Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: The household, as a complex network of architectural structures, objects, technologies, energy flows, concepts, and humans, has always been subject to change. Each of these agents, as active actors, have always played a role in changing the home and domestic spaces. Recognizing the agency and role of each of these actors in the home network and its changes can help to better understand the household as a dynamic and multidimensional institution. While some of these actors are very simple and have lesser roles and effects in the home network, others are very complex. These complex actors can cause changes in the material and non-material environment around them from various aspects Television is one of the most complex actors in the household network, having introduced significant changes to the form, function, and meaning of the home since its advent. A key reason for its importance lies in the fact that, unlike most other domestic elements, television encompasses both a material and a content-based dimension and the content-based aspect is even more important than its material aspect. Despite the crucial significance of this content dimension, this study focuses on the material aspect of television, aiming to explore the role of television’s material culture and the extent of its agency in domestic transformations.
While this subject can be explored across different cultural contexts and temporal-spatial frameworks, this research specifically investigates the role of television in shaping the houses of Tehran’s middle-class during the first two decades following its introduction in Iran, that is, from the establishment of the first television network in Tehran in 1958 until the Iranian Revolution in 1978.
Methods: This research employs ethnographic methods and thematic analysis. Three primary sources of data were utilized: interviews with residents of Tehran during the specified period, photographs from family photo albums, and textual and visual content from lifestyle magazines of that era.
First, using a purposive and criterion-based sampling method, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty individuals who lived in Tehran during the specified time period and owned a television set at the time. Family photographs were collected from three sources: participants’ personal photo albums, the researchers’ open search through various individuals’ family albums, and publicly available photos found on the internet and virtual social networks.
Regarding lifestyle magazines, data were gathered from four publications: Ettelā’āt-e Bānuvān, Ettelā’āt-e Māhāne, Ettelā’āt-e Haftegi, and Zan-e Rooz, all from the relevant time frame. Finally, all collected data were thematically analyzed using Atlas.ti software.
Findings: The findings indicate that in the early years, television faced various internal and external forms of resistance, most notably ideological and economic, when it was introduced to the middle-class homes in Tehran. Despite these challenges, television quickly found its way into homes, thanks to several key factors that helped make it a normal part of everyday domestic life. Among the most significant of these drivers were the connection it created between the outside world and the household, the domestication of leisure and entertainment, and the availability of television sets through installment payment plans. However, once inside the household, television encountered difficulties in finding a suitable and ideal placement due to the spatial organization of traditional Iranian houses. These houses were often characterized by closed floor plans and small, numerous, nested spaces. The absence of a large, central living area further exacerbated the challenge of integrating television into the domestic environment.
In the early years of television’s introduction, residents determined the placement of the television set through a process of trial and error, often guided by advice from popular magazines. In doing so, they took into account four main categories of considerations: functional, aesthetic, socio-cultural, and spatial. Thus, during this early period, the presence of the television set brought about numerous spatial, functional, and behavioral challenges, all of which required significant adjustments. The findings suggest that the material presence of television played an active role in driving these various spatial and structural changes within houses of the middle-class in Tehran.
Conclusion: In the first two decades following the introduction of television into the homes of Tehran’s middle-class, the presence of the television set played an active role in the occurrence of both material and immaterial changes within the spaces of these homes. Among these changes, one can note the transformation of certain concepts, such as inside-outside and public-private. These were concepts that had once been distinctly separated in domestic life and, consequently, in the architecture of Iranian homes, with clear and firm boundaries. However, with the advent of electronic media, particularly television, along with other agens not discussed here, these boundaries gradually became increasingly blurred.
The presence of television sets, along with the emergence of collective viewing behaviors and “television parties,” created a need for larger spaces that could serve as the main gathering area for the family while also accommodating guests who came to watch television. This need gradually led to a shift from closed floor plans to open ones, resulting in the integration of public spaces in new homes. The formation of a central hall, which eventually took on the role of the main living room, followed by the merging of the hall and guestroom to create the living/reception room, was a direct outcome of this shift.
As television became the central focus of home spaces, the empty area in front of the TV in typically unfurnished middle-class Iranian homes became the most important space for domestic activities. This transformation made television the key agent in organizing the public zone of homes.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: In the contemporary era, cultural values influenced by individuals' behavior, attitudes, and beliefs can offer the definition of desired privacy in the human-environment relationship. The most important element of privacy can be interpreted based on the manner and form of the communication. In this interaction, human beings define different preferences and definitions of privacy in relation to others and other spaces. According to these interactions included in Islamic and social interactions, the experiences in the house environment lead to semantic (mental) and physical (objective) movement. In relations that are shaped out of semantic (mental) movement within the house, communication with nature, guests, neighbors, God, spouses, and family is remarkable. The interactions in the house environment can be controlled with motion, visual, auditory, and olfactory senses and help to study the movement in the physical (objective) dimension. The importance of each factor and communication tool in each housing component allows designers and architects to identify the notion of desirable communication privacy in the contemporary era to design the spatial arrangement appropriate to residents' privacy. The aim is to obtain the desired physical arrangement for creating privacy in accordance with the current Islamic culture in contemporary housing and answer the following questions:

