نشریه نامه معماری و شهرسازی
سال ششم شماره 12 (بهار و تابستان 1393)

It seems that from the beginning of urbanization and formation of cities, reviewing the conditions of cities and trying to improve the living conditions in them also have been taken into consideration. Even the most famous scientists and philosophers of the history also had to pay special attention to the city. In this way, their tools will be manuscript, plan, sketch, etc. As the same time, artists have tried to think about living in cities and urban spaces, and they have reflected such issues on their works. Cinema, from the beginning up to now, has always had been tied with city. Although the most important European and American cities have had an unbreakable relationship with movies as “Location” or “Subject” of the narration, but academic interdisciplinary studies including both cinema and urban studies could rarely be found. Firstly, this paper concerns about addressing the relationship between city and cinema. However, understanding the mental image of city in citizens’ mind has always been one of the most important issues for urban experts. It seems that cinema and its special capability in presenting concrete images of cities and urban issues has been neglected by them. A range of different resources such as analytical books, articles, novels, poems etc have been used by urban researchers, but cinema as the most important art-industry-media of the last century has not been considered academically. The second goal is a comparative study between city-images found in a group of Iranian and French films, commonly known as New Wave of Cinema. In the first part of this paper, the studying relationship between city and cinema demonstrates that cinema as a global and amusing “Art-Industry-Media” has an effective role in representation of several phenomena. In the meantime, city as the most complex social phenomenon of the last century and the context for the life of more than half of the population of the planet soon found his place in cinema and city-image became one of the most visible and attractive aspects of Mise-en-scene. So it seems that a review of movies of different countries can help urban planners to understand the conditions of cities and urbanization, this time from the perspective of an important concrete visual resource, namely “Cinema”. In conclusion, structural content analysis using semiotics method illustrates that Iranian and French New Wave films represent “city” in drastically different ways. City in French new wave cinema is a context for flaneuristic activities, where the sense of liberation and freedom, happiness, safety and beauty, as well as accidental encountering, diversity prevails, and it is an alternative for traditional family ties. In contrast, city in Iranian new wave cinema becomes the location of vengeance and failure of urban heroes; a non-uniform city full of physical and social conflicts, with a modern shell but traditional heart, in transition from human scale to superhuman and even to a frightening scale with no hopeful vision for the future.

Illegal land use change or unauthorized use of buildings is one of the major building contraventions in Tehran reported numerously to the Tehran municipality during two recent decades. The decisions which have been adopted by the municipality that is responsible for construction and building control through the legal boundaries of the city, and other urban authorities who are responsible for the control and direction of urban development, have not been successful in alleviating Tehran’s building contraventions and even have led to more number of building contraventions and have become an intolerable matter for most of developers. The important role of urban land use policies and proper execution of urban land use regulations in the order and balance of urban development make the prevention of such contraventions necessary. In this paper, it has been presumed that the spatial distribution of building contraventions through Tehran is related to the social, economical, physical structure of the city and distribution of the different land uses in the city. Evaluating of the presumption as one of the possible solutions for decreasing land use contraventions in Tehran was addressed through spatial regression, which is a kind of spatial analysis. In other words, understanding the factors affecting the occurrence of building contraventions will help planners to recognize building contravention opportunities and to use such information to increase the efficiency of urban plans, urban guidelines and policies they present. According to the spatial distribution of the level of land use contraventions (the contraventions reported to “Article 100 Commission” of Tehran municipality as the legal authority for investigating the building contraventions), such contraventions have been mostly concentrated in central districts and two marginal districts located in northeastern and southeastern of Tehran. In order to find the relationship between indicators describing Tehran’s structure including social indicators (population density, average floor area of residential units, percentage of ownership, percentage of rental units, persons per household), economical indicators (average building price and rental price, household income, car ownership ratio), physical indicators (average floor, average FAR, average area of land parcels, percentage of durable building, percentage of non-resistant building) and land use distribution indicators (commercial area, transport network area, official area, green space area, residential area) and the level of land use contraventions reported to “Article 100 Commission” of Tehran municipality, spatial regression analysis was applied for the Municipality Districts No. 1 to No. 20. As the result, the total level of land use contraventions (area of the illegal land use change) in the districts was correlated with the average floor area of residential units in the districts, land and building price, car ownership ratio, the average area of land parcels, floor ratio and the total area devoted to the official land use at 99% and 95% confidence intervals. In other words, land use contraventions have mostly occurred in the districts with more average floor area of residential units, higher floor area ratio, larger size of land parcels, less rental units and more areas devoted to official land use.

