Maziar Asefi

Barrel vaults are one of the most widely used forms in Persian architecture. While they are mainly built with heavy and compressive materials such as brick, today’s advances in construction techniques has led the architectural industry to utilize lightweight structural systems including reciprocal frame structures (RF). The purpose of this paper is to generate a barrel vault form using RFs through a revival of historical Persian ornamental and geometric patterns known as girih. This research was carried out in three phases. After extracting the essential criteria necessary to produce reciprocal configuration, four geometric girih that were compatible with those criteria were selected. The selected patterns were then modified to localize their reciprocal configurations following the Persian ornamental and geometric patterns. A structural analysis was performed using the Karamba Plugin in order to make a structural comparison between a barrel vault constructed with RFs and one made with bricks. The results showed that the use of RFs can significantly reduce the structural weight while using a minimum of material in covering the specified span. In addition, it was concluded that the vault with Hasht-e-moraba and Chahar-lenge ghenas patterns behaved in a more optimal way for the transmission of axial forces with less displacement and deformation.

Purpose: Technology development quality in architectural design is affected by the quality of the process and factors used to develop it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors for effective enhancement (EE) of technologies in design process improvement (DPI).Design/methodology/approach: Major databases have been explored to identify a list of factors affecting technology development in DPI because of the main elements of architecture design education. Then, a survey-based empirical study has been done in two high-rank architecture schools (one in a developing country and one in a developed country), during the years 2015–2018. Data have been collected from analyzing the design process, design reviews, design team viewpoints, researchers' observations and organizations' features about the development of production, conceptualization and communication technologies in DPI initiatives. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches have been utilized to provide deep contextual data.Findings: Comparative analysis of the groups showed that high levels of EE of technologies lead to high levels of DPI, and these are because of the positive performance of conceptualization, communication and production technologies.Originality/value: Comparing two groups, the category of design process and the factors related to the design stages of ask, imagine and improve approved to be the right factors to use technologies in more effective ways. Efficiency in collecting information and doing research, efficiency in developing solutions, efficiency in communicating results, team processes and organization communications have been rated top most effective factors based upon overall categories.

The sustainable development of educational buildings has become an increasingly important goal for university campuses. This research develops a proposal for a kinetic façade employing mechanical moveable components for an educational building. Due to the pedagogically different needs of courses taught in educational spaces, it is desirable to design spaces that are able to meet changing functional and aesthetic requirements. The transformation of an exterior curtain wall is performed by means of movement and twisting of its components in order to regulate the temperature and sun penetration for each class during the course of a day. This paper proposes a curtain wall system for educational buildings. The transformation mechanism and the details of the wall's components, along with the construction plans and material used are presented. It is argued that the proposed design can respond properly to the architectural principles of educational buildings in terms of form and function, while also respecting the varying needs of users and environmental sustainability.

In recent years, kinetic facades have emerged as a suitable alternative for building skins that meet the demands for comfort factors of inside and outside environment and aesthetic criteria. This paper demonstrates a novel transformable geometric pattern inspired by Persian Architecture that provides an environmentally protective yet aesthetically pleasing building skin. This novel skin that is used for building facades is composed of geometric modular units mainly consisting of two kinds of scissor-like element (SLE): simple scissor-like elements and modified scissor-like elements which are linked together by movable joints. These units can be connected together to create a transformable system attached to the existing or new buildings or be used for a particular part of a building. This paper presents a research-based design project using a rarely used SLE system for transformable building facade. In this methodology, in the first stage, a library study was used to find, categorize and evaluate the transformable building skins using SLE systems. In the second stage, an experimental study was carried out to evaluate the best movement strategies for SLE units that employ the most efficient activation and driving system for the proposed geometry. In the final stage through physical and digital model making process, the alternatives derived from the previous stage were analyzed and the best transformation strategies that best suit the selected design was chosen. The result of this paper is a proposal for a transformable grid of SLE systems that can be attached to existing or new building façade and is not only able to control the environmental condition of the building, but it can also change its appearance during a course of a day. The transformation mechanism used in this design is a combination of two types of scissor structure employing pivotal and rotary movement supported on the tracks provided on the building façade.

Improving creative and critical thinking is one of the most important objectives in architectural education. The present research has been performed to investigate the effects of active strategic teaching model (ASTM), on creative and critical thinking skills of architecture students. This quasi-experimental study is of a causal-comparative type and was done as two-group experimental research (control and intervention) using pre-test, post-test method during 2014-2016. The statistical society of the research consists of students of Architecture Design Studio 4 at Tabriz Islamic Art University. The students of control group were carried out with conventional method while the intervention group received active strategic model. The creative and critical thinking skills were compared in both groups in specific dimensions based on reviewing the design process. The statistical analysis was conducted by SPSS software and descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square and ANOVA were used. However, interpretation of the results weren’t causal. In this review, the majority of students could obtain proper results dependent on the amount of their efforts which indicate the relative success of both methods. But, comparing the mean differences of the results in two groups shows a significant difference in enrichment of critical and creative thinking skills of the intervention group in comparison with the control group. In fact, using ASTM led to develop the critical and creative thinking skills as one of the main missions of architectural education and finally led to more and also sustainable achievements in creative procedure of architectural design.

This paper investigates material-based design approach in architectural forms where form generating process is informed by the combination of material properties and behavior as well as environmental constraints. It also tries to inform architects of the necessity of shift from formal form finding processes based on values of industrial age toward materiality in form generating processes. It also tries to overlook the current design practices in material-base design approaches to achieve a holistic understanding of the design process and possibilities. Through a comparative literature review, and an examination of current design practices, this paper elaborates on distinct material-based approach to design architectural form.