show the need for the introduction of "ecological" and closer to the real environment subjects into the field time perception.

Many cognitive psychologists put emphasis on an integrative view of cognitive and affective faculties of the mind. In the course of theoretical developments in the above area, theorizing on the concept of "emotional intelligence" is considerable. The concept of emotional intelligence explains how people are different in perceiving, processing, and using emotional information in the process of cognition and thinking. Studies show that those differences are strong predictors of the individuals’ success in their education, profession, and even their lives, architectural student is no exception. Many studies have reported the significant impact of emotional intelligence on important life outcomes, including mental and physical health, work performance, academic achievement, and social relationships. However, many emotional intelligence skills are learnable and can be improved through training and practice. But the problem is that due to the traditional emphasis of schools and universities on mere scientific education, general and specialized courses taken in formal education courses in various disciplines, including architecture, usually do not consider this type of ability.

The present study- with a descriptive-analytical approach and using logical reasoning method, explores the role of emotional intelligence in developing an effective architectural education, particularly at the design studio context. In this regard, a study was conducted on how emotional intelligence influences the students’ design thinking, as well as those properties that affect the process of learning, such as adaptability, engagement, and motivation.

Given the possibility of nurturing the emotional intelligence, maintained by the research findings, teaching tactics can be developed to enhance emotional intelligence of design students as an effective way to integrate cognitive and affective aspects in the course of design studio instruction.

By prioritizing the important role of emotional intelligence in the effectiveness of design education, we can emphasize the entry of such programs in this field. It seems that if an intervention program is prepared based on strong theoretical foundations and implemented by professors who are themselves at a high emotional level; improving the emotional intelligence of architecture students and consequently their learning and further success in the profession can be expected. It is clear that the development of an intervention program that responds to the emotional requirements of the field of architectural design education, the development of its exercises based on theoretical foundations and valid experimental findings, as well as providing opportunities to practice emotional skills during workshop activities, requires extensive research. But in this case, based on what was stated in the present article, it can be claimed that the approach based on the ability of emotional intelligence, provides a good potential to set the framework of this program. In order to implement and adapt the program as much as possible to the emotional needs of the design workshop, the program can be based on the main emotions experienced in the workshop, the identification of which also requires future research, and the program can be implemented in basic workshops .

The recognition of the hidden curriculum results from a deep insight into inner layers of pedagogy, which in turn involves varieties, complexities, with obvious and hidden dimensions. The present research aims to explore important, recurrent factors in the hidden curriculum, and examine possibilities for their improvements using the Islamic practical ethics. It uses two research methods, starting with quantitative content analysis of 25 researches on the topic. A series of five recurrent factors are thus identified: power hierarchies, unhealthy competition, ambiguity of the tutor’s didactic procedures, unreality of designs, and the preference of the visual product over the process. A descriptive-analytic approach is then adopted to explain and evaluate these factors based on quintuple realms of human existence. Taken from the Islamic ethical order, these realms in turn comprise of three internal realms of beliefs, emotions and will on one hand, and two external realms of utterance and action on the other. The results show the possibility of practical approaches based on the Islamic ethical order for all three parties involved in the school – students, tutors, staff – the implementation of which would make grounds for ethical reforms and improvements of the hidden curriculum.

One of the activities that designers and design students usually do in their design process is using the precedents and similar projects and buildings. Design precedents are solutions attained in prior design problems which partially or generally can be used in the problem at hand. An overview of prior studies demonstrates that appropriate use of precedents can increase the creativity of students, although there is the risk of surface adaptation and copping. To prevent this risk, it is important to find tools and methods which could help students and designers to use precedents methodologically and concentrate on fundamental feathers on them. One of these tools is architecture criticism. Since the purpose of architecture criticism, mostly is comprehensive cognition and understanding of the architectural works, using criticism can be helpful in understanding of design precedents. This study tries to find an approach among the presented ones in architecture criticism which can aid the student to achieve the concept of the precedents and understand them in the best way. This paper studies the references in the context of criticism and precedents by the descriptive-analytic method. Then, proposes a model to criticize the precedents and understanding them in a better way. The proposed model includes three steps: diagnosis the specific quality of precedents, discovering the causing factor of those qualities and finally achieving the generalizable patterns. To explain and make these steps clearer it can be said that as many studies which were done on criticism just describe the buildings and less focused on analysis of them, also because the designers use the precedents to generalize the result of it to their designs, it can be proposed that in the first step the designers try to diagnose the specific quality of precedents and then try to discover the causing factor of those qualities. It can be suggested that there are two ways to diagnose the specific quality of precedents; first through the question that there is in the new problem, that means the problem which the designer tries to find a solution for it, cause him or her to refer to precedents. Second through the observation and searching on the precedents that can reveal the specific qualities of them. The diagnosis of these qualities has two results; first cause the designers to ask questions to find the causing factor of those qualities (second step) and second with exact study and finding the answer of those questions and also by making those qualities simple, the generalizable patterns can be reached (third step). It can be added that this kind of confronting with precedents does not mean that the systems that present some criterion for architecture criticism or are based on some of the theories are not useful. These systems can help the designers to find the specific properties and qualities of precedents more simple. It can be noted that at the end of this process some relative understanding of precedents can be reached which can be in the form of some drawings or written scripts

