International Journal of

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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.

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The present paper will investigate the specific elements of architectural design based on Islamic beliefs, by taking Iranian Architectural values and vernacular climate design methods into consideration. This research will assess the spirit of experimental elements, created by the inhabitants, according to recent scientific findings. The main concentration will be on the physical design of rural areas in hot, arid and sunny regions of Iran in order to have active and healthy environments and to emphasize on transferring all these sustainable values to the future.

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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.

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Isfahan is a historic city that has experienced several urban developments throughout its shining and glorious past. They began in Al-buyid and Seljuq periods, and continued through the Safavid urban evolution in the sixteenth century. Zayande-Rood is an important and effective natural element in the city's landscape and plan. This article reflects the conclusion of a historic study on revitalization of Zayande- Rood's riverfront. The interaction of Zayande- Rood, its nature in Isfahan plain and the city in Safavid period is the main scope of this article. Therefore, the historic changes of the natural-historic environment of the river are studied. The documents used in this study are historic texts, foreign and vernacular tourists' travelogues, and historic maps and pictures from natural – historic environment of the Zayande- Rood River. The conclusion is cognition of: I) Interaction between Zayande- Rood river & Isfahan in Safavid Era, II) Theory of the Safavid development of Isfahan in relation to the river. They provide a theoretical base for planning, conservation and development plans of the city, especially for the Zayande- Rood's natural-historic environment.

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The importance of Iranian ancient as architectural heritage have to competent international prestige a nd respect due this is important with regard to proper conservation met hods based on non-destructive evaluation methods and non-contact testing providing enough accuracy and speed to bri ng performance to stabilize while correct location and age value of valuable architectural aspect of quantification. Qu ality and originality of these valuable cultural po ints of view, maintenance, protection and restoration in principle be enough a nd intervention measures in the field of strengthening and improvement due seismic in these important historic monuments. Thus re-assessment actions shall be effective with accuracy, speed and lack of unnecessary destruction in order to maintain these buildings may be accompanied by gentility. Therefore, we should transfer the newest technical knowledge through appropriate training and non-destructive with non-contact methods in the field of architectural restoration for ancient monumental wo rks in these objectives will be achieved. Based on any particular monument, rules and technical measures appropriate to its historic monument need to be used. This paper tries to explain while doing it is specialized modern academic training and evaluating the existing technology in architecture, the importance of attitude in non-destructive observing methods, assessment, measurement and diagnostic engineering features of monuments. The methods of documentation, studies, classify scheme, explain the profile of engineering methods of pathology, evaluation, analysis and formulation process of expanding the structural weakness of monuments and finally race precision appropriate intervention measures, modeling, strengthening and durability of the architectural heritage of Iran th rough the training consideration of a new curriculum.

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The condition that varieties of cities including Iranian cities are confronted makes the creation of successful public space a necessity. It is clear that for creating suitable public space first we should understand the influencing factors on space and simultaneously solve and improve the problems through understanding the environment. For achieving the factors that influence the success as a main goal of this research, important theories of the successful public space such as White, Montgomery, Jacobs, Gehl, Carr, Oldenburg and the experience of the famous international institutes are reviewed. finally a model for space evaluation based on place game model of PPS institute was presented. The main method of research because of its experimental-theoric orientation for identifying the most influencing factors on success of space is testing theory Method. In order to verify theory the Correlation Test is used. At first based on place model, place game checklist of PPS institute and theoretical framework presented in this paper, the factors influencing the success of public space are categorized as comfort-activity-access- socialability dimensions. By means of deep observation, questionnaire, Llewlyn Davies's scale and field survey techniques data was collected to complete the data requirements of the place evaluation model. In order to spatially analyze the success level at Imam st, interpolation model of GIS software was used. The result showed that Abresan Street is the most successful section, Saat, Mansoor and Golestan sections were followed respectively. The results of investigation about the theory in our case study (Imam Khomeini street) show that between following factors: comfort-activity-access- socialability, factors of comfort and image are the most important condition for place success.