Becoming aware of the way of making a journey to the school is of high importance for enjoying the health advantages of walking, reducing the possibility of being infected by the obesity among the students, increasing the students’ level of energy, reducing the body mass index, increasing the possibility of living longer and healthier in comparison to the inactive individuals as well as reducing the harms of the overcrowding and air pollution due to using vehicles. This paper aims at analyzing the factors affecting walking of the girl students of guidance schools in the District 7, Tehran and presenting some solutions to encourage walking among the students of this district. To achieve this goal in the study, following the review of literature, 20 variables affecting the students’ walking were found. Using factor analysis, 8 variables were introduced as the explaining factors for students’ walking in District 7, Tehran: the conditions of the routes for walking, economic status of the households, expenses of the journeys, cultural programs for walking, the role of the route of parents to go to work with that of students to school, parents presence during walking of students, characteristics of the surrounding areas, and the possibility of group journey for walking to school. This study revealed that the conditions of the routes for walking played the most important role in explaining the factors affecting the students’ walking, with the power to explain 14.40 percent of variance; followed by the economic status of the household with the explanation power for 8.575 percent of variance, and the expenses of the journeys with the explanation power for 8.462 percent of variance are the major factors affecting the students’ walking. In the next phase of the study, to determine the degree of the impact of these variables on walking or using vehicles in the journey to the school, logistic regression analysis was carried out. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the economic status of the household, expenses of the journeys, the role of the route of parents to go to work with that of students to school in students’ walking decrease the possibility of choosing the activity of walking. Accordingly, the following solutions can be recommended for this issue: in order to increase the walking activity among students in households with better economic situation, the culture-based strategies through providing a virtual social network among students’ parents, schools and health department can be recommended. In order to decrease the importance of expenses of the journey, integrated consideration of residential and educational land uses through determination of suitable distance threshold for walking of students in urban plans and in schools buffer design may be effective. To decrease the importance of the factor of the role of parents in walking of students, considering traffic strategies and time management for changing the travel policy of parents and students will be effective. Generally speaking, the program of group walking to school with adults as accompaniment is an effective policy for this purpose.

During past decades, concerns over rising fuel prices, climate changes, and congestion have prompted research into the influences of urban form and land-use patterns on travel behavior. Many studies found that residents living in traditional neighborhoods (characterized by high density, high accessibility, mixed land use, rectilinear street network, and so on) drive less and walk more than those living in suburban neighborhoods. This research, which is a correlational study, aims to investigate the factors that affect travel behavior within different neighborhoods in the north of Isfahan. In this regard, 5 old and 5 new neighborhoods have been carefully selected. The old neighborhoods are characterized by organic network with numerous cal-de-sacs and the new neighborhoods characterized by grid network with a few cal-de-sacs. Using a self-administrated questionnaire filled out by 312 respondents as samples, variables of research including perceived characteristics of neighborhoods, travel attitudes, socio-economic characteristics as well as frequencies of non-work trips by different options (walking, auto, and transit) have been captured. To measure the frequencies of home-based non-work trips by auto, walking/biking, and transit, respondents were asked to report how often they use auto, walking/biking, and public transit from their home to particular non-work destinations in a typical month with suitable weather. To measure the attitudes regarding travel and perceived characteristics of neighborhoods, the survey asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements on a 5-point scale. Since some of the neighborhoods’ characteristics and statements relating to travel attitudes, which measure similar dimensions of the built environment and travel attitudes are highly correlated, a factor analysis is conducted to identify underlying constructs of perceived neighborhood characteristics and travel attitudes. Finally, the perceived neighborhood characteristics were reduced to six factors: proximity, safety, accessibility, socializing, physical activity attractiveness, and outdoor spaciousness. In addition, five factors were extracted from the statements of travel attitudes: pro-bike/walk, pro-transit, travel minimizing, car dependent, and safety of car. The ANOVA tests demonstrate that there are statistically significant differences only in mean motorized trips in different neighborhoods. This finding suggests that residential neighborhood type may be a better predictor for motorized trips than for walking trips. A comparison between perceived neighborhood design characteristics and travel attitudes after normalizing factor scores shows that respondents from the old neighborhoods score significantly higher than those from the new neighborhoods on the factors of safety, socializing, pro-bike/walk, pro-transit, but lower on proximity, accessibility and car dependent. Multivariate analysis of cross-sectional data shows that neighborhood type significantly influences the auto trips. In addition to neighborhoods type, after accounting for socio-economic variables, it can be said that some of the perceived characteristics of urban forms such as proximity, accessibility, and socializing and travel attitude relating to pro-bike/walk, pro-transit, and car dependent have significant relationship with travel behavior. Taken together, our results suggest that if land use policies offer some alternatives to drive less and use transit and non-motorized modes more, many residents will tend to do so.

