فصلنامه هنرهای زیبا - معماری و شهرسازی
سال نوزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 59، پاییز 1393)

Throughout human evolution history، beauty has always been one of the necessary integral components of human need. As Greer (2010) said، “one of the prehistoric human’s responses to the animal life around them was to etch and paint these animals on the walls of their caves. Turning them into art and rendering them beautiful was a natural response - a way to help make sense of a hostile and confusing world”. Likewise، people of old civilizations such as Babylon and Egypt used disciplined arrangements in their settlements structures. And they used concepts such as symmetry، order، harmony and etc. to express beauty in their living environment. This historical effort has been followed till today، which one of the main concerns of environmental design practitioners and theorists، especially in urban design، is creating and designing beautiful urban environments and places for people. In the storyline described، dispute about concept of beauty and its origin has been an ongoing discussion that dates back at least to 2. 500 years ago. This storyline also could be seen as a single movement from certainty to doubt which according to Powers (2010) “reflects the growing complexity of the world surrounds us”. Though this evolutionary path has a repetitive oscillation between two polarities of subjectivity and objectivity. So that، according to Reber et al. (2004) in the former one، which is a rather rational understanding of beauty، aesthetic theorists، dating back at least to Plato، saw beauty as a property of an object that produces a pleasurable experience in any suitable perceiver. This special point of view tries to boil down the essence into formulae and models for further application. While in the latter one، which is a romantic understanding of beauty، theorists، dating back at least to the Sophists، proposed that beauty is based on personal experience and insight. So it can be defined only ‘in the eye of the beholder’. In this point of view، anything could be beautiful if it only pleases human senses and therefore، beauty is not that much open to explanation or proof. Most modern philosophical analyses، however، reject the objective versus subjective distinction and define beauty as a sense which emerges from patterns in the way people and objects relate. Despite frequent use of the concept and different definitions it has، the entity of it، still seems ambiguous. And at least in Iran، there is not a clear understanding of aesthetic experience in knowledge of environmental design. Regarding the importance of beauty in human health and significant role of aesthetic experience on bringing structural changes in the brain، this article، seeks to define aesthetic experience of human. For better understanding of aesthetic experience and its role in the process of perception، we adopt three different perspectives، including biological، cognitive and psychological perspectives. Consequently، we propose that aesthetic experience is caused by a multitude of senses، and beauty is grounded in the processing experiences of the perceiver that emerge from the interaction of stimulus properties and perceivers'' cognitive and affective processes.

There are several courtyards of historical buildings in Iran that have changed their original function because of reuse and have adopted for physical adjustments of the renovation projects. Usually they are covered by lightweight roofsand have been used as religious spaces, praying or audience halls, restaurants, exhibitions rooms, etc. Unfortunately most of these lightweight roofs have inappropriate design or environmentalproblems. In some cases they have damaged the building's walls, floors or finishing by their imprecise details. The roofs that were permanent and not temporarily erected and removed have unfortunately changed the role of an open central courtyard of the Iranian architecture. This paper tried to investigate an appropriate design for a lightweight roof of historical building courtyard in Iran. The research began with a short study about historical background of lightweight roofs in Iran. The second part of the paper is the study of different examples of the recent lightweight roofs of the courtyards in Iran that were constructed in buildings such as mosques or houses. There are three types of lightweight structures of the surveyed courtyards: a) scaffolding structures, b) truss structures, and c) tent structures. These roofs are analyzed by five key factors: structural quality, environmental comfort, details, physical impacts on the building and visual appearance in the interior spaces. The third part of the paper is about the study of remarkable world experiences of convertible membrane roofs for courtyards of historical buildings. Our selection is based on importance of the designer of the roof or the building itself or numerous citations of such structure. Physical contact between these kinds of roofs and the buildings is crucial. Therefore these roofs are categorized into four types: a) Roofs that the contact point of their elements are outside of the buildings, b) on top of the roof, c) tresses from wall, and d) placed inside the courtyard. These roofs are analyzed by three key factors: movement specifications of the roof, construction details and visual appearance in the interior spaces. At the end of the second and third parts of the paper the roofs that were not harmonized or could not adapt with geometrical and physical aspects of Iranian Historic courtyards were eliminated. In the fourth part of the paper the design guides for erective and removable or convertible roofs were proposed. These guides were categorized based on the analysis of the Iranian and world experiences. At first, different design guides for lightweight roofs that can be easily erected and removed were represented in a table. Second, different design guides for convertible lightweight roofs based on the world experiences were presented in another table. What is presented in this paper as design guide model of erected and removed or convertible roofs had mainly focused on the geometrical aspects and main construction elements of these lightweight roofs that can be adapted with Iranian historical courtyards. The mechanical and technical aspects and appropriate details of these roofs are the future trend of the research.

