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سال هجدهم شماره 100 (مهر 1400)

Statement of the problem:

 In recent years, the increasing closeness between architecture and cinema disciplines the characteristics and mutual effects of which have been fully understood, has become a serious academic subject. As a popular media and influential expressive tool, cinema plays a significant role in creating meaning, establishing an emotional relationship with the audience, narrating, and characterizing by the representation of the architectural space. However, what has been neglected in the Iranian cinema is the accurate theorization of the interdisciplinary interaction between these two areas and the solutions to apply the effect of the capacities of architecture in order to the manifestation of the meaning in the movie space.

The current study aims to analyze the dramatic function of architectural spaces’ elements and physique in Asghar Farhadi’s cinema, especially “The Salesman”, and discover the latent and manifest concepts of the screenplay signs.

This research is a descriptive-analytical research based on the qualitative content analysis and Saussure’s semiotics framework.

The results obtained from the studies indicate that in Farhadi’s cinema, the architectural structure of space, not only as of the background of the story but also as a factor involved in the process of films, is consistent with the behavior of the characters and the theme of the works. Also, it indicates the feelings and even perception of specific meanings of each film. Also, each element and factor of architectural space is represented based on semantic purposes and particular semiotics. The results also show that in “The Salesman”, a great volume of signs is applied intangibility and purposive in various spatial and physical elements of architecture, such as a house, color, light, texture, opening, and objects, for the dramatic narration of the story, conveyance of its latent meanings, the definition of function and moods of characters, and stimulation of the audience’s feelings.

Problem statement:

 Confrontation with the West has facilitated the influence of colonialism on Islamic societies and changing the contextual discourse of the structure of the traditional and social systems has brought about critical and profound changes in all areas, including Islamic culture and art. With the westernization of art education and progress and technology in various industries meanwhile the art of traditional book embellishment flourished.With the westernization of all manifestations of art and related technologies, the traditional art of book embellishment has become less obsolete and led to the “marginalization” of this art. The formation of post-colonial studies, with the “resistance” stance towards power in colonial forms, as well as the rejection of Western academia by some leading Western artists, has challenged the legitimacy of Western principles and aesthetics as a gold standard. Thus, Islamic artists turned again to calligraphy as a symbol of resistance and an element that was born out of Islamic civilization to find identity, and get rid of the consequences of colonialism, and reproduce indigenous culture.

Recognizing the factors that protect islamic calligraphy from colonialism.

This article considers two main factors as effective in examining the cause of Islamic calligraphy resistance against the westernization process. First, the social situations and the search for a new identity, which is the byproduct of post-colonial influences, have led the traditional Art return to the origins and the theory of resistance. Such return has protected the traditional calligraphy from colonialism and cultural imperialism. Second, the quality and the possibilities of creative calligraphy, often coupled with the divine words possess abstract nature in essence and objectivity; it is fused with the treasures of wisdom as well as literature and humanities, and it is adaptable to other Islamic arts and ways of teaching and learning which is ultimately deeply rooted in the tradition and mysticism of Islam.  Therefore, it can be concluded that Islamic calligraphy in the contemporary era will be able to maintain its originality and identity if it keeps its creative aspects and maintains its connection with the wisdom of its teachings and traditions.

Problem statement: 

Notions of space, place, and city are key concepts in the writings and works of Walter Benjamin, philosopher, and theorist related to Frankfurt School. Especially in his works, Benjamin studies the perceptual experience of facing modern urban spaces. The book Berlin Childhood around 1900 possesses a prominent status among his writings about European cities. The book originated from the unfinished project A Berlin Chronicle and is a memoir of his childhood experiences in Berlin in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. To find a suitable way to represent his childhood memories of the metropolitan experience, Benjamin uses the capacities of modern reproductive technologies such as cinema and photography. The present study draws a comparison between the literary style of the book used for describing the urban spaces of Berlin and the photographic style of Eugène Atget in depicting Paris. Benjamin considered Atget as one of the pioneers of Surrealist photography and believed that Atget’s cityscapes were illusory and phantasmic.

