International Journal of

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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.

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When a specific building is examined and analysed for its architectural merits, it is the visible, superficial aspects, which are considered, for example: aesthetics, function, spatial relationships, and landscape. One of the most important invisible factors that should be considered in the design process is the safety of buildings against natural hazards, particularly against earthquakes. While the provision of earthquake resistance is accomplished through structural means, the architectural designs and decisions play a major role in determining the seismic performance of a building. In other words, the seismic design is a shared architectural and engineering responsibility, which stems from the physical relationship between architectural forms and structural systems. It is economic to incorporate earthquake resistance in the stage of design than to add it later in the structural calculation or strengthening after completion. In addition, a building with proper earthquake-proof design will be more effective against earthquakes than the one with complementary strengthening. This paper will demonstrate that evidence for this lies in many historical buildings, which have withstood earthquakes throughout the hundreds of years without having been reinforced with special material. The fact is that the master builder or Mimar (traditional architect) of historic buildings was simultaneously designing the architecture as well as choosing the suitable form, proportion, and material for the best structural performance.

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Cracks emerge due to various forces or stresses. After discerning the cracks preferably by non-destructive techniques, there is a need to find the reason for their appearance. With very exact analysis of the shape, form and dimension of the cracks and their location on the structural elements, we can deduce the reason for their formation. This makes, proposing a suitable solution for preventing the expansion of cracks possible.

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Despite the utilization of several earthquake resistant traditional techniques in Iranian architecture throughout the centuries, the high seismic vulnerability of Iranian vernacular constructions is obvious. One of the latest innovations in building earthquake-proof emergency dwellings, prior to introducing the modern seismic design codes, took place during the successive destructive earthquakes of 1871, 1893 and 1895 in Quchan, located in northeast of Iran. These new shelters withstood shocks successfully during the 1893 and 1895 quakes and were in use for at least the next 30 years. Therefore, this local effort of building earthquake-proof constructions will be introduced in this paper not only as an intangible heritage of the regional knowledge, but also as a successful experience in building earthquake resistant installations. In this article, the process of innovation of these new shelters, their specific earthquake resistant features which did not have any peers in shape in the history of the construction in the region, their evolution and finally extinction is described. Furthermore, the paper comprehensively focuses on describing the capability of these shelters in comparison with similar geometrical forms of construction to indicate how local people chose the best shape alternative based on the following three factors: seismic resistance, ease of built and the amount of spatial similarity with previous local buildings.

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Day lighting is one of the important qualitative factors in housing, which is also effective on health and well-being of occupants. Extensive glass surfaces and Transparency in building facades provides good daylight quantity for interior spaces. However, this lighting system is not appropriate for climates faced with higher sunlight radiation (Such as hot-humid areas), due to overheating and disturbing the thermal comfort. There are efficient day lighting strategies in the traditional Iranian architecture as one of the valuable remaining heritages of Human experiences, which are useful for contemporary architecture. This article intends to investigate daylight quality in the houses of Bushehr from Qajar period by modeling and simulating in daylight calculation software (Dialux) and identify day lighting strategies utilized in these houses. As Bushehr city is located in the hot-humid region of Iran, is faced with high sunlight radiation, making balance between receiving light and heat gain through windows needs careful attention. The houses of Qajar period in Bushehr are evolved samples of traditional architecture in the city and Rashidy house (built in 1893) is one of them which its form and details can reveal many lessons on coping with climate by merely using renewable energies.

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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

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Energy-efficient buildings reduce energy demand. The parameters of the building envelope, as an interface between the interior of the building and the outdoor environment, can greatly influence energy consumption. The main objective of this study is to ‎optimize the parameters of buildings’ envelopes for reducing energy consumption while ‎considering‏ ‏the common style of architectural design in cold-dry regions. The case study research methodology is used to investigate the effect of various openings characteristics on the energy performance of the building. This paper studied one of the stories of a high-rise residential building as the case study and component blocks were used for the rest of the stories. To find an ‎energy-efficient model for the buildings’ façade, considering the effective parameters, ‎numerous simulations were performed by the EnergyPlus as an energy simulation engine. The factors analyzed in this article included the type of glazing, the type of window frame, the window-to-wall ratio (WWR), and shading placement. The results show that a combination of Low-E ‎glazing ‎ and Argon gas with a 5.98% reduction, a UPVC window frame with a 0.36% ‎reduction, a WWR of 30% with a 1.57% increase, an overhang shading with 20cm thickness ‎and 15cm depth with a 1.12% reduction in annual energy consumption can cause a total ‎reduction of 2.45% in annual energy consumption compared to the initial model.‎‏ ‏These ‎changes did not compromise the required lighting for the interior spaces while reducing the ‎energy consumption of the building.

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The present study aimed to align the applied approaches to the concept of visual literacy to provide a new list of abilities needed to promote visual literacy. Visual literacy is a cognitive concept that can be promoted using Bloom's revised classification of the cognitive area that has targeted the mastery learning stages. The method of this study is descriptive-analytical conducted in a purposeful logical course using interpretive strategies and logical reasoning based on documentary studies and valid libraries. In this study, Bloom's cognitive classification was examined and four categories of the most important competencies and existing and valid visual literacy standards were analyzed separately. Finally, a new list of abilities needed for individual mastery of visual literacy was presented. Since most visual literacy researchers have described its nature as ability or set of abilities, a new list was called the classification of visual literacy abilities. The results showed that since each of the previous lists has a specific specialized view on visual literacy, they do not cover all levels of the cognitive process and Bloom's knowledge dimensions. Thus, by adopting a comprehensive approach, a list of abilities was proposed that includes six levels of cognitive process (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating) and each level includes four levels of knowledge (factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive). This list can be used in the educational planning of disciplines that their main goal is visual communication. Finally, the topic of one of the architecture courses was examined as an example of the way of applying this classification.

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Architectural education at the undergraduate level primarily focuses on design studios, which are conducted through critique sessions. These sessions are crucial for fostering communication between tutors and students, making them a key component of architectural education. Despite the emphasis on visual presentation in various courses, verbal communication receives less attention. To address this gap, it is essential to explore knowledge centered on human communication and strategies for improvement. Rhetoric, a concept introduced by philosophers and literary scholars, forms the foundation of all human communication by focusing on persuasive techniques. This research investigates critique sessions in architectural design studios, particularly examining the communication between tutors and students within the framework of rhetorical knowledge. The goal is to enhance this communication by elucidating the critique session and the relationship between teacher and student. The research employs a combination of descriptive and analytical strategies, along with logical reasoning, to address two primary questions: "How can the critique session be defined as a rhetorical situation?" and "What are the persuasion techniques used at each stage of the architectural design studio?" By applying rhetorical situation theory and persuasive methods, the research presents techniques for each stage of the architectural design studio, aiming to enhance the effectiveness of critique sessions. The findings suggest that effective communication in these sessions relies on clear, coherent expression and logically presented criticisms and suggestions. This creates a persuasive context that facilitates mutual understanding. As a result, architectural students not only acquire design skills but also develop the ability to communicate convincingly and defend their designs effectively in various scenarios.