International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development
Volume:7 Issue: 2, Spring 2017

Fast growing population, excessive expansion of cities, and dominance of automobile in urban life have troubled cities with complicated traffic problems. In many parts of the world, transport network development has always been considered as a solution for this problem. Apparently, one-dimensional ‘traffic solutions’ would never thoroughly bring best results as the city and its problems are complicated and interconnected. However, adding one floor to the existing networks would not necessarily solve traffic congestion. Therefore the aim of this paper is to identify the challenges elevated highways especially Sadr highway imposed on adjacent residential neighborhoods, and to provide recommendations mitigating the negative impacts of these challenges in favor of neighbor residents. Among the different challenges, this paper focuses on those which have instant effects on the potential neighborhoods including environmental, safety, and social challenges which affect nearby residents the most. Accordingly, this study provides policies to reduce noise, air and visual pollution, safety and security issues.

Given more than seven thousand years of urbanization and highly diverse topographic andgeographical conditions, Iran is one of the treasures through the world's architectural history. Climatic diversity,on the one hand, and long history of living, on the other hand, has led to noteworthy and valuable achievement inarchitecture and urbanization within this country. However, these elements are less utilized in today architecture. Urbanlife, technological advances and excessive economical demands have extremely made people apart from the natureand formed their mind within an iterative mechanized order. Furthermore, human being is a part of nature and his/her close relationship to the nature provides him/her with survival and longevity. In Iranian houses, a space indicatingrelationship between human and nature is courtyard. Central courtyards within vernacular houses in Yazd providedinhabitants with terrific living conditions and enhanced their living quality by utilizing natural elements such as water,wind, light, and plants. Today, due to providing more houses regardless of their quality, not only are natural elementsignored in human life; but also in many cases, buildings do not have essential features of living. This paper attemptsto explore how to create and enter natural elements in apartments. This paper aims to investigate natural elements onvernacular houses in Yazd. A descriptive, analytic methodology along with a case study (vernacular houses in Yazd)were employed and data was collected through library and field research.

Park design in Iran has followed the traditional European style since the Qajar dynasty. Thefamiliarity of Iranians with the spirit of Persian gardens and the low quality of the newest parks is such that usersprefer ancient geometrical Persian gardens. Today, those responsible for the design of urban green spaces lackingexamples differing from the traditional and thus they are in need of an adequate set of guidelines for how to design forpresent conditions, users, and their needs. This research focuses on the relationship between park design componentsand users’ psychological restoration regarding their preferences and perceptions to increase the quality of parks,diminish vandalism, and increase user agency. Psychological restoration is the likeliness that people will be able torest and recover their ability to focus. A random sample of 100 Tehranian residents was taken by presenting themwith images depicting 6 urban parks from around their city. The results were analyzed by grouping into categories:1-similar activities and 2-by counting and categorizing the individual descriptions of components (frequency of words)contributing to restoration likelihood. Findings showed that the categories mentioned most frequently for high levelsof restoration were natural categories including trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, and water. Findings with low levelsof restoration and recovery consisted of negative contextual conditions and the absence of nature such as high risebuildings around the parks, lack of trees, and crowds of people. The activities imagined more frequently were playingand other physical activities, social activities, and relaxation.

Designing places particular for children entails desire conditions for the physical, mental, emotionaland social development in different age ranges, and this design shouldn’t bring about any disturbance in the naturalgrowth and their entertainment. In the modern educational system, the physical atmosphere of the school must bean alive and dynamic factor in the quality of educational and training activities for the students. In the creation ofphysical atmospheres based on identifying the principles of aesthetics, it is essential to put the perceptual principlesof atmosphere, context and color into practice. According to the findings of the researchers, colors has miraculouseffects on the mental and morale of human beings and the color type bring about joy, freshness, mobility or depression,tiredness, and dullness and they influence on the individuals’ performance. The present study aims to explore theappropriate atmosphere features for children`s learning and the effect of color diversity on education level and theirattraction toward the educational setting in order to enhance the quality of educational environment. To do so, 6 schoolsin Isfahan were selected randomly as the sample group. To collect data, colorful brochures (questionnaires) followed byfree questions about the educational environment were applied. When the data was analyzed, desirable results on therole of color in the educational settings and the students` interest to the educational settings were found suggesting thatthe sense of motivation and interest to educational settings are effective factors on the student`s understanding aboutschool and their educational progresses.

By designing conditions and relaxing spaces with the help of values and concepts of Japanesearchitecture, based on Zen's philosophy that based on simplicity, purity, avoidance of complexity and relaxation, ithas tried to bring an experience of relaxation to the audience. This article seeks to investigate a principled relationshipbetween the principles of Japanese gardens in accordance with the teachings of Zen philosophy, and the effects ofits tranquility and cheerfulness. In fact, a set of principles for the design of Japanese gardens influenced by Zen'sphilosophy can play an effective role in the mental relaxation of the audience from a psychological point of view. Thearchitecture of the Zen Gardens from the point of view: the style of the rocks, the elements of the garden, the typesof lines and shapes used in them, and... Have a positive psychological effect on the audience. Relaxation in thesegardens can be used in landscape design of public and private buildings in cities that are facing increasing numbers ofmental illnesses, so that perhaps the correct architecture could be effective in improving mental illness and promotingcommunity health.

Since nature of architecture is quite different from that of other fields of study, the criteria used forjudging projects in this field continuously undergo some changes. On the other hand, because of the undeniable role ofhuman factors in judging the projects, there is always a percentage of deviation from the standard given the interestsof the judging committee. The standards of judging architecture projects can be divided into these general classes:idea, process and technical issues. The standards of judging architecture projects can be classified as such: Selection,placement, relations of function, form, volume, internal arrangement and circulation; Considering the studies, analyzingand planning the body of the project; Considering the substrate of the project and recognizing the facilities and theirlimits; Engineering of the project: considering the relationship between technical knowledge and designing; Usingimagination, innovation and creativity when it comes to the idea of the project and the quality of developing this idea;Providence: flexibility and variability of the design in the future; Being aware of the factors affecting the formation ofthe design (moral, tribal, and cultural); Being practically logical and realistic, paying attention to the applicablenessof the design and its compliance with the topic; Taking into account the technical principles, structural systems andmachineries; Graphic (visual) and oral (introduction and defense) presentation method. Reviewing previous studiesthat have focused on different methods for judging student projects shows that we can divide these methods into thefollowing classes: Evaluation by the professors (throughout the project); Group display of the works; Evaluation bythe classmates; Personal evaluation; Traditional methods of judgment; Written judgment of the professors; Evaluationby the professor (regarding the completed project).