Urban Sustainability
karen fatahi; nazanin nasrullahi; maryam ansarimanesh; jamal khodakarami; ali emranipour
Abstract
Highlights- Regular outdoor geometry directly affects the feeling of security, satisfaction with the texture and buildings surrounding the outdoor space and thermal comfort.- Regular outdoor geometry indirectly affects the satisfaction of outdoor shape and geometry and thermal compatibility.- The type ...
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Highlights- Regular outdoor geometry directly affects the feeling of security, satisfaction with the texture and buildings surrounding the outdoor space and thermal comfort.- Regular outdoor geometry indirectly affects the satisfaction of outdoor shape and geometry and thermal compatibility.- The type of open space of the central courtyard directly affects the satisfaction of the texture and buildings around the outdoor space, satisfaction of the shape and geometry of the outdoor space, thermal compatibility, sense of security and thermal comfort. IntroductionThe availability of open spaces among buildings plays a vital role in residents’ social interactions, attendance, and security. Maintenance of the right geometrics, location, and proportionality of the surrounding environment has astounding impacts on the creation of attractive outdoor spaces for people. Neglection of the proportionality between the scale of space and surrounding buildings can lead to negative impacts on people’s perceptions and feelings of their surrounding environments. Therefore, assessment (in terms of shape and geometry) of the open spaces within the historic area of the city of Kashan, Iran can affect thermal conditions and provide senses of security and satisfaction with the environmental qualities and attributes. An evaluation was made beginning in September 2018 and lasting 18 days. 17 high-traffic spots and landmarks located in the historic area were chosen and categorized in two separate groups. These included public areas and pedestrian lanes and courtyards in the respective geometrics. The purpose was to investigate whether or not there existed a direct or indirect relationship between the specified factors and thermal comfort.Theoretical FrameworkThe lack of usable open spaces in cities and metropolitan areas has led to numerous issues arising at crisis times, as it disrupts the required balance between the densely packed areas of buildings and the open spaces available in cities. Enhancement of environmental quality and thermal comfort at these spaces can lead to people’s attendance and satisfaction. Security is the capability of the society of lying in a state that maintains its present conditions, identity, benefits, and basic characteristics in confrontation with evolved conditions and threats and the capability of improving the social conditions in accordance with the values and ideals of the society. Factors directly impacting the degree an extent of thermal comfort include the physical characteristics of the environment such as the geometrics and shapes of buildings, the heights of the building surrounding the open space, the amount and type of vegetation, the orientations and locations of buildings with respect to the open space, the availability of semi-open spaces, and the amount of shading.MethodologyAfter library studies were conducted along with field studies enabling physical evaluation of the areas (viewing and recording site information) at the same time as 788 residents and tourists responded to questionnaires (thermal and environmental conditions), the climatic parameters (temperature, humidity, air flow rate, CO, and CO2) were recorded. Then, the rates of clothing and metabolisms of the individuals were calculated using software called Deltalog10. The resulting information was collected and subjected to another analysis, this time using SPSS24, and the thermal comfort range of the respondents was then specified with software called Ray Man. Next, the direct and indirect relationships between the variables were assessed using the structural equation model based on the Maximum Likelihood method in Amos.Results and DiscussionThe findings demonstrated that the outdoor shape and geometry of an open space as well as its type can affect thermal comfort, thermal compatibility, satisfaction with outdoor shape and geometry, satisfaction with the fabric and surrounding buildings, and people’s sense of security in open spaces. Thermal compatibility was greater at outdoor courtyards than at urban passage open spaces. The results indicated that people were more satisfied with the shapes and geometrics of outdoor courtyards than those of public roads. Moreover, satisfaction with outdoor shape and geometry developed thermal comfort in people. There was a greater sense of outdoor security at courtyards than at outdoor public passages, making people more thermally adaptable at open spaces.ConclusionThe results indicated that the respondents had reached thermal comfort in a temperature range of 20.5 to 34.78°C (PET). Furthermore, organized outdoor geometry had direct impacts on the sense of security, with a coefficient of 0.15, on satisfaction with the fabric and buildings surrounding the open space, with a coefficient of -0.98, and on overall thermal comfort, with a coefficient of -0.8. It also exhibited indirect positive significant impacts on satisfaction with the shape and geometry of the open space and on thermal adaptability. Furthermore, the variable of the type of open space of the central courtyard had direct impacts with the highest coefficients on satisfaction with the compositional fabrics and buildings surrounding the open space, with a coefficient of 1.49, on satisfaction with the shape and geometry of the open space, with a coefficient of 0.97, on overall thermal adaptability, with a coefficient of 0.74, on the sense of security, with a coefficient of -0.23, and on overall thermal comfort, with a coefficient of -0.38. The interesting point to be noted in the analysis and interpretation of the model path concerned the key role played by the security variable as a factor effective in the occurrence of indirect relationships between variables.
Urban Design
Ameneh Nasr abadi; Mohammad Reza Pourjafar; Ali Akbar Taghvaei
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, , Pages 41-54
Abstract
Geometrical shape of Chaharbagh axis –one of the main historical axes in Isfahan, Iran, belonging to the Safavid era- has seen much evolution and development over time. Furthermore, it has experienced historical changes consistently over the different periods .The basic structure of Chaharbagh ...
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Geometrical shape of Chaharbagh axis –one of the main historical axes in Isfahan, Iran, belonging to the Safavid era- has seen much evolution and development over time. Furthermore, it has experienced historical changes consistently over the different periods .The basic structure of Chaharbagh Street, the masterpiece of urban design in Isfahan, dating back to the Safavid era, is based on patterns and geometric shapes and forms the main subject of this paper. Studies show that the main focus of Iranian architecture and urbanism is based on aesthetic perspective and Iranians have always placed a great deal of importance on beauty and aesthetics of space and have considered science of geometry as a powerful tool to achieve create balance, harmony, beauty and order in space. Architecture of the Islamic period with their hidden geometry inspired the viewer's eyes to be illuminated with the beauty of existence. In fact, numbers, proportions and patterns were used and connected, the to create the beauty. In addition to the geometric patterns and their related numbers, Islamic architecture applied sacred meanings to the system which played a symbolic role which people comprehended. It seems that, in this case, geometry was used as the way to create level, volume and sacred symbols. Thus, in designing the shapes and forms, Iranian architecture communicates between proportions based on abstract and supernatural principles. Forms expressed with symbolic language is named holy geometry and have remained over time. In the traditional world, geometry is inseparable from the rest of the pythagorean sciences such as arithmetic, music and astronomy. Architecture that was closely linked with geometry was often of holy and important places to manifest of truth.Thus, in the Safavid era, people created a heavenly place through architecture for themselves which paid attention to the beauty and holiness of a place.Iranians were trying to apply proportion in the dimensions of the buildings to reflect the cosmic relations which were included in the golden ratio. Indeed, using the geometric in design as an art form to create shapes, patterns and proportions, reminds us of the importance ofarchitecture in the world.Therefore, in this study the use of geometric measures and seeking transfer sizes (modules) are an important basis for creating aesthetic beauty in the Chaharbagh axis. The method used in this research is descriptive analysis based on the historical literature, books, and maps, extracted forms and geometric proportions of Chaharbagh in the Safavid period. Then, formation of the Chaharbagh was elicited by using the aesthetic value of geometric design. The result of the analysis in this paper indicates that Chaharbagh of the Safavid era communicated comprehensively the material and the spiritual and geometric proportions merge forms to comply with a sense of value Proportions had established a coordinated structure, between the components and totality and show the extreme usage of geometric role in the beautiful Persian architecture.