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The present paper focused on architecture students' learning styles based on Kolb's Experiential learning theory (ELT) and evaluated relationships between students' learning styles, degree of their academic achievement, gender, and duration of study in architecture. Based on the results of this research, divergent, accommodating, assimilating and convergent styles were the architecture students' dominant learning styles, respectively. Furthermore, there was an unbalanced distribution of dispersed different learning styles as more than a half of the students' preferred divergent learning styles while divergent and accommodating styles in the half north of scatter plot generally covered more than 85% of the participants. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed between the students' mean scores of learning style test at the end of the first to fourth years of study. It was found that there were significant relationships between male students' learning styles and their achievement in architecture education. Accordingly, male students with divergent learning styles had higher academic achievement in terms of their total grade point average, compared to that of assimilating and accommodating groups. Meanwhile, there was a significant relationship between the students' academic performance and gender. In general, female students had better performance in architecture in terms of their total grade point average.

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Change is an essential element to Humans and foundation of their lives. Each change though requires its unique
conditions. But Change may result in total destruction instead of exaltation if it takes place without considering conditions
regarding it’s time, place and also without scientific evaluations. There are many factors and reasons for change and
transformation and once it happens, consequences would follow. Due to social, managerial and historical events, Iran’s
society has undergone changes during its modern era. Consecutively, Iran’s architecture has too experienced a drastic
transformation during the past hundred years and especially in the past six decades which some call this an interruption.
Interruption means, the connection between past and present has been cut off. Today as result of this interruption, Iran’s
society is experiencing an increase in individualism and decrease in social relations. This would seriously question objectives
of a utopia.This study is looking to clarify the interruption process and events influencing it in Iran’s architecture and
urbanization base on three fundamental questions: 1. What are the causes of interruption in historical textures and which
factor plays the main role? 2. What is the orientation of master plans, the thinking of the inhabitants and the authorities of the
historical context regarding the issue of interruption and continuity? 3. What is the relationship between social relations
governing the formation of architecture in historical contexts and the issue of interruption and continuity?This study will be
using qualitative paradigm and historical research method to review the selected time intervals. As we progress through the
study, we will have a look at the consequences of the disconnection from past in Iran’s architecture and urbanization. There is
also a time graph which includes influential historical events projecting delicate turning and decision points. Moreover,
explaining the consequence of the interruption in Iran is the achievement of this study which would assist others with the same
interest with a clearer path throughout the time.

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Historical fabrics are known as a national heritage and treasure which are full of spiritual and human concepts. However, we are witnessing that many of these historic districts are being forgotten, abandoned and destructed as the emotional relationship between human and its residing place is fading out. Sense of place is a concept which focuses on the emotional and internal relation between people and their environment. Sense of place consists of three dimensions, namely: place identity, place dependence and place attachment. This research is trying to identify the most significant components regarding the sense of place. It is assumed that by improving these components, a higher level of sense of place is achieved in historic fabrics. These components could also help urban designers and architects that contribute to the historic fabric of the city. Qualitative content analysis methodology was used to elicit the sense of place components from 175 studies. Screening of the systematic reviews and extraction of information on included studies was performed using a validated framework. Finally, the Delphi method is used to find the most related components of the sense of place in historic districts. The results for the physical factors show that the most important attributes are “valuable landmarks and fabric”, “form and physical characteristics”, “communal spaces and public gathering places”, and “visual harmony and unity of the facades”. The results for the set of activity factors show that experts were generally reliable in their responses. The mean value for “events in place” is 4.94, which indicates that experts perceived this attribute as the most influential determinant. Other important attributes are “social activities and interactions”, “proper roads and pathways”, “legibility and identification”, “land use and functional diversity”, and “accessibility and permeability”. In the meaning category, “vitality and happiness” is the most important attribute to evaluate the sense of place in the historical fabrics. “History and originality of the place” is then ranked second, and “aesthetic, beauty and arrangement” third. In the individual-social category, “memories and experiences of place” scored the highest followed by “cultural, religious and ritual ceremonies”, “mental imagery of the place”, and “awareness of historical values of places” (mean value of 4.24).