International Journal of

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Medical plants gardens are places that primarily focused on the conservation, cultivation, research, and education of plant species that are used medicinally. These gardens have a long history. The creation of a tranquil and pleasant conditions for the visitors, as well as development of the local economy and raising citizen awareness, could be further objectives of the medicinal plants garden. Therefore, the architectural style of successful herbal botanical gardens needs to reflect a broad understanding of botany and encourage creative thinking in garden design and interpretation. It seeks a design that can maintain the virtuous cycle of the medicinal plants and at the same time maintain the spatial equilibrium of the dynamic development of urban landscapes, so as to make them have good ecological and urban functions. The aim of this study is to explore the design methods of plant landscaping in urban medical plants gardens under the concept of sustainability. We first reviewed the design of medicinal plants garden and its application to urban green space design. This research focuses on how to select principles that are adapted to the sustainability and how to promote biodiversity, and improve the quality of life of urban residents through eco-design approaches. Through the analysis of a number of domestic and international cases of medicinal plants gardens, we found that effective sustainable design is not only choosing the right areas but also includes the rational management of water resources, energy conservation, environmental impacts reduction, and creating a calm space and increasing the awareness of citizens. This study also points out socio-cultural challenges and strengths of these gardens. Finally, this paper carries out a specific analysis of the sustainable evaluation system for design of medicinal plants landscaping in urban green spaces and experimentally verifies that, compared with other styles, sustainable architecture style is better overall. This study aims to provide a practical reference and guidance for urban planners, garden designers, and environmentalists. 

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Various methods have been employed in vernacular architecture, to achieve energy efficiency in different regions worldwide, especially in facade designs. In Iran, most vernacular buildings are still in use without major modifications and renovations, even in harsh climatic conditions. This study uses mathematical analysis to conduct a quantitative approach toward principles used in the façade design of Bushehr's vernacular architecture. The research critically examined the physical characteristics of eight residential buildings, which were selected as case studies. These parameters included window-to-wall ratios, the surface area for each facade, and the size of different openings concerning height and weight. These physical characteristics of the selected houses were systematically extracted for both the interior and exterior facades, delineating eighteen criteria. The statistical analyses were done using IBM SPSS Statistics version 16.0. The results revealed fourteen linear models—six models related to the exterior facades, five models concerned with interior facades, and three models about the opening. Although the linear models are specific to the vernacular architecture of Bushehr, the research method and approach outlined in this study have the potential to contribute to a framework that can be used by other researchers to uncover underlying principles in vernacular facades elsewhere around the world.
 

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Thermal comfort conditions include a range of temperature and moisture in which the regulatory mechanism of body temperature is at the lowest level of activity. This paper evaluates the thermal human comfort of bioclimatic conditions according to human comfort with analysis software. In this research, a descriptive-analytical method was utilized. Most of the data were gathered through library studies and required climate information was extracted from the data according to the weather station. In conclusion, the fall and winter seasons and the month of April have cold conditions. Therefore, applying mechanical heating and high thermal mass is needed for most of the year. One-third of a year has human comfort conditions. In this regard, natural and mechanical cooling is required for three months of the year due to warm conditions.
 

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As one of the essential tools for architecture education, one can refer to the criteria for assessing the creativity of architecture novices during the architectural design process and in the final design product. The components required for architecture novice creativity assessment are extracted by reviewing relevant previous studies and surveying 116 experts and professionals using an open-ended questionnaire. Next, the effectiveness of the components in the architectural design process and the final design product is verified using a researcher-made closed-ended questionnaire. The data accuracy and correlations between the variables are examined using Friedman's test and Spearman's correlation coefficient in the Smart-PLS software. The research results presented the subcomponents of stages in the fluid architectural design process: the recognition and perception stage (including the right and comprehensive understanding of site potentials and climatic and environmental information), imagination and unconscious mind stage (with emphasis on the uniqueness of the idea), in-between stage (abstract thinking and use of metaphor and amphibology), consciousness (intellection) stage (coherence in design, attention to primary data and the future), and from latency of the design idea to the final decision based on the individual evaluation. Attention to each mentioned component within these nonlinear and flexible stages in the architectural design process improves the creativity of architecture novices. Thirteen criteria were obtained for assessing the creativity of the final product of architectural design which includes all effective physical, conceptual, and spatial subcomponents.
 

