International Journal of

---

It is accepted that the visual comfort in schools depends on the quality of the whole visual environment. This leads to the concern upon the quality and quantity of lighting. Currently in Iran, in order to calculate energy transfer for public buildings a coefficient is usually used. This coefficient considers the rate of sunlight energy absorption in these kinds of buildings. To increase the degree of accuracy in the calculation mentioned above, the authors suggest a simulation programme that can do the job precisely and accordingly. It seems that, in order to calculate the energy requirements of school buildings in Iran for heating, cooling and lighting, it is better to use a simulation programme, too. In fact, this paper considers details of lighting as part of a comprehensive programme and Iran schools design requirements for lighting. As we will see, this research describes the method of calculation of daylighting, which is used in the part of lighting simulation programme. Effective daylighting design requires consideration of different factors such as daylight factor, luminous efficacy of solar radiation, orientation factor, glass transmittance factor, average reflectance of material and etc. which are need for calculation of exterior and interior luminance. They are discussed in details in this paper.

---

Considering the problems facing contemporary architecture in Iran, a better understanding of the meaning of architecture has become necessary. Architecture, like language, defines and facilitates the relationship between Man and his environment. The word architecture both in Arabic (Amara) and in Latin (Architecture), attempts to define the attributes of the maker before determining the characteristics of the product - a fact that points towards a more profound understanding. Thus, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to define the process of formation (the how of architecture) more than the specific attributes of built form (the what of architecture). In this way, creativity and the different processes by which it is achieved, would gain a higher significance in architectural circles. Using an Endogenous Development model, this article seeks to offer an alternative approach towards architectural design. Accepting the hierarchy in causal relationships and expanding on the concept of elevating hidden meaning up onto the surfaces of expression, this article proposes a model of thought in which design consists of a process starting at the depth of ideas and common beliefs, moving up to the individuals' images and finally arriving at rational and general concepts. It is then argued that this process provides spaces in which it is possible to experience a sense of belonging to place, and even further, it allows users to abandon material belongings to arrive at feelings that occur in sacred places. This article offers the author's own particular teaching as one expression of this model of thought, whereby students start by working with mud and then gradually leave their childhood status to reach full maturity in design. Through this process, they obtain an ability to overcome technical and rational challenges in their projects, moving from "intuition" towards "wisdom", "knowledge" and finally "science" in the material world.

---

Iran is located in a high-risk seismic zone of earthquakes. It has thousands of valuable historic buildings, mostly made of unreinforced masonry, which is quite vulnerable to natural hazards, especially earthquakes. The conservation and seismic upgrading of these buildings is vital for their survival. However, resources are limited and some sort of prioritization is needed in order to allocate the budget. There are several factors, which should be considered when ranking heritage buildings, but this paper mainly focuses on the values of historic buildings and describes a survey undertaken to find out whether it is possible to rank them. The method applied is choosing a particular group of people and determine whether they can classify buildings into a hierarchy? The results showed that most people could perform this task, so some sort of hierarchy exists, although different groups might choose different hierarchies.

---

The traditional architecture is the achievement of mankind experiences in different geographical/cultural and social domains. The traditional architecture of Iran as a valuable outcome is one of the live and spirited instances of the history of human life that through pondering and research and close relationship with its natural, historical and human environment would be obtained. The repeatability of it contemporarily is somehow difficult so the Iranian architects and urban planners mostly focused their attentions and efforts on preservation and conservation of it. A brief review of such literature provided within this era outlines that mostly current studies and researches focuses on the outcome of such architecture or at most consider the characteristics of their creators and are less surveyed the creation and its process context. The attitude of traditional architect toward designing context or "the place of design" is one of the least considered aspects of traditional architecture. Such attention would lead to noteworthy achievements even in today's attitudes toward design and effective factors. The evolution manner of architecture traditionally which is in place of attention in this paper, provides a method of direct reference of the traditional architect toward the place of design or "earth" even when some written documents of them are not available. To achieve such goal this paper mainly concentrated on the remaining resources. In this respect the historic habitats of Yazd could be mentioned as one of the paragons of "Iranian Traditional Architecture". This paper briefly expresses and points on this fact that the creation of architecture traditionally happened in a totally different existential scheme in compare to modern era that specifically seeks such difference within the attitude and approach toward earth (site) or the place of design. The theories of two notable personalities of contemporary architecture "Christian Nordberg Schultz" and "Christopher Alexander" are considered. This is necessary where as while fulfilling the reliability of the paper and points on some notable similarities within their theories by what's recognizable in Iranian architecture and declares the different fundamental aspects, too. In respect to the subject, part of paper considers the clarification and illumination of traditional architecture.

