Transformability in Post-Earthquake Houses in Iran: with Special Focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and longterm hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of postearthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with postearthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of ‘Temporary’ and ‘Permanent’ housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

Identity in Residential Architecture from the Viewpoint of Semiology (Qajar Period Houses and Contemporary Residential Complexes in Shiraz)

The deficiency of Iranian contemporary housing architecture has made this method of Architecture unable to meet the needs of Iranian families in recent years. Architecture is part of the identity of a society and has concepts and features derived from the community of its time. Therefore, in order to provide a correct solution for the modification of the Iranian contemporary housing architecture and to create its identity, it is necessary to recognize and analyze the signs existing in Iranian architecture throughout history. In this study, the architecture of the traditional Qajar era houses and contemporary residential complexes in Shiraz, with a semiotic approach, were analyzed in two layers of architecture and meta-architecture. The results of semiotics mechanism, questionnaires and interviews showed that the lack of attention to different layers of the signifieds and conformity of the signifier and the signified is the missing link of identity in the contemporary architecture of residential complexes. Also, it seems that the application of Qajar architectural signs to contemporary housing architecture can create identity in modern housing

Architectural changes and motivational factors for post-earthquake house transformation in Lar City, Iran

Housing provision for post-earthquake victims requires consideration of the victims' cultural and social needs. Due to limited time and shortage of funds, quick construction of post-earthquake houses often fails to comply with the minimum needs of the occupants. Too often, such houses are either abandoned or transformed substantially, resulting in an overwhelming waste of resources. This paper aimed to investigate the transformation process of post-earthquake houses in Iran, in particular, people's motivational factors for these transformations. The methods used included systematic observations and map analysis of alterations to post-earthquake houses over a 30-year period (1970-2000), interviews with the households and questionnaire survey with 190 respondents. The results recommended that the design for these houses should address potential for transformability into preearthquake patterns and lifestyles, adaptability to new parts/construction and capability to reflect different requirements for indoor and outdoor spatial circulations. Analysis of house transformation in the 30-year period revealed that the majority of respondents were found to favour vernacular architecture design, which includes a courtyard in transforming their houses (51.1%) followed by the desire to follow the current trend (32%). The majority of houses had undergone major transformation, having added more than 98% of the original built-up area to the houses. This research found that the mixed 'Temporary- Permanent' housing reconstruction model was highly successful since it involved participation of end users from the very early stages of design and development in order to predict and accommodate later housing alteration issues.</p

Transformability in post-earthquake houses in Iran: with special focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and longterm hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of postearthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with postearthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of 'Temporary' and 'Permanent' housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

Transformability in Post-Earthquake Houses in Iran: with Special Focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and long-term hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of post-earthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with post-earthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of 'Temporary' and 'Permanent' housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

The environmental benefits of urban open green spaces

Most of the scientific papers on urban planning and sustainable development begin by emphasizing the multiple benefits of urban open green space. When it comes to the benefits of urban green and open space, one should concern on the facilities provided to promote human or societal wellbeing, either directly or indirectly. In this study, a review of identified peer-reviewed literature from the most popular online databases was carried out and its contribution to improve our understanding of urban open green spaces and their environmental benefits to the human being are discussed. These many benefits cover various areas such as natural conservation which increases biodiversity of flora and fauna, affecting urban climate by reduction of air temperature and urban heat islands, improving air quality, decreasing air pollution and carbon sequestration, noise reduction and cleaning up contaminants. As urban open green spaces contribute to human and social wellbeing, they are essential for livable and sustainable cities

The effect of seating preferences of the medical students on educational achievement

Background: The seat selection and classroom dynamics may have mutual influence on the student performance and participation in both assigned and random seating arrangement. Purpose: The aim of the study was to understand the influence of seat selection on educational achievement. Methods: The seating positions of the medical students were recorded on an architectural plan during each class session and the means and standard deviations of the students&#x2019; locations were calculated in X and Y orientations. The locations of the students in the class were analyzed based on three architectural classifications: interactional zone, distance from the board, and access to the aisles. Final exam scores were used to measure the students&#x2019; educational achievement. Results: Our results demonstrate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the student&#x0027;s locations in the class and their attendance and educational achievements. Conclusion: Two factors may effect on educational achievement: student seating in the high interactional zone and minimal changes in seating location. Seating in the high interaction zone was directly associated with higher performance and inversely correlated with the percentage of absences. This observation is consistent with the view that students in the front of the classroom are likely more motivated and interact with the lecturer more than their classmates

Transformability as a factor of sustainability in post-earthquake houses in Iran:the case study of Lar City

Housing design and construction for post-earthquake victims need consideration of the victims' socio-cultural needs. Due to the particular economic conditions in Iran, hurriedly made post-earthquake emergency shelters often fail in complying with the minimum needs of the occupants. Consequently, such shelters are often either abandoned or transformed substantially, resulting in an overwhelming waste of resources. This paper aims to investigate the transformation process of post-earthquake houses, with attention to the architectural characteristics of the transformations and people's motivational factors for these transformations. The methods used include systematic observations and map analysis of the transformations of post-earthquake houses over a 37 years period (1970-2007) and interviews with the households. Relying upon analysis of the problems of the current post-earthquake houses in Iran, the results recommended that the design for these houses should address: transformability into pre-earthquake patterns and lifestyles, adaptability to new parts/construction besides original dwelling, and capability to reflect different requirement for indoor spatial circulations. The findings therefore proposed the use of mixed 'Temporary-Permanent' housing reconstruction models which involve participation of stakeholders and end users from very early stages of design and developments in order to predict and address the latter transformations issues. This study contributes to both research and practice by proposing new design approaches and guidelines regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran

Interactive architectural approach (interactive architecture): An effective and adaptive process for architectural design

This research attempts to offer a new approach for architectural design process that the concepts of interaction and multi-relations are being achieved through it. This approach, which is identified as an interactive architecture, suggests a process that a dynamic and mutual relation will create among all factors and parameters of design and the effects of each factor or parameters on final design will be considered. In fact, the main axis of the suggested approach is comprehensive interaction with all various aspects of design, since the design problems have multi-aspects, mostly. Thus, the final design will be resulted based on these mutual relations and it is a production which will have a maximum and optimum adaption with all factors and parameters. What makes this attitude more significant and crucial is the chaotic situation that is produced in architecture and urban designing of most cities especially in developing countries and leads to lack of identity in these cities. So, the interactive approach can be able to eliminate the challenges and create the fields of sustainable architecture and urban development through an effective method. However, this process encounters to some constraints and challenges along with some potentials which are discussed in this essay. The research method is analytical-interpretative and based on qualitative analyses