Designing an efficient skin for the building can minimize winter heat loss and summer heat gain. Double skin façade (DSF) is a good device for achieving such a goal; but its summer overheating is a problem for using it, especially in hot-dry climates such as Iran plateau. In this study, after reviewing state of the art strategies for cooling façade cavity, the effect of using some of them (such as changing size of the vents and depth of the DSF cavity) in reducing the danger of DSF overheating, in the Yazd City (Iran), is studied. First of all, the effect of using façade vents was analyzed by comparing two models: one had an unventilated DSF and the other (with the same size of DSF) had seven 200 mm2 inlet and outlet vents. The results showed that the ventilated DSF model had better performance (in reducing overheating) than the unventilated one. Then, effect of changing size of the vents in reducing overheating was analyzed. Ventilated DSFs with different vents areas including 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mm2 were compared. The studies were carried out in three situations: 1-Changing the size of inlet and outlet vent simultaneously, 2-Assuming inlet vent constant (=200 mm2) and changing the outlet vent area, 3-Assuming outlet vent constant (=200 mm2) and changing the inlet vent area. The best results were acquired by assuming 50 mm2 area for inlet vent and 200 mm2 area for outlet. Then, the effect of changing the cavity depth in reducing overheating was analyzed. Ventilated DSFs (with 50 mm2 inlet and 200 mm2 outlet vents) with 100, 200, 400, 600 and 800 mm cavity depth were compared. All models had 2400 mm cavity height. The results showed that the model with 600 mm cavity depth had the lowest temperature and the highest wind speed. At the end of this part of study, the following results were acquired: • The ratio between Input to output vent size should be 1 to 4. • Input and output vents should have the maximum possible. • The ratio between cavity depth to its height should be 1 to 4. • By using the above strategies, cavity temperature can be lower by 18.8 °C in warm months of the year. Finally, in order to validate the results of previous parts, an improved model (equipped with the best strategies from the previous part), a model equipped with normal DSF, and a model without DSF was compared by using Design-builder simulation. The results showed that in cold months, energy consumption of the models with DSF was about 18% lower than the one without it. Also the results showed that using the strategies presented in this paper not only prevents overheating in the DSF cavity, but also can cool off the whole building. The total amount of energy consumption in the improved model was about 10% (14.4 KWh/m2) lower than the model without DSF. This showed the good potential of using double skin façades even in hot-dry climate of Iran.

Mosques, for many centuries, had been the most physically visible as well as the major symbolic structure of Iranian cities. This highlights the fact that mosques have had a major role to play in city development. The importance of mosque in shaping the central districts of cities was such that their façade was considered as a monument or a landmark, attracting all attention – from residents and citizens to strangers and travelers - to it. Furthermore, the level of civility of a city was tied to the presence of a central mosque, i.e. the settlement was not considered to be a city unless it had a central mosque within it; no matter how dense and compact or dispersed it was. Also, in terms of city growth, the direction of growth was determined by the mosque’s development. The lesser mosques also played a role in defining the neighborhoods’ centers as a major element. The recent studies, however, point to the fact that, due to cultural detachment and identity crisis within the Iranian society during the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, the link between the city and mosque has faded. A turn toward modernist street designs, neighborhood identity no longer exists, and for that matter, mosques have lost their past role in being the central place within neighborhoods. After the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, one would have expected to see the prominence of mosques within neighborhoods. However, although mosques have had a major social and political role in the years during and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and during the Iraqi-imposed war during the 1980s, their proper site selection has been mostly neglected. In this paper, we attempt to answer the questions on the possibility of defining the system within which the mosques follow in urban land use planning. The literature on site selection for various land uses has its roots in the Western schools and, therefore, hardly has references to site selection for mosques. Therefore, here, the criteria for site selection and design of mosques are mostly derived and determined based on the Quranic teachings, using the thematic thought method. We first review the design principles of the Grand Mosque of Medina built by the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and the changes which took place during different periods after him. Here, the role of mosque in a civil society based on the Isfahan School - which is considered as the apex of the Islamic architecture and urban planning in Iran’s history - is also discussed. Next, a number of interviews with Islamic scholars are conducted to identify the site selection as well as the urban design criteria and to draft the implementation guidelines for physical design and construction of the mosques. The criteria for site selection within the subject of urban planning include hierarchy, centrality, territory, accessibility, density, and the direction toward Qiblah in Mecca. The principles of unity, focus, and simplicity are considered as urban design criteria. The principle of “first structure” is presented as the implementation parameter.