---

Quality is the most important consequence of an urban design project, and its promotion is the final duty of an urban designer. So "urban design guidelines" which use environmental improvement factors in their structure, have an effective role in promoting urban space quality. "Urban design guidelines" are the most important instruments in urban designers' authority, to reflect and appear improvement plans in urban spaces and create the bridge between research (theoretic studies) and practice (professional efforts). The paper guidelines are generic statements that specify the goals, the design pattern for achieving them and the evidence supporting the linkage between goal and pattern. On the other hand, decisions about how to address the issue of parking are among the most important in making the city center a high-quality place for people. The city center cannot have a pedestrian orientation, a concentrated diversity of uses, or a continuity of street-level activity if parking is not well designed. Attention to varied types of existing parking in city center area (such as on-street parking, surface lots or parking structures), the main idea of this paper is to promote the quality of city center spaces, by using different urban design guidelines.

---

Neighborhoods within the hierarchy of urban structure are one of the smallest socio-physical building blocks of cities. Traditional neighborhoods of Iranian historic cities benefited from strong social relations which were flourished over the years and were manifested in the neighborhoods centers. In the modern era, the new master plans and the complementary local plans have disintegrated these neighborhoods both physically and socially. While old traditional neighborhoods were destroyed and new car oriented streets and highways have disrupted the traditional neighborhood life, the introduction of metro stations have provided a nucleus for neighborhoods around which urban space and social activity could emerge once more. In this respect, the attitudes of residents towards metro stations are very important. This study focuses on the social attitudes and the evaluation of traffic impacts of metro stations on adjacent neighborhoods. Therefore, the changes in traffic patterns as well as social characteristics and residential satisfaction levels in two neighborhoods adjacent to metro stations are studied through a questionnaire survey. The results show that despite the potentials provided, metro stations had adverse affects on both social integration and residential satisfaction levels. They also adversely affected neighborhoods in terms of traffic flow through increase in local traffic, demand for parking, and increase in noise pollution. Lack of attention to the new potentials turned them into threats and weakened the already damaged neighborhood structures.

---

Accessibility is one of the important factors in public open space design and the creation of equitable neighborhoods. Limitations caused by physical disabilities should not be a barrier for accessing desired spaces and people must be able to live with the greatest possible independence regardless of mobility limitations. The purpose of this paper was to identify the inclusive criteria of pedestrian design and explore the physical characteristics of equitable neighborhoods in Iranian cities. People who experience disabilities have equal rights to have access to the physical environment, communication devices and different services for education, recreation, social participation, accommodation, health and employment. This study was based on the analysis of the morphological characteristics of the Iranian traditional towns (Yazd and Nain), the socio-historical information, and the direct observation of the spaces, and interviews. The findings of the research showed that social equity and shaping an inclusive community are among the problems of developing countries. Based on the findings related to physical limitations of people with special needs and their attitude toward the varied problems they face, some key solutions have been proposed to guarantee better independent movement and achieve equity of access. People with disabilities should be equal to others in terms of their access to urban spaces, regardless of gender, ethnicity and type of disability. Safety and convenience are some ways for promoting public health especially its mental aspects. Finally it can be said that inclusive pedestrian networks will provide the people especially those suffering from physical disability and moving limitations with more accessible routes and help them participate in personal and social spheres of life more effectively.

