International Journal of

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The rapidly growing world energy use has already raised concerns over energy resources and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since the global contribution from residential buildings towards energy consumption, has steadily increased between 20% and 40% and as large openings have considerable energy and heat loss in dwellings, this paper establishes a coefficient of heat loss and air infiltration through large openings in 10 historic dwellings (Qajar and Pahlavi era) in Tabriz, Iran. The results show that although Qajar era houses have larger windows than Pahlavi era equivalents, the rate of heat loss of openings per square meter of facades (Ĥ) and the air infiltration per square meter of facades (FA) of openings for Pahlavi era houses is more than the Qajar era equivalents. Therefore Openings of Qajar era houses have been designed more efficient than those of the Pahlavi era. Although the generally accepted way of building energy saving houses in cold climate has been to use small windows, the results indicates that instead of exploiting small openings in facades, it is possible to enlarge the windows to get better lighting conditions and simultaneously decrease the area of openings per square meter of facades for lower heat loss through these openings.

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Housing has always been studied due to its role in the daily lives of humans. This significant issue is a main subject of architectural research. Yet, each study investigates a limited number of factors effecting houses. The main aim of this study is to comprehensively investigate different subjects about housing determined by researchers and experts in Iran and other countries. Having an explicit list of important housing variables can help study the work in this scientific area to a high context and provide researchers with new ideas as well. Heading forward, 187 articles published in 15 Iranian scientific-research journals, along with 276 international papers from 15 Q1 and Q2 journals published in 2013-2017 were investigated. To find out the importance and ranking of each variable, this study, as a systematic literature review, implements Shannon’s entropy method. This methodology is a weighting tool to indicate the amount of uncertainty and challenge of components in a continuous probability distribution. All the factors measured, described or presented are extracted from Iranian and international papers which were respectively 264 and 281 in number. Based on resemblance of the concepts, they were classified in different categories of environmental factors, architectural elements, geometry and proportions, fundamental concepts of architecture, standards and codes, psychological and social concepts. Among these categories, the tangible physical areas including environmental factors and standards and codes have been considered in international papers in a quantitative perspective which should be further explored in Iranian studies. In contrast, qualitative and intangible factors such as the fundamental concepts of architecture and psychological and social concepts, which include variables that require more time to be understood, have been more challenged in Iranian articles. With the use of SPSS and 0.771 Cohen Kappa agreement coefficient and Shannon Entropy tool, in Iranian studies, the components of privacy, culture, area, lifestyle, mental and emotional comfort, satisfaction, security, identity, territory and meaning have been more important, attracted the highest attention, and can be recommended to be addressed in international papers. Whereas, light, ventilation, sustainability, climate, sunlight, temperature, green space, energy consumption, thermal comfort and wind are the most debated factors in international journals and can be focused more in Iranian articles.
 

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Using the concept of passive cooling systems has been utilized as a solution to improve thermal and wind comfort and to decrease energy consumption and environmental pollution, recently. Modern windcatcher, as its name denotes, is an architectural element which is using the concept of Badgir and combined proper devices to create ventilation in buildings using wind energy, but including modern technology. It means that the modern windcatcher is an improved model of traditional windcatchers and the design of modern windcatchers is based on computations and they have been analyzed and improved, unlike the ancient ones. The current investigation focused on the technology of modern windcatchers to face how modern technology uses various methods to foster the windcatchers' performance. The purpose of this manuscript is to summarize previous studies on the technology of modern wind catchers and gives insight into the application of windcatchers as passive cooling systems. different employed methods to foster the windcatchers' performance.

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Achievement of thermal comfort in the built environment is one of the human life needs. Many studies have already explored the issues around human comfort in relation to the surrounding thermal environment. However, most of these studies used quantitative methods that fall into the positivist paradigm. Despite the conducive results obtained, many aspects of the thermal comfort are neglected as the nature of comfort is directly associated with the human dimension. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a different approach such as qualitative and mixed methods to better understand the underlying mechanisms of thermal comfort concept and its achievement. These methods could reveal other aspects of human comfort that have not been considered. However, the application of these methods requires fundamental knowledge of ontology and epistemology. Therefore, this paper reviewed and compared the dynamics of the application of the paradigms in thermal comfort studies and their methodologies. Analytical findings among the methods of studying thermal comfort showed that only quantitative studies were not sufficient to create the applied knowledge in this vein. As this is a human-based field, its methodology should be first selected and then designed in the right way respecting the context where a study is going to be carried out. In this process, qualitative studies can determine contributing factors, then quantitative studies can find the relationships between these factors.