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Urban design in hot–arid cities has often depended on implicit intuition rather than transparent, testable rules. This study develops a parametric framework that translates conceptual design principles into an algorithmic flowchart, making the design of a city’s “main structure” explicit and reproducible. Through content analysis of structuralist, typological, and collective-form theories, we identified key parameters—including functional scale, durability, accessibility, connectivity, and visual legibility—and adapted them to climate-specific conditions. The results showed that connectivity, scale, and orientation thresholds were most decisive in shaping resilient urban routes, centers, and icons in the linear cities in the hot arid areas. By embedding these parameters in a stepwise, code-free algorithm, the method allows designers to evaluate alternatives systematically rather than relying on intuition. The contribution lies in operationalizing theoretical concepts into a portable design tool for hot–arid contexts, advancing both the scientific understanding of climate-adapted urban structure and the practical capacity to integrate parametric methods into early-stage planning.
 

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This research aims to explore the process of modernization of the city’s image—a topic that has not yet been critically
examined. The study employs an interpretive-historical method, drawing on publications, photographs, and oral
historiography related to both existing and lost buildings of the period. In the case of Qom, the obligatory modern
changes—such as cutting streets through the traditional urban fabric—could not entirely erase traditional conceptions of
the city image at the microscale. Revisiting the street façades of the early modern era in Qom reveals that the public
perception of the new phenomenon of the street was derived from the spatial logic of inner courtyards as well as the bazaar.
The baroque-style planning of the new city was exceptional within Reza Khan’s urban plans and had the greatest impact
on turning the holy shrine into the new city center. However, about a decade after the onset of this modernization process,
a popular trend emerged toward adopting certain modern spatial features. Thus, in this small city at the beginning of
modernization—and later a large city at its peak—numerous popular adaptations between tradition and modernity can be
observed, not only at the microscale and in façade design but also at the urban scale, where modern detached spaces were
integrated through the adaptation of traditional spatial patterns.

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This study examines climate-responsive form in the historic fabric of Lar (Fars, Iran) and clarifies how its vernacular differs from canonical hot-arid cases such as Yazd/Kashan. We adopt a mixed-methods, mechanism-centred approach: plans and field documentation were compiled for 30 dwellings (19 with an iwan, 11 without), iwan and courtyard attributes were coded, and findings were benchmarked against the Mahoney tables. An expert elicitation (n = 218, Cronbach’s α = 0.91) provided ranked environmental and cultural priorities to contextualize the spatial evidence. Across the sample, Lar’s dwellings consistently express façade buffering, solar control, and ventilation staging. Iwans are typically summer-oriented, often aligned with prevailing winds, span about half the façade, and have depth equal to or greater than the principal room, with one-way side access used more often than two-way. Openings on exposed fronts are small and recessed. At the urban-fabric scale, narrow lanes and covered passages (sabat) sustain shaded, ventilated continuity. Courtyards are predominantly central or three-sided, with intermediate plot shares (~20–40%) and elongated proportions (~1/2–1/3) that deepen self-shade and channel breezes; walls and roofs are heavy earthen assemblies, sometimes complemented by basements for thermal damping. Expert rankings place temperature/sunlight as the leading environmental concern and historical/place-based practices as the leading cultural theme, aligning with the observed configurations. Distinctive features of Lar include its dense sabat network, short-wide wind-catchers, and water-organized urban grain. The paper translates these convergences into practice-ready rules for hot-arid design: compact courtyard planning with elongated courts; deep transitional iwans serving principal rooms; protected, recessed openings; shaded, narrow pedestrian ways; and heavy, time-lagging envelopes with adequate drainage. These lessons demonstrate how Lar’s vernacular can inform contemporary, culturally resonant low-energy architecture.
 

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The studies of Iranian architecture, especially in the contemporary era, have often been centered around monumental buildings in each period and their analysis. Residential buildings, as one of the most widespread urban elements, have received comparatively less attention, even though the importance of documenting them is evident, regardless of associated debates. This study examines the physical transformations, spatial connections, and functional uses of houses in the city of Rasht. To achieve this, the research employs the Space Syntax analysis method, analyzing 24 case studies of houses in Rasht from the Qajar period to the present and producing justified graphs. Using a qualitative approach and inductive reasoning, the study identifies patterns of layout changes across historical periods. The results outline the evolution of residential layouts in four stages: the Qajar era, the First Pahlavi period, the Second Pahlavi period, and the Islamic Republic. The findings show extensive transformations in Rasht’s houses across all aspects under study: minor changes began in the First Pahlavi period, paving the way for broader transformations in subsequent years; the Second Pahlavi period witnessed comprehensive shifts that redefined domestic space; and finally, during the Islamic Republic era, houses assumed the form in which they are designed and used today.