---

Mosque architecture is considered as a potent visual symbol of the Islamic architects’ design ability. Prayer-hall as the manifestation of equality between the believers and the unity of architectural space has challenged such an ability throughout the history. This study, considering the characteristics of light-openings in the domes of Iranian mosques’ Prayer-hall, aims to investigate these domes’ possible relationship with the climatic features of each mosque. To this end, eighteen case-studies according to the research analytic approach are studied to determine: 1. the relationship between the mosques construction period (Iranian architecture styles) and its light-openings number on the one hand and its climatic features on the other hand, 2. The relationship between the light-openings’ location and the climatic features of each mosque, 3. The relationship between the lightopenings’ number and the climatic feature of each mosque and finally, 4. The relationship between the prayer-hall’s height and the number of light openings of each mosque on the one hand and its climatic feature on the other hand. The study shows that Iranian architects have given considerable priority to the natural ventilation function of the light-openings, So, what used to be considered as the domes' main function, allowing the light to the interior space, is considered as their secondary function.

---

According to Islamic teachings, human being moves towards perfection if conditions conducive to His/her calmness are realized at home. According to this view, 'house' represents 'family' and a Muslim's home is regarded as Sacred and private. There is an inherent tendency in human being towards privacy, the most important of which is realized at home. Therefore, if privacy is trespassed at home, it may no longer serve as a home. As traditional houses have assumed a more architectural manifestation due to religious principles (Shariah), identifying these principles and converting them into housing rules and regulations are among the major concerns of urban planners. This study introduces, analyzes, and compares privacy and hospitality pattern in the nomads' tents and permanent dwellings through a combined method. In this paper, some of the behavioral patterns related to the privacy, as mentioned in Holy Quran’s verses, are introduced. The evidence also comes from religious texts showing that nomads’, Muslims’ and Zoroastrians’ tents in Kerman have been influenced by religious beliefs. The findings of this study stress the need for privacy and shows that there is a direct relationship between the concept of family in a culture and the scale of privacy and territory .

---

After disasters, one of the main challenges confronting authorities is site selection for reconstructing damaged structures. Experiences indicate that appropriate policies in site-selection could greatly influence on reconstruction success and residents' satisfaction. Meanwhile, in literature related to post disaster reconstruction, avoiding from relocating settlements is generally emphasized. However, when relocation is inevitable, adopting proper procedures is necessary to gain success. This article is about reconstruction of Rofayye' -a town in Khuzestan Province of Iran- after the Iran-Iraq war, which is a distinguished experiment from different aspects. Then all the town's components relocated from their situation, but in newly built city, still every part has an identifiable vestige of the former Rofayye', that’s why some researchers considered it as "in-placement" by mistake. In this article, the narrative of annihilation and recreation of Rofayye' is described and important specifications which are considered when dealing with urban planning and design are explained. The main issues include preservation of formal fabric structure, neighboring pattern, tribal territories, former plot areas, and situation of distinguished urban elements. Moreover, providing urban standards and properly allocating responsibilities between authorities and residents were considerable. The article is based on an intensive research and practice done during Rofayye' reconstruction in 1980's. The research performed by qualitative method through extensive field study and analysis of maps, documents, and pictures. It is hoped that study of the instructive points of this experiment lead to improved future reconstruction programs.

---

Shohada (Sepah) avenue in Qazvin, a historic city, is a part of Safavid era infrastructure of the city. It connects various important cites and poles like Jame' mosque, Imamzadeh Hosein, Dowlat-Khaneh and the Traditional Bazaar complex to one another. This axis in KhomarTashi, in Kabir Jame' mosque - preservation and restoration of Jame' mosque complex as principle core of the city which is engraved in Kufi epigraph under the mosque's dome, is located on the western side of this avenue. This is a valid document that shows neighborhood organization of a Saljuqi city. This epigraph describes management terms of the city, income resource and has references on civil society with shared responsibilities like a covenant. Sepah Avenue has a pivotal role in this historic context and is remnant of pre-Safavid era. Therefore, studying its historical evolution is necessary to define its position in contemporary historic city. This article contains direct findings of a research accomplished by the authors in a field study in Sepah Avenue and evaluates restoration and revitalization goals of Sepah Avenue.