Architecture is not only building, technology, and drawings, but also discourse, meaning, communication, and concept, i.e. thinking and thought. This paper reconsiders the well-known aesthetic questions, this time in the field of Architecture; do the theoreticians act better than architects in thinking about architecture? Is there any specialized field in architectural thought that makes it intangible for philosophers? Are there any concepts in architecture that cannot be translated into language? Is architecture like other arts contributed to the enterprise of understanding the world equally like different sciences? This paper, organized thematically, has examined some of the major contemporary theories of art and architecture to find out the nature of architectural thought especially what does constitute architectural thought? In other words, how architectural thought does relate to writings such as theories of architecture? In the first part, we consider the ubiquity of architectural thought, whether in theoretical or practical issues. This ubiquity has made architectural thought indeed complex and complicated. Do we need a special pattern of thought to think about architecture? We come to differentiate between several forms of architectural thought. Three kind of thinking can be recognized in architecture discipline. Here, we will introduce major media type for each form. The first form of architectural thought is philosophical thinking with the subject matter of architecture and with the question about the nature of architecture, which was generally introduced to architects and architecture schools after 1960’s. Although it reveals those characteristics of architecture that are not well considered, naturally it is limited to concepts. The second form of architectural thought is the way in which architects deal with the questions of design, which became recognizable by introducing the word “design” into architecture nomenclature, in modern times. The main focus of practices in this field is the methodology of design. Anyway the analogy between what happened in the architects’ mind and thinking has been made in order to find out architects’ way of creating. The third form of architectural thought is the way in which architecture, by its existence and its presence, has affected human experience, perceiving, and understanding of the world. This form of artistic thought entered aesthetics vocabulary after Heidegger’s Philosophy & Nelson Goodman’s theory. Actually this form of thought can be pursued in several language metaphors and expressions that are related to the architecture. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the relationship between architectural thought and the architecture theory. Therefore, we will compare theory in architecture with theory in sciences and humanities; although architectural theory is the best conveyor of thoughts and the best way of connection to other human experiences in art, philosophy and sciences, as Wittgenstein experienced, knowing the best theories about architecture cannot make a person an architect. Therefore, it might be that architects experience another form of thinking which is somehow analogous to thinking and cannot be translated into theories. Despite the fact that theories can talk about each three forms of architectural thought (in considering the meaning of architecture, analyzing designers’ thought, and recognizing the architecture effects on mind), they cannot represent architects’ mind totally.

