Understanding and critiquing architecture requires examining its transformations across time—tracing its past, present, and potential future states to propose pathways for improvement. Such an analysis demands shared attributes that enable comparative study across different periods and works. Fixed attributes, as opposed to variable ones, offer a more stable foundation for assessing and guiding architectural evolution.
The concept of the "center" emerges as a key shared attribute due to its universality and hierarchical role in both physical and semantic structures of architecture. Despite differing theoretical perspectives, scholars such as Arnheim, Norberg-Schulz, and Christopher Alexander acknowledge the presence of centers in all architectural works, transcending temporal and spatial boundaries. By analyzing architectural changes through the functions of these centers, it becomes possible to evaluate transformations and propose recommendations for achieving desirable states.
This study adopts a systemic approach, drawing on the evolutionary framework of the "System of Wilayah" (developed by the Academy of Islamic Sciences in Qom) to understand and direct architectural change. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the research models the evolutionary stages of the center, introducing the system of agency within centers as a mechanism for identifying and guiding architectural development over time.