Improving environmental quality is interwoven with enhancing its meaning. Semantic factors are applied to evaluate quality and the indicators of the two concepts of quality and meaning overlap. However, theorists’ viewpoints toward these two concepts are diverse so that some consider meaning as a quality indicator, while others refer to quality merely as the outcome of the presentational aspect of meaning. This has led to an ambiguity in determining the relationship between the aspects of these two concepts and, as a result, made it difficult to consent to what is implied as meaning or quality. The current study aims at clarifying the differences and the common points of the aspects and factors of the two concepts of meaning and quality, and determining their relationship, so that an agreement could be reached on these two fundamental concepts in both architecture hypothesis and criticism. Applying logical reasoning, this research defines a coherent general framework based on human-environment interaction, in which the position of each of the two concepts of meaning and quality is explained. Also, cognitive aspects of the environment, using the method of content analysis and literature coding, are categorized as the basis for matching and comparing the aspects of the two concepts. These two frameworks would function as the basis for search of and response to the ambiguities in the relationship between these two which, ultimately, would lead to the statement. In human-environment interaction, meaning undergoes perception and cognition, while quality is judged and evaluated. What is evaluated as the quality is the presentation and the final result of the cognition of the threefold aspects of the meaning, including functional, social and responsive. If the responsive meaning of an environment bears a positive affective load, the environment is considered to possess a good quality.

An acknowledged approach in the design process aiming at conformity with the life of inhabitants and their attitude towards the built space is using narratives. With an action research approach, this research aims to study the role of narrative approach in the architecture education, and the potentials of narrative-based methods for upgrading the design studio practice for beginning architecture students. To this end, the theoretical framework of the research was first developed; the research was then followed through a practical survey on the beginning architecture students in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The survey was conducted through a number of studio tasks based on scenario writing. Data was gathered by examining the students’ scenarios besides their answers to a number of key questions about the effectiveness of the investigated approach. In this survey, the narrative approach showed to be capable of; helping to interpret the design problem, facilitating thinking about solution concepts, organizing a spatial narrative due to the events of life, provoking creative thinking by activating exploratory imagination, enabling visualization of spaces, clarifying the stages and steps of the design process, helping to uncover the clues to leap over hurdles, organizing data and constructing meaning out of them, facilitating effective communication of ideas, and evaluating the design throughout the design process by repetitive narration of the conceivable presence of the users in the built space. From the mentioned roles, the better understanding of the design problem at the beginning of the design process and activation and promotion of thinking about the solutions through scenario writing was most evident in the survey results. This was made possible by focusing on the role-players, activities and the scenes as the threefold aspects of the narrative event in the written scenarios. Shedding light on the stages of the design process was the second most mentioned role. Besides the positive roles, there has also been some negative feedback and faults unfolded. Some of these are as follows: weakness of some at writing, to be solved by using non-literary forms of scenarios; discontinuity of the ideas created through scenarios in the further design levels which needs repititive use and reference of scenarios through the design process; and the lack of complete competence of design with the real life of the predicted users due to lack of time and facilities for precise field studies and limited and mostly personal narrative imagination of the students. The latter is the most important issue which needs the notice of the instructors to guide the students to more real and executable designs with more information-based scenarios. To summarize the findings, it can be declared that with guidance to avoid the flaws, narrative thinking does have a positive effect on the development of the design process. It speeds up and facilitates the design ideation for the beginning students and helps them to better explore and interpret the subject of design and finally, it can play different roles in various stages of the process, in accordance with the subject of design task as well as the competence level of the design students.