Qajar epoch, as an era; Qazvin, as a city; color as an architectural design element; and house as a type of architectural space, are brought together in this research, as an effort to recognize and constitute color palette of the houses built during Qajar dynasty in the city of Qazvin, where the focus is on one of the most suitably protected houses, i.e. House of Amini-ha built in 1850s. Iranian architecture lived its last period of traditional building culture during Qajar Dynasty, between 1725 to 1925 and the city of Qazvin was one of the gates of modern life to Iran, especially in Qajar era. Meanwhile, Iranian architecture is known to be one of the most colorful ones in the world. New colors and, therefore, color combinations were introduced to the architectural color palette of both urban and house architecture during Qajar era. And if we accept house as a direct reflection of life to the space, then this research aims to pave the way to create color palettes of historical houses of different eras. Color reconstruction is vital for reconstruction of historical spaces and specifically in interiors, and requires accurate recognition of existing color palette. Constituting the color palette of a historical period forms also a base-palette for modern interiors, and for architects who wish to use colors and color compositions of Iranian interiors and architecture in their designs. Yet the question is: If the colorful historical background of Iranian architecture can support its contemporary architecture and interiors? The text begins with the power of color in the built environment, continues with a review of literature and a short history of color reconstruction, for example Jean and Dominique Lenclos’s comprehensive works in France, and then Tom Porter’s in the United Kingdom and Norway. Color basics and systems are followed by the evidences of how colors in houses of Qazvin are described in historical texts and researches. Then, general and punctual color palettes of respectively open, semi-closed and closed spaces of the house are studied. General color palette contains colors of vast surfaces like walls, roofs or ceilings and floors, and punctual color palette includes the colors of smaller architectonic elements like windows, doors and shutters. Color palettes of open spaces like courtyard are mainly formed by natural colors of materials, except ceramic latticework of basement windows, with its cold blue-green turquoise among grays and oranges of tiles and stones. Semi-closed spaces’ colors are similar to both interior and exterior colors, yet it is the closed space which enjoys from most various numbers of colors. It’s a carnival of tiny tidy colored planes, either with additive or subtractive colors. Yet, the colors by themselves are not considered as colors of Iranian architecture, or Qazvin architecture, or even those of Qajar houses. Besides form, it is the combination of these colors with proportions among planes, or as in the words of Itten, “contrast of extension” which makes those colors, colors of Iranian houses during Qajar epoch. These palettes might be considered as a beginning to architects, who search for Iranian color combinations, yet it’s only the beginning and more houses, more color palettes and more color combinations must be studied in order to come to a comprehensive result.

This paper tries to evaluate the kinds of methodology needed for understanding architecture. Architecture is a field of study that brings together both physical elements such as earth, soil, water, sun, as well as nonphysical concepts, including those of public and private spaces; all of which are necessary for the provision of the social and psychological needs of individuals within particular society. Architecture is, further, a phenomenon that employs multiple methodological approaches and incorporates various areas of knowledge. This paper attempts to demonstrate that three areas of knowledge necessary for understanding architecture in general and Iranian architecture in particular, include: Typology, Anthropology and Semiology. We believe that knowledge is an ongoing process and any appreciation of local architecture requires careful attention to this dynamic aspect of knowledge as process. In order to incorporate multiple areas of knowledge and data, we have conceptualized a methodological technique called “knowledge biofeedback,” by which we mean observation, documentation, analysis, and developing questions. Questions arrived at on the basis on such methods are then fed back into further observation, documentation, discussion, and analysis. This technique has allowed us to not only have keener observations and to “see” what we may have missed earlier, but also to achieve well-rounded appreciation of diverse Iranian vernacular architecture and cultures. In most of the recent Ph.D. and MA theses, researchers claim to have based their methodology on either fieldwork or on library research. In our view, the problem with such “methodological” approaches is that often the “tools and techniques” of methodology have been substituted for the knowledge required to understanding socio-cultural phenomena. In the present paper, we have conducted extensive literature review of published books and articles, and from them we have selected seven areas to incorporate in our discussion and analysis of diverse Iranian architecture. These include archeology, art history, mythology, mysticism, anthropology, Persian literature and geography. Our discussion and analysis is based on our extensive field research and surveys of 87 historical houses from six cities in Iran in different regions of the country. These cities include Bushehr, Hamedan, Kashan, Kerman, Rasht, and Shiraz. In these field studies, as demonstrated in this paper, we have consistently tried to incorporate the three areas of knowledge by employing the methodological techniques mentioned above to contemporize the indigenous knowledge regarding what they mean by Iranian architecture. In this paper we hope to provide a more nuanced appreciation and deeper understanding of the diversity of Iranian architecture.

