Vulnerability Reduction in Architectural Design with Performance Based Seismic Design Approach

of numerous earthquakes and the extent of damage they have caused together with the steps taken to reduce their impact have all shown that such steps have often been limited to structural engineering issues and the strengthening of buildings against earthquakes. Although such strategies have resulted in improving the endurance of buildings and reducing the number of casualties, their increasing costs and other factors have prevented them from being completely satisfactory for the people involved. The design of buildings is an extensive process which begins with the general goals and strategies, which manifest themselves as holistic designs concepts and regulations that govern the framework of design and the requirements for the resistance of buildings against earthquakes. In this design process, the architect determines form and configuration of the building which has the most influence on the building's performance against earthquakes.Research on the construction industry, specifically architectural design have shown that Iran's Office of Technical Affairs and their regulatory codes and guidelines suffer from the following problems:1. lack of holistic regulatory codes, or the presence of contradictory or unproductive documents, specifically in the field of architectural design, 2. reliance on prescriptive codes that act against creativity in architectural design A study on the essence and the progression of regulatory codes for earthquake design suggests that PBSD(performance based seismic design) and its related body of research is more in tune with the nature of architectural design and is more capable of answering the socio-economic needs of the people involved. In contrast to prescriptive methods of the past or those that are in operation now, performance based seismic design is more in tune with architectural design because: first, both (architectural design and PBSD) require a process that begins with the definition of goals and ends with an assessment of a design proposals. Second, both processes are capable of repetition until the proposed design manages to achieve the goals set out at the beginning. Third point of similarity is that in both processes, stockholders as same as other organizations are considered an important benefiting party and are given an important role in each process. Performance based seismic design is defined by choosing criteria that are inspired by a few performance goals. Each of these goals in turn defines the problems that arise from a particular level of destruction while also relating these levels of destruction to the different levels of earthquake risk. In this regard, the paper aims to carry out the following tasks and displays their 1. Identifying the similarities between performances based seismic design and architectural design. 2. Introducing different methods for generating documents (regulatory codes and criteria) for PBSD in architecture3. Elucidate the role of architects in preparing such regulatory codes and criteria4. Forecasting the future of regulatory codes of architectural seismic design and its relevant research 5. Presenting a practical proposal for an evaluative methodology for reducing the vulnerability of buildings against earthquakes and formulating the techniques and guidelines necessary for architectural design