What is the relationship between the effective components of human-environment interactions in each functional housing component and the housing spatial arrangement?
By recognizing the different effects of communication components representing the individuals' privacy in each housing component, what environmental solution can be provided for the effective design of the desired spatial layout of the privacy?
According to the basic pattern of privacy layout obtained from the Islamic architecture experts' opinions, how has privacy been arranged in contemporary houses?

Methods: To identify the characteristics of human-environment relations, (1) the content of interactions (types of communication that humans have in housing components), (2) the motion, visual, auditory, and olfactory controlling types, and (3) the degree of optimal communication for each component with other functional components of the house has been completed in two parts. A Field research method with a researcher-made questionnaire was completed. The statistical sample size based on Cochran's formula was 78 Islamic architects, and data were analyzed using SPSS software. The significance of the difference between the humans and house components was determined by Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test. The mean relationship and size of human movement in housing components were compared to identify optimal privacy indicators for spatial arrangement.
Findings: According to statistical data, the living room with low effect can be considered an intermediary element in communication (movement) and creating privacy in the house. Recognizing the best spatial arrangement accepted by people in different biological situations in Islamic culture helps architects determine the value of privacy in the spatial arrangement of contemporary Iranian housing. Therefore, three contemporary Iranian houses with two types of movements that lead to the structural and psychological layout were selected to investigate the effectiveness of the privacy layout obtained from the opinions of Islamic architecture experts. In these spaces, (1) the visual privacy with the visual graph in Depth map software and the (2) space communication (movement) privacy with the explanatory graph in A-Graph software were fully scrutinized. In the basic model of spatial arrangement based on Islamic architecture experts' opinions, the inner core (private space), the outer core (public space), and the living space, as the interface, shape the house. Other space functions are located in relation to the interface space by determining the distance (depth) and the type of proximity (interconnection) with various physical elements (floor, wall, curtain) in the contemporary model.
Conclusion: Designing the space layout based on Islamic documents necessitates observing four types of visual, motor, auditory and olfactory privacy in indoor and outdoor spaces. In creating the layout of space, the living room and bedrooms were among the influential spaces. In recognizing the communication desirability in housing components, the yard, the living room, and kitchen (extroverted space)  were identified as spaces with a high level of communication. The washing closets and master bedroom (introverted space) had the lowest preference for human-environment communication. Three levels of privacy were identified in modern and Islamic houses.  The optimal physical planning of the privacy layout based on the communication desirability in every housing component can offer a better arrangement of housing spaces. In the basic model of space layout based on Islamic architects' opinion, the two inner core (private space) and outer core (public space) and the living room as the interface between these spaces shape the housing layout. In the contemporary model, the living room is the main core, and other spaces are identified by the distance (depth) and the type of proximity (joint) to other physical elements (floor, wall, curtain ...). The privacy layout of privacy from high to low was presented based on the current communication and controlling levels in the contemporary house and ultimately led to the proper location of spaces in today's housing.

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