Passive ventilation is an energy conservation method by which sufficient quantity of air is directed into the building in order to maintain desired air change and proper fresh air needed for inhabitants inside. There are many passive methods to achieve required interior ventilation. Solar chimney is a passive ventilation system that uses solar radiation to induce stack effect and to maintain ventilation of the adjacent spaces in the building. Solar chimneys usually consist of a glazed south wall, a duct and a mass wall for absorbing solar energy. Solar incidence transmitted through the glazing is absorbed by the wall and heats the air inside the chimney. Warm air flows upward due to buoyancy effect and as a result the interior air of the adjacent rooms will be drawn into the chimney and directed to the outside. Thus the ventilation rate of the interior spaces will increase and the desired fresh air is maintained. In the buildings of hot- arid climate, to prevent from direct solar radiation and entering dust, windows are usually closed during the day, and then ventilation of the interior spaces may be maintained by solar chimneys. By integrating a solar chimney into the south wall of a building thermal resistance of the wall will also improve. Advantages of a solar chimney in comparison to natural ventilation in buildings are: 1. preventing inside being viewed from outside, 2. maintaining inside ventilation with a low air velocity, 3. preventing dust, pollution and outside noise from entering inside, 4. providing thermal comfort during summer nights when outdoor air velocity is low and air temperature is within the comfort range. This paper investigates the specifications of the main parameters affecting the solar chimney’s efficiency such as the material of the absorber wall, the width of the wall and the area of the chimney’s inlet and outlet. The effect of the number of floors on ventilation rates is also studied, and finally the area of the interior spaces which may be ventilated by the solar chimney is introduced. Moreover solar chimney’s performance during cold periods is examined and discussed. Since the application of solar chimneys to buildings is not common and constructed models are not available for experimental studies, their performance is usually studied numerically or by simulation as substitute methods. Here the models under consideration were simulated in EnergyPlus software. We studied a seven-storey office building in hot-arid climate of Isfahan with an attached solar chimney on its south wall. The results revealed that by increasing the height of the chimney, the ventilation rate enhances. Furthermore, the most proper material for the absorber wall, the appropriate dimensions of the wall as well as the inlet and outlet air was identified. It was found out that the thermal mass of the absorber wall will affect the night ventilation and increases it. A double glazed south wall is effective for increasing the air flow rate inside the chimney. Overall, a solar chimney with optimum dimensions will result in 18.52% reduction of the building’s heating load during the year.

This paper investigates the proportion of entrances façade in some Safavid heritage buildings in Isfahan, as the most important masterpieces of this period. The examined case studies include Sheikh Lotfolah Mosque, Ja’me Abasi Mosque (previously known as “Shah Mosque” or currently as “Imam Mosque”), Hakim Mosque and Chahar-Bagh (previously known as “Madare Shah”) School. An entrance, which is the subject of this research, is a significant element of an architectural design; this has a special impact on identifying urban spaces. This element particularly has got special place in Safavid Era as a result of emphasizing on urban design aspects in this period. The significant aspect of the study is the proportion of entrance façades in Safavid mosques of Isfahan like Ja’me Abbasi Mosque, which has a special situation and location in comparison with other monuments. This survey attempted to figure out the answer to the following questions: (i) Has Safavid architecture followed the specific and identified proportions in designing the entrance façade of mosques? Furthermore, if so, the second question which has to be answered is; (ii) is there any variety regarding the hierarchy of importance, function and location of these mosques? On the other hand, (iii) does the situation of the mosques affect their proportion of entrance façade and reveal any diversity?” In the process of the study, the outstanding difference of Ja’me Abbasi Mosque in comparison with other mosques became clear. The entrance façade of this mosque is not only higher than that of other ones, but also has two minarets on its sides. Furthermore, this mosque is a Safavid Adineh Mosque, and this has made it remarkable in terms of function, politics and socialization position. Thereupon, it may also affect the proportions of its entrance façade. The geometric methods which were employed in this research, namely the ratios of height to width in main parts of façades, assess the existing proportions of each entrance façade. This paper presents a summary of four case studies followed by a brief literature review on the recognized geometric proportions of indicative squares, regular pentagons and regular hexagons. The results are achieved by the comparison derived from the square, pentagon and hexagon. The survey results are established in terms of identification of employed proportions in entrance facades, assessment and evaluation, and finally implementation and comparison of them. As a result, the present study clearly indicates that the Ja’me Abbasi Mosque has unique proportions for its entrance façade in comparison with the other mosques, whilst other Safavid mosques have similar proportions. This result highlights the unique role of Ja’me Abbasi Mosque in the city in terms of function and also shows the efforts of its designers to make it outstanding. The rectangular of entrance façade in Ja’me Abbasi Mosque is consistent with the proportions of regular pentagon. However, in other Safavid mosques, entrance façades were compatible with proportions of regular hexagons. Accordingly, the results were presented for each of the case studies in some tables. Finally, a comparison table has been presented to assess and compare the ratio of all cases and has provided the final result of the research.