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The damages of COVID-19 to people's lives have highlighted the need for the usage of technologies to improve health. For this purpose, the identification of available technologies could facilitate the fight against COVID-19. This manuscript aims to explore the effective technologies existing in the literature on Interactive Architecture because these technologies are embedded in the daily life of individuals to respond to the real-time needs of people. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, with no time and paper type limitations. Selected papers were categorized based on their content. Also, the guidelines for combating COVID-19 (based on the WHO and the national government tips) were reviewed and categorized. Afterward, the papers that shared the same themes by guidelines were selected to extract the technologies introduced in them. Finally, usage has been proposed for each of the technologies. Also, we examined the effectiveness of the technologies in the proposed sectors by asking about the experts' viewpoints. As result, we found that interactive ventilation, flexible walls, and eHealth technologies could be effective for the promotion of physical health during COVID-19. In that vein, interactive installations (such as interactive furniture) could improve mental health during quarantine by extending the space and providing the opportunity to connect with the outside world. Also, the virtual education environment was the most effective technology for education challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

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In recent years, increasing attention has been given to improving the energy efficiency of buildings in order to reduce their environmental impact and operational costs. As a result, multi-objective optimization methods have become an important tool for optimizing building energy performance. This research reviews building performance analysis approaches in a comparative method and results in a systematic overview of the existing multi-objective optimization methods used in the field of building energy performance. This review covers a wide range of optimization techniques, including genetic algorithms (NSGA-II), evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm intelligence algorithms, and other metaheuristic approaches. Furthermore, the review provides a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each method in different fields such as daylight, ventilation, and thermal performance analysis. In order to achieve the aims of the research alongside reviewing the Scopus scientific database, various relevant studies were investigated. Eventually, this study provides. Eventually, this review identifies gaps in the literature potential in research directions and proposes multiple ways for future research.

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The industrialized building system (IBS) has been a common construction method for decades. Today, IBS is employed as a pioneer construction industry in developed and some developing countries. However, IBS has no proper position in the Iranian construction industry. Despite numerous advantages of building industrialization, most constructors adapt conventional techniques rather than building industrialization. This not only imposes human and environmental impacts but also wastes time and cost. The present work mainly aims to evaluate qualitative criteria influencing building industrialization in Iran based on Vitruvius’s three principles of architecture so that these criteria could be exploited to enhance building industrialization quality in Iran. Based on Vitruvius’s theory, architects should consider stability, utility, and beauty in their designs. Therefore, this theory was adopted as a suitable approach for the analysis and evaluation of industrialized buildings. Also, this study seeks to prioritize the building industrialization criteria based on the significant aspects of Vitruvius’ principles. This study reviews the literature and theoretical foundation in the first phase and then adopts a descriptive-survey methodology and field studies. To collect data, a questionnaire was developed based on the Likert scale. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were verified. The statistical population consisted of academic professors and construction practitioners. The one-sample t-test, paired-sample t-test, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test were carried out in SPSS V.16.0. The findings revealed that the factor of structure in the principle of stability with the components of lateral load (i.e., wind and earthquake) resistance and shear load-resistant connections had the largest effect. Also, the economic factor of principle “utility” with the components of cost-effectiveness, construction time reduction, and mass construction had the second-largest effect in Iran.

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Any scientific activity or instrumental application involving façades—such as research, design, evaluation, and decision-making—requires a comprehensive set of criteria to cover all expected requirements. This highlights the necessity of a study to explore, gather, and organize a holistic set of criteria for the evaluation, study, design, and decision-making regarding façades. Moreover, establishing a comprehensive list of criteria is essential but insufficient on its own. It is equally important to achieve a mutual understanding of these criteria, providing experts and researchers with a common language and understanding regarding façades. Although various criteria have been mentioned in different façade-related research, a summary study to gather, organize, and reliably define these criteria is needed to improve the logical applications of façades and facilitate mutual understanding. This study aims to take the first step in meeting this requirement by describing each criterion relevant to façade assessment. In this context, a systematic library-based research approach was employed, reviewing 71 related papers. Criteria were then extracted using an exploratory study based on open and axial coding methods. Ultimately, 42 criteria were identified and organized into five primary categories: environmental aspects, social impacts, economic aspects, efficiency and effectiveness, and technical aspects.