The present study tries to demonstrate the key role of new technologies, and especially photography, in the literary style and structure of Berlin Childhood around 1900. The study is to highlight the social-political implications to which Benjamin had alluded by adopting a photographic-surrealist approach in representing the urban memories of his childhood.

Data for this study were collected from bibliographic databases, by applying a descriptive-analytic method.

This study shows that these photographic pictures are interpreted not only in relation to the past but also to the present and future. The Surrealist “silent” and “cleared out” images Benjamin recalls from a faraway Berlin, obtain their meaning in contrast to the pompous propaganda of the Nazi Party for constructing a utopia from the heart of the First World War’s ruins.

Problem statement:

 So far, various approaches have been raised regarding the design of infill buildings that usually, categorization of these approaches has been focused on physical topics. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of physical criteria is very important in the design of infill buildings. In this regard, according to the lack of a unified discourse about effective physical criteria to select approaches from theorists point of view, as well as the existence of obvious differences in the introduced criteria and the lack of some criteria in these definitions, it seems necessary to consider all the effective physical criteria and achieve a coherent set from them.

Therefore, this study’s primary goal is to analyze and investigate various theories to scrutinize and achieve a comprehensive complex of effective physical criteria in selecting and defining the approaches and the other purpose of the research is to classify those criteria in the form of main criteria and sub-criteria to use them in designing and evaluating infill buildings.

Regarding the methodology, it can be said that this descriptive-analytical research has used the logical reasoning strategy and the content analysis technique using library recourses to organize the indicated criteria by theorists and related organizations in a more comprehensive system.

Therefore, all those criteria are classified as the main criteria in four general areas: 1. Position 2. Form & shape 3. Scale and proportions 4.Material appearance characteristics, due to having the highest frequency and importance in the studied literature of research. Then, their sub-criteria are presented in the form of a diagram  to help determine different approaches to the design &evaluation of infill buildings.

Problem statement:

 Environmental characteristics of different urban spaces cause different acoustical behavior in them. Acoustical behavior directly affects sound waves and causes a certain auditory atmosphere in space. Thus, when distinct spaces with different physical characteristics and diverse sound sources are contiguous, various soundscapes are created together. The dispute in the acoustical behavior of the spaces, which arises from the difference in their physical characteristics, causes the quality of the sound heard and their soundscapes to be different. Therefore, diverse types of space create different soundscapes that cause the person who moves along them to have an auditory experience with a certain quality.

The present study seeks to clarify the auditory experience of a person while moving in different spatial types of Tabriz Bazaar.

A sample of Khan, Rasteh-Bazaar and Timcheh of Tabriz Bazaar, where are next to each other, had been selected as cases of the study. In order to clarify the perceptual quality resulting from the auditory experience that is obtained due to the movement in the spatial species of the Bazaar, first, the acoustical behavior of the intended spaces is explained. Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and Reverberation Time (RT) are two components that clarify the acoustical behavior of the studied spaces. Subjective assessments have been performed to clarify how people perceive the effect of the acoustical behavior of spaces on their soundscapes.

The findings show that movement along with different spatial types in Tabriz Bazaar, causes a perceptual quality that can be called “Sonic Distinction”. Sonic Distinction is an emotional and perceptual quality of the auditory experience of a person moving in different urban spaces and depends on the specific physical characteristics of the spaces, sources and sound events.

Problem statement:

 The vast body of academic research on State-housing sector relationship has shown various ways by which the State manipulates and controls the housing sector in Tehran. But the image of this phenomenon in the eyes of the state has remained rather vague or even invisible.

This study investigates the definition of “Tehran’s housing” by the state – as the sole owner of the right of law-making for material space in its territory – in texts in which the state has defined this phenomenon.