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. The aspects of globalization can be classified in four dimensions: social and cultural globalization, economic globalization, political globalization and globalization of law. A review of recent urban and regional studies shows that these studies has affected from globalization literature in past three decades after the universal use of global/world city term. One of the main changes made in this area is increasing importance achieving of city diplomacy as a new type of diplomacy. City diplomacy is the tool of local governments and their associations to help local governments in conflict and war by means of concrete and practical city-to-city cooperation with the aim of creating a stable environment in which the citizens can live together in peace, democracy and prosperity. Furthermore, playing an active and effective role in city diplomacy field leads to achieve sustainable interests for Tehran in order to overcome predominant restrictions in urban planning and urban management system in Iran. Some of these sustainable interests are feasibility of international experience, technical and financial exchange, reducing inappropriate impacts of international institute's decisions and policies on Tehran and Iran, increasing possibility of bargaining and achieving some concessions in international organizations. This paper is based on secondary analysis and meta-analysis shows that although Tehran has some opportunities like establishment of some international institute's offices in Tehran, having sister-city relationships with a number of cities around the world, presence in some international institutes of urban development and at last its geopolitical importance and particular position in regional relations, it couldnt reach to an appropriate position in city diplomacy field so far, due to some restrictions and limitations such as political challenges and foreign affairs in governmental scale, lack of institutional and professional framework for development in city diplomacy field in addition to lack of necessary infrastructures and software facilities. The paper shows that because of the resistance and unwillingness of Iran central government to play a more active role in the global domain, policy making to achieve a better situation for Tehran in the global system has been ignored for years. This research describes that even non-global cities need a clear and integrated urban governance and city diplomacy strategy to play a more effective role in global era to maximize the positive effects and minimize the negative impacts of globalization. It shows that ignoring city diplomacy capacities leads to a loss of opportunities that will bring a huge flow of globalization.On top of them are enhancing the urban competitiveness and the ability to play a more active role in city diplomacy domain. So, even non-global cities can also be proactive and use constructive policy to gain globalization process positive effects as opportunities to exploit the realization of sustainable urban development. Because of this, the paper presents some policy recommendations that can help Tehran to achieve a more active role in global domain and city diplomacy area.

The Blue Mosque, one of the valuable architectural elements of Tabriz city, known as the Turquoise of Islamic world, has high status among the people of the city, also among domestic and foreign historians and travelers, ever since its establishment. The Blue Mosque has always played a dynamic role in Tabriz’s continuum of urban life and provides a proper setting for social interactions. Up to early in this century, the Blue Mosque, despite numerous damages and demolitions, had its privileged place in the city, until the large-scale interventions, which took place during the First Pahlavi’s era and changed the face of the city forever. These changes created the phenomenon problems associated with the ancient city structure, which unstable the role of many historic elements.The emergence of new urban relations contrasts with the spatial structure of the old city. These new elements, in Iran’s cities, appear different from their true nature, and remain this way until today. This modernization of the cities happened at a time that they did not have the actual conditions of an industrial city or even took the transition phase to modernism or had and understanding of the first principles of this evolution. These changes only imitate the underlying principles of modernization and in practice reject the old continuum of the city. The purpose of this study is to obtain a solution to recover the lost dignity of the Blue Mosque in Tabriz’s urban life and restore its rightful place among the few monuments that have remained; because during the earthquakes and wars, many of the monuments in city have been destroyed which make it necessary to protect the remaining historic elements. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the historic maps and documents of Tabriz city have been analyze, by historic –interpretive methods and by interviewing knowledgeable and expert people. On the other hand, field studies and information gathered from local residents helped to analyze the current situation. This paper, at first provides a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the formation of the Blue Mosque and the reports of the domestic and foreign historians and travelers. Then the position of the Blue Mosque in the continuum of urban life, in different historical periods, based on historical documents and maps will be analyze. Continuing with the analysis of the current situation of the Blue Mosque in its context, the damages and their reasons will be express. Also, by providing the detailed map of the approved plan for the area, the strengths and weaknesses of the project will be discuss in relation to the Blue Mosque. Finally, by analyzing the historical status of the Blue Mosque in the continuum of the old city of Tabriz and the factors which affecting them, it offers the ideal solution for restoring the Blue Mosque with the quality associated with cultural-historical axis where once was the path of the Silk Road. This is an effort in order to recover the historical identity of the mosque, the fabric and the city of Tabriz.

