Architectural Technologies Studies

Abstract The rehabilitation and restoration of the built heritage represent a central concern in current international and national policies. In Iran, a significant portion of educational buildings, constructed during the construction booms of the 1970s and 1990s, now exhibit structural deficiencies, seismic vulnerability, and poor energy performance. This study develops an integrated multi-criteria decision-making framework to support the planning and prioritization of rehabilitation interventions for university buildings, simultaneously considering socio-economic sustainability, seismic safety, energy efficiency, and process sustainability. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is employed to structure the decision problem and evaluate intervention alternatives. The proposed framework is validated through application to a real case study: an educational building of the Islamic Azad University of Tarom in Zanjan Province, Iran. Four rehabilitation scenarios—ranging from minimum to maximum intervention—were evaluated. Results indicate that the "developed" scenario (comprehensive insulation, internal space redesign, and courtyard rehabilitation) achieves the highest priority score (0.368), outperforming the maximum intervention scenario (0.355) due to better socio-economic and process sustainability performance. This research contributes a replicable decision-support tool for university administrators and public authorities, enabling transparent, informed, and cost-effective investment decisions aligned with Iran's 1404 Vision Plan and national energy efficiency regulations.

Abstract Rapid advances in digital technologies and the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) have led to the emergence of new approaches in architecture and urban environmental management. In this context, data-driven architecture, as an emerging paradigm, has significant potential to optimize resource consumption, enhance energy efficiency, and strengthen environmental resilience. This study aims to develop a conceptual framework for data-driven architecture in the era of AI with a focus on environmental sustainability. The research is qualitative and employs a systematic literature review and thematic analysis approach. Data were collected from credible national and international sources in the fields of smart architecture, AI, the Internet of Things, digital twins, and environmental sustainability. The analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis method, resulting in more than 150 initial codes organized into coherent themes. The findings reveal that data-driven architecture in the AI era is structured around four main themes: (1) data-driven infrastructure and architectural digitalization, (2) intelligent analysis and adaptive decision-making, (3) sustainability and environmental resilience, and (4) governance, interaction, and implementation context. The results further indicate that this approach operates through a dynamic cycle comprising real-time data collection, intelligent analysis, adaptive decision-making, and continuous learning. The proposed conceptual framework suggests that integrating data-driven technologies and AI with sustainability principles can facilitate the development of smart, sustainable, and resilient buildings and cities. This study contributes to the theoretical advancement of data-driven architecture and provides a foundation for future policymaking and the design of intelligent urban environments.

Abstract Saving fossil fuels and using clean energy sources leads to utilization costs reduction and the environment & human well-being protection. Building walls and used materials are considered the main sources of energy waste. Brick is a building material that backs to ancient history; the reason for using it is its stability, cheapness, and high manufacturing speed. Now, its use is less considered for some reasons, such as increasing population density, the construction of multi-story buildings, overweight, the requirement of higher labor, and the lack of insulation. Likewise, Heblex blocks have become more widely used as they eliminated many defects of bricks, although brick is still being used. Considering the importance of energy in recent decades and the emphasis of national building regulations on the insulation of buildings and less energy consumption, this study focuses on comparing two materials, bricks and Heblex blocks, with each other in terms of energy cooling and heating consumption, and the building gas and electricity fuel consumption, as well as the amount of financial saving in electricity and gas consumption. This research was conducted by Design Builder software, and the studied model was selected as a cube with dimensions of 4 * 10 * 10 in the Mashhad climate. The investigated model has been modeled in the software. Then, the amount of cooling, heating, and the total load of the building in two cases, brick walls and Hablex materials, have been extracted, and the results have been stated as a percentage. The obtained results show that replacing bricks wall with Heblex blocks will save the energy consumption of the building up to 55.12%. In the next step, the electricity and gas price for both models has been estimated. And it was found that replacing the brick with Heblx Blocks could assist the household economy by almost 55.5% by saving from paying electricity and gas bills.

Abstract Nature is the most important environmental variable that has affected human life since beginning of history. Humans play a role in nature both as users and as participants in nature's preservation. Therefore, there is always a mutual relationship between humans and nature. However, there has been a great separation between humans and the natural environment in recent years due to various reasons, especially urbanization, which has had many consequences. Thus, based on sustainability research, societies' demands for reconnection with nature have increased. Yet, there is relatively little coherence about what reconnecting to nature means, why it should happen, and how it is achieved. This reconnection can play a significant role in responding to many environmental challenges. The study's purpose is to create a conceptual framework for a better understanding of how human beings interact with nature to strengthen this relationship. The research method is based on the statements and its qualitative approach, content analysis and interpretation of the findings. This study tried to present a conceptual framework to organize existing literature and direct future research on human-nature connections and discussed how reconnecting people with nature can function as a treatment for the global environmental crisis. In this paper, the data are collected using library studies. After summarizing and categorizing them, they are analyzed in descriptive and interpretive manners. The results show that to achieve advance and strengthen the relationship between man and nature, comprehensive measures at the individual and social levels and policy interventions demand specific changes. Finally, this strengthening of human individual and social relations with nature can be effective in achieving the goals of sustainability.

Abstract Today, we face numerous and diverse indicators in the discussion of sustainability. These indicators link sustainability to other concepts such as welfare, health, social cohesion, and they are also considered in the activities of design and planning time, construction, and operation. So, designing a sustainability assessment system for different regions of Iran is necessary and helpful to develop this country. The purpose is to show "the non-generalizability of international systems for use in different regions and climates and" the need to localize evaluation systems " and also emphasize the need to design an evaluation system according to the problems and facilities of the context, Attention to spatial capacities, modeling of traditional sustainable climate architecture as well as cold and dry climate ecological studies of Iran. This study first tries to prove the nature of these systems by analyzing the basis of production of stability assessment systems and the roots of the weighting of international, indigenous, and regional systems. Then, compile the structure and architectural elements of the hot and dry climate according to the basic stability indicators. To meet the aim, first, studying the existing evaluation systems as a case study shows that in all systems, even systems are known as international, regional coefficients are effective in weighting the indicators. Also, they are designed based on a regional context. Based on the research findings and the reviewed systems, the coefficients of headings and indicators are mainly based on regional indicators. Therefore, this system cannot be generalized to other regions, despite the claim of international design. By analyzing the findings from the Delphi technique and examining the climatic and social situation of the cold and dry climate of Iran, the proposed indicators for the cold and dry climate were introduced.