International Journal of Architectural Engineering & Urban Planning
Volume:23 Issue: 2, Dec 2013

Today, due to the rapid growth of population, development of the construction industry is a necessity. All around the world, new subjects such as sustainable development, environmental pollution, conservation of resources, and reduction of CO2 emission have become the most important research topics among the scientific societies. In recent years, especially after 1997, new tools were invented to assess the building environmental impacts, including total life cycle, from production to demolition. National regulation of the buildings in Iran has a complete chapter on how to calculate and control energy consumption of the buildings during their operation phase, but unfortunately, construction and demolition phases are totally neglected. Absence of a practical regulation to control unpleasant impacts of the construction and demolition phases of a building could cause unsustainable development, as a silent crisis is currently happening and is going to appear in next decades when the buildings gradually reach the final phase of their life cycles. This paper will try to draw a framework for assessment of the environmental impacts of buildings during their entire life cycle using the ISO standards for life cycle assessment (LCA). According to this framework and by defining and measuring the numerical parameters representing the building environmental sustainability, it would be possible to compile regulations to estimate the optimum limit of these parameters and to keep them in a limited range. By doing so, it would be possible to provide for the current generation''s needs without compromising the ability of the future generations to provide for their needs. This is an abstract meaning of sustainability itself.

Digital architecture, as a proceeding architectural style, has caused fundamental evolutions in architectural design and building appearance via applying complex geometries and topologies. Computers and digital tools have truly altered the design process and architectural conception facilitating production of new eye catching forms. Avant-garde architectural forms have emerged from these changes in architectural design geometry which have influenced visual, physical and morphological features of cities. In this article, the impact of digital architecture and various architectural types (topological, isomorphic, motion kinematics, metamorphic architecture, parametric, genetic) on cityscapes of different periods (ancient, contemporary and future cities) is explored. Through these digital tools, the cityscape of ancient cities, which are not available to us today, can be revitalized. Digitally designed urban spaces and forms can influence contemporary cityscapes and urban landscape due to their complex geometry and free forms, assisting cities to become museums of avant-garde architectural elements and attractive magnets for capital and tourism in globalizing world. These digital tools will have a profound influence on future cities with their parametric design, morphological patterns, digital façade fabrication systems and other methods. This paper is mostly focused on digital production of forms and urban landscape by elite groups (designers, planners, digital experts etc) and thus the effects of other economic, policy-making and more procedural aspects of urban design on the final product (city scape, urban morphology etc) are not applied here.

This study was carried out to investigate and shed light on the complex theoretical concept of place, as a continuing dynamic phenomenon, in architecture. To this end, it has looked into the historical evolutions and retrieval of the Shah Wali complex in Taft. Considering the topic and the goal of this research paper, the morphological analysis as a tool used in the interpretive-historical research the method and the process of change and continuity of form was selected. The findings of this study indicate that this place, as a form, has always been subject to change. These changes could be categorized into two groups: (a) the changes which have been gradual and have taken place over a long period and (b) those which have taken place over a short period. The gradual changes have taken place starting from the Timurid to the Safavid era, at which point the complex has reached completion and evolved as a complex. After the initial developments of the complex, the complex underwent some short period changes in its components and spatio-temporal structure. These short period changes coincides with the demolishment of the old Takiya and construction of the new Takiya. Following these short period changes, the gradual changes of the second stage starts. As an implication of this research, it is suggested that urban designers and conservationists in particular revisit the theoretical underpinnings of the terms and concepts in the process of continuity and change of the historic dynamic complex, in order to fully understand and apply appropriate strategies in the design and the conservation.

Climate has an important effect on operation of the traditional building architecture and its energy consumption in desert area of Iran. Absence of water and unpleasant climate of these regions compelled people to build their houses with some strategies based on effective energy expenditure. Therefore, builders try to use natural climatic strategies for confronting hard situations. Narrow and droughty streets, much lofty air traps, upland walls, big water reservoirs, and vaulted roofed chambers are the distinguished features of desert towns in Iran. Techniques and principles used in this architecture obviously have many new notions in themselves in sustainable architecture arena. Techniques and principles of this architecture show that considering the experiment in traditional architecture of desert regions is conceivable to create an ecological and sustainable architecture. The sustainable architecture that advances to a point in order to be permitted to attain its aims deems necessary the design of any building with the least detrimental effect on environment as well as the design compatible with nature. This study uses qualitative content analyzemethod and tries to extract features that have been used in Iranian traditional architecture in two different categories: urban texture and architecture. Iranian’s Hot-Arid zones architecture includes numerous unique features which comprehend aesthetic exigencies and environmental capacity.

This paper by reviewing the main examples of small to medium-scale retractable roof structures covering building courtyards is to present an innovative rigid retractable roof system employing spatial frames for a courtyard of an existing building in Tabriz Islamic Art University. The courtyard is currently used for temporary exhibitions and gatherings whenever permitted by environmental conditions. The proposed retractable roof will extend the application of the building throughout whole year period and also adds to its beauty and functionality. One of the main advantages of this design that makes it as a good alternative for this building is the way that the roof is retracted in different segments separately in a regulated deployment process and its potential in being used in different stages of the deployment process. The proposed roof consists of four retractable zones all covered with transparent rigid material and a fixed central part being inspired by the patterns of Iranian historic architecture. The retractable parts are placed at four corners and composed of rigid panels sliding across each other. An actuating force is applied to the first panel of each module and consequently makes the other panels move throughout the associated fixed track.

Today, there are many concepts such as a sense of place and attachment to place presented in architecture and urban literature in the field of environmental studies. Meanwhile, relationship between the two is not much explained. This study defines the concept of sense of place and attachment to place and the factors influencing them followed by providing a four- dimensional model derived from social factors influencing the two concepts as the study theoretical model. This four- dimensional model was tested in case studies of Eram and Ghods dormitories of Shiraz University. In this study, depth interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data for process of testing. Spss software was used to analyze and interpret the survey results. After research questionnaires were completed, the data were analyzed via the software through appropriate statistical methods at descriptive and inferential levels. At descriptive level, relative frequency and cumulative distributions were used. At inferential level, taking into account the nature of the variables, correlation coefficient, regression and comparison of means were used. Finally, the paper presents hypothesis tests and discussion of the results. Given the variable measurement level, Pearson correlation coefficient test was used to support or reject hypotheses. Obtained results show that there is a strong relationship between sense of place and attachment to place. The findings also suggest that physical factors of the environment are important to create a sense of place and time as well as attachment to place. Moreover, time factor has lowest degree of importance in creating a sense of place compared with the creation of sense of attachment to the place. This factor is the most important after physical factors.

The decisions and personal preferences of the designer are vital for all aspects and stages of the design. To elaborate, the designer has the central role in creation, development, detailing and construction of the built forms. Also, the scientific/engineering evaluations of the design models are carried out under the directions and decisions of the designer. The paper explores the concept of ‘desirability factor’ as a method for incorporating the decisions and preferences of the designers within the digital design media. Desirability factors are assigned to the models and explicitly express the views of the designer on the level of desirability of various aspects of the design. The desirability factors direct the process of selection of design variants (that are obtained from the sole scientific/engineering analyses) in the direction favoured by the designer. The examples in the paper illustrate the methods of definition and application of desirability factors to architectural design. The concept may be used for various engineering disciplines encountered in architectural design.