This paper is a research conducted based on the basic question that why house belonging is removed from today houses. Answer of this question will further demonstrate more importance and necessity of such studies compared with previous studies. This is because addressing such studies plays an important role in recognition of the principles of traditional architecture while modern designers and architects can use these principles to improve physical sense of place for residents of today's residential complexes as the dominant paradigm of contemporary urban housing. In order to answer this question (why house belonging is removed from today houses), some case samples of traditional houses with inhabitants and new residential complexes of Shiraz city were chosen and compared. Accordingly, document and field research methods were used in this study to collect data from various view point of residents by the questionnaires representing features such as shape, size, texture, decoration and relationships as the physical layout of each house. Next, the questionnaires were tested and analyzed. First, based on obtained data it was concluded that the rate of the sense of belonging to house is more in traditional houses than modern complexes. Next, in order to understand the aspects of this sense of belonging to house, the main characteristic of a sense of belonging to a house in terms of traditional houses and new residential complexes, i.e. structural elements of the house with its main features, were investigated. In this study, the most important physical factors (diagnostic criteria for a house), which included the shape and size of elements, relationships, arrangement, context and ornaments were tested. The obtained results showed that the physical sense of place in the traditional house is more than that of obtained in the new complexes. ­This sense of belonging to place is more represented in the two features of shape and size of elements (including the size and shape of the yard, porch or portico, skylight and windows), context and decoration (including items such as yard decorations, building decorating and interior decoration) in the traditional houses. But the feature of relationships and arrangement (including access to other living spaces in the house and access to the street where the house is located) in the new residential complexes has a higher mean when compared with traditional houses. Finally, according to the obtained results, people who live in new residential complexes want to consider the characteristics of traditional houses like increased area of courtyard or terrace, increased external and internal decoration of the house, increased size of hallways and decreased residential units within complex integrated design. Therefore, in new complexes, contemporary designers and architects can identify these features in the new apartments by considering the financial situation and options for residents of a house based on the fusion of traditional and modern architecture for contemporary residential design. Designs based on traditional houses and by considering the characteristics mentioned above will increase sense of physical belonging of residents to their houses.

One of the important concerns among the educators of architecture is the enhancement of education. Towards that goal, this paper relies on literature review, and methods of deductive reasoning and field study. In the field of educational psychology, teacher- centered learning has been complemented by student- centered learning method in which exploratory learning and learning through group discussion are regarded as two instrumental means for enhancement of learning. One of the techniques common to these learning means is the introduction of the problem by the learner, and then involvement in solving the problem at hand by means of mental (and/or manual) activity, and also dialogue with peers and the tutor through to the solution. This method is also true for (design and) construction processes in real world practice of architecture. The present paper draws heavily on a close study of an educational experience within the framework of a course entitled "introduction to construction procedures”. To benefit from exploratory hearing and group discussion methods, exercise were devised for students of architecture. In accordance with the above mentioned educational approach, each student should follow the following course of action; they should devise their own design problem personally, identify the design constraints, and they should sort out proper solution to overcome those constraints, thrash mental and manual involvement with the problem solving process. In order to help students to find their way through the course of action, a sample design problem which had been solved and further crafted by an experienced tutor, or an expert designer, is introduced and analyzed in an early session of the course. In order for the students to have a close idea at the subtleties of the designing or making process, they were assigned to refer to their past memories and introduce an object that they had made, repaired, or dismantled/overhauled. They were required to explain the whole processing from the emergence of their problem through to their final solution, to their fellow students and the tutor. This assignment or exercise is called "handcrafts - personal experience". Every student's presentation, verbal and visual, is subjected to group discussion to throw light to the subtleties of making and designing procedures and to articulate the effects of design decisions on construction strategies as well as those of construction subtle difficulties on design propositions. This paper investigates the exercise in the light of the aforesaid theories, the tutor's observations, and student's survey. Results show that this exercise is in line with student-centered learning views and combines exploratory learning with learning through group discussion. Practicality, personal and exploratory nature of the exercise, the guiding role of the tutor, and cooperation of fellow students are correspondingly in agreement with Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky's theories of learning. Moreover, manual and experiential nature of the task is congruent with Kolb's thoughts on learning. Having drawn a theoretical perspective of the educational experience, the paper concludes with an emphasis on the necessity of such exercises which require students to strive for solving a design problem through engagement in crafting the solution