---

Preparing thermal comfort conditions in outdoor public spaces is one of the considerations of architectural design. If the constructed area does not support comfortable conditions in outdoor spaces, it will cause microclimatic problems for pedestrians and adjacent buildings. Regarding the different thermal comfort conditions in outdoor spaces in comparison with indoor, several indices have been produced for outdoor thermal analysis during recent decades. The different methodology and approach to these indices have provided a diverse set of responses to thermal prediction of outdoor spaces. This diversity has made it difficult for architects to decide how to use these indices in outdoor design strategies. To provide a same basis to compare these results, this article will introduce each index with its definition, its basic calculation method, and its thermal condition categories. Following these information a psychometric chart that is provided by the author, shows its thermal categories as a graphic method. Using this psychometrics for thermal analysis will make it easy to compare different indices and their outdoor thermal predictions. Those architects, who are familiar with Building Bioclimatic Chart of Givoni for analyzing indoor thermal conditions, will find this method easy and practical for analyzing outdoor thermal condition by choosing an appropriate index.

---

This paper is an attempt to Numerical Modeling and Experimental Study of Air Flow in the Yazdi Wind-Towers. Wind Towers has been known as one of the most effective climatic elements in Iranian traditional architecture. This paper is an attempt to evaluating Yazdi wind-tower to discussion the two main questions: 1. What is the role of Orientation of wind-towers span, regarding to climate and height of it, in Yazdi wind-tower? 2. How isthe performance of Yazdi wind tower in natural ventilation and air flow in the different seasons of the year? Computer Modeling and Simulation methods and Logical reasoning have been applied in this article, and study of Library Resources was another part of research.Thus, first, the wind-tower has been modeled in computer environment, then after Appling the climatic characterize, final simulation figures and diagrams have been extracted. Results indicate that increasing of the cooling power and optimized efficiency are one of the most important principles of wind-tower design process, and Yazdi wind-towers has mentioned this fact through 4 seasons of the year. By validate computer modeling and simulation, this paper clarify that Iranian traditional ventilation systems has many undiscovered secrets and facts, which need further investigations. This article indicates that natural tactics, which have been applied in the traditional architecture of Iran, can be mentioned as methods to using this valuable heritage in contemporary architecture.

---

---

---

Daylight in classrooms is a critical factor in school design, in terms of its impact on students’ health, learning and visual performance. Providing adequate amount of evenly distributed daylight and glare prevention are important challenges in classroom design. Window configuration significantly affects the intensity and uniformity of daylight. This paper aims to investigate the effect of window configuration on daylight performance through parametric analysis. Different window configurations such as window to wall ratio, incorporating light shelves and roof monitors have been analyzed on a typical south-east facing classroom in Kashan based on results from DesignBuilder Radiance simulation which has first been validated against field measurements. Daylighting credits of green building rating tools; Leed EQ 8.1 and BREEAM HEA1 have been used as indices for evaluating and comparing different window configurations. Results show that by increasing the window-wall-ratio to 35, 40 and 50% and by installing a roof monitor, the daylight credits of the BREEAM and LEED could be achieved respectively. According to the fact that none of these window configurations have reached the standards required by both rating tools, the authors believe that a combination of installing monitor roof and light shelves and increasing window-wall-ratio may result in enhanced daylight levels.