As the state – the sole owner of the right of law-making for material space in its territory – tries to define and control Tehran’s housing by various degrees of policy and law-making form programs and policies to concrete detailed laws, it produces a rather vast spectrum of texts which both explicitly and implicitly define “Tehran’s housing”. Among these texts, master plans have the significant quality of being both Comprehensive and concrete in defining Tehran’s housing. This article tries to reveal the State-produced image of Tehran’s housing by analyzing discursive articulation of Tarh-e Samandehi-ye Tehran (TST) as Tehran’s first post-revolutionary master plan.

Analyzing discursive articulation of Tarh-e Samandehi-ye Tehran uncovers an image in which a complex assemblage of people, population, housing, Tehran, and the ideal image of the state in urban scale being produced simultaneously under the gaze of the contemporaneous state, irreducible neither to the economic nor the formal aspects of housing.

Problem statement:

 In the architectural design process, creativity plays an essential role in idea processing. Since creative ideas do not emerge without mental background, the ideas of the past contribute to future creations. Given that over years nature has been referred to as a natural selection for its efficiency and diversity, it can serve as a model in the creative process of the architectural design model. This study aims to focus on the creative process, design process and bionic science at the same time. Previous studies have not integrated three components.

Since architecture is fundamentally interdisciplinary, this research attempts to highlight the role of design process systems, creativity and bionic science. Then it describes their associations in the conceptual and logical systems. It also attempts to establish a meaningful and purposeful relationship between the above-mentioned elements and concepts. The impetus of this study is to understand how bionics can promote creativity in architectural design. It is hoped that this study serves as a baseline for the nature-inspired process of creative architectural design.

This research employs logical reasoning and uses analytical-descriptive analysis to establish a relationship between creativity, architectural design and patterns derived from nature. In terms of the purpose, this study is applied and in terms of the type, it is also a review.

The research findings confirm that nature is a suitable platform for improving the visual thinking strategy of beginners to design ideas. The use of visual descriptors as a cognitive strategy leads to visual retrieval of mental latency in the idea generation stage, which leads to design diversity. Knowledge of the components of nature provides us with strategies to experience structures and systems. This helps us gain a better understanding of the problem of architecture and find a variety of solutions. It also enhances the creativity of novice designers. The stages of the design and creativity process promoted by bionic science overlap. The basic stages of the creative design in bionic architecture include a) using a bionic framework for the architectural design problem, b) preparing a checklist of nature based on the problem, c) examining the accuracy of the rating scale of the relationship between this list and the design problem.

Problem statement: 

Over the last decades, “urbanization” has always been identified as one of the key driving forces of socio-spatial transformations across the world. However, various interpretations of mutations about this concept are not seriously discussed in accordance with its contextual and temporal characteristics. Literary equivalents such as city growth, urban becoming, city building, civilization, and urbanism have been used to cover its complex concepts in Iran. It is obvious that equivalence in any literature is a conventional and formal issue, however, it is worthwhile to separate the formal issues of words from their conceptual issues. Currently “urbanization” is rapidly evolving and becoming more dynamic.

This research tries to use the method of causal layer analysis (CLA) in four layers: (1) level of obvious and accepted, (2) level of macro-related causes, (3) level of discourse/worldview, and (4) level of metaphor/myth. In addition to identifying possible interpretations based on existing discourses and metaphors, this study seeks to provide various theoretical perspectives on the concept of “urbanization” in Iran.

The causal layered analysis (CLA) method is based on in-depth-semi-structured interviews and has been used to identify the main themes of the analysis layers at the level of elites and experts in the field of urban studies.

The research findings indicate that the concept of “urbanization” in Iran has four levels of analysis. The first level, as the rate of urban growth, arises from an objective and empirical reality. The second level is consistent with the concept of processes of urban becoming. The third level is based on the concept of “urbanization” as a collective action with the focus on opening the horizon in the politic of space. At the fourth level, as a differential subjective matter, it is associated with the metaphor of liberation.