---

The quality of the communication between teachers and students and ultimately, of classroom education itself, is closely linked to the acoustic quality of the auditorium. This acoustic quality can be characterized based on the reverberation time (RT), speech transmission index (STI) and the sound insulation. In this context, an acoustic study was conducted in an auditorium located in the Higher Institute of Technological Studies (ISET) of Sfax, south of Tunisia. The investigation used acoustic measurement methods to assess the acoustic quality of the nave and the results were compared with the standards ISO 3382-1 and ISO 3382-2.The results of this work were obtained by measuring the RT values and the sound insulation of auditorium façades. In addition to these parameters obtained by measurements, STI was obtained through the computer simulation (utilizing ODEON ver. 4.2, assuming the occupied case). The results showed that the measured and calculated values were consistent with those proposed by the standards for speech auditoria (RT_500Hz = 0.98 s, D₅₀> 50% and STI> 0.45), and are in line with the speech intelligibility requirements.

---

Early design decisions made on building configuration and spatial design affect seismic behavior of buildings. Therefore introducing design guidelines and empirical methods implemented to assess seismic behavior of buildings have been proposed as an appropriate approach. Such concept helps architects to take into the consideration that how their preliminary design decisions influence downstream structural results. In previous efforts guidelines for seismic assessment of irregular buildings configuration and also torsional effect of interior walls-layout have been introduced. While seismic effects of the adjacency in spatial units and associated structural systems are almost ignored. This paper tries to show how spatial layout and specifically adjacency of spatial units affect the seismic behavior of a building when (1) the roofing systems are non-uniform and (2) specific spatial units correspond to the specific types of roofs with specific seismic behavior. The paper focuses on masonry buildings with curved roofing systems. To develop guidelines and empirical methods, we selected conventional masonry residential buildings implemented in central arid and semi-arid zones of Iran, traditionally, as case study. Two approaches have been proposed in the form of seismic guidelines and empirical methods. First, a method is introduced to show how adjacency of spatial units and associated vaults with different seismic vulnerability can affect the vulnerability of whole structure according to the effect of “successive damage”. An empirical method is also proposed to estimate the value and shape of distribution of lateral forces on load-bearing walls transferred by adjacent curved roofs, since lateral forces increase seismic vulnerability of load-bearing walls

---

Courtyard geometry plays an important role in the amount of received solar radiation, also heating and cooling energy consumption of buildings. Considering this geometry for finding its proper proportion and orientation is significant to increase indoor thermal comfort, and as a result reduce the amount of energy consumption. This paper mainly focuses on a dormitory courtyard in Yazd and investigate the effects of it’s different proportions and orientations on the dormitory energy demand to reduce energy consumption. A computer software (EnergyPlus) was utilized to conduct the survey on base model which was obtained from existing university student dormitories in Yazd in a hot-dry climate of Iran. The findings indicated that the proportions and orientations of the courtyard dormitories affect the cooling and heating loads. Also, the outcomes indicated that the use of university student’s courtyard dormitory with the proportion of 3/7 (width to length) and the orientation along east-west axis has the lowest required cooling and heating loads and could reduce the total energy consumption by 3.4 % compared with the most inappropriate courtyards based on their proportion and orientation.

---

The external walls are regarded as an important source for the thermal exchange between the outside and inside of a building. Despite the significance of building walls for energy savings, a large body of research has focused mainly on thermal comfort, environmental impacts, and economic costs of residential buildings. However, few researchers have addressed the thermal performance of common building materials. The clay block has attracted a lot of attention as the important building material in temperate and humid climate. The present study aimed to study the thermal performance of three clay block external walls systems in temperate and humid climate by increasing trapped air thickness between internal and external walls of buildings. FLUENT software was employed to simulate and calculate the thermal characteristics, which were extracted and compared to the calculated data according to chapter 19 of "Iranian National Building Regulations". The results indicated that the air trapped between the internal and external the leaves of cavity walls considerably influenced thermal resistance. In addition, the new combined wall system could considerably save the energy, compared to the existing wall systems. In conclusion, the energy goals can be fulfilled by improving the layout of the walls.