Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Urban space serves as a stage for social life, bringing together citizens regardless of their race, age, or profession, and breaking down social boundaries to present a display of the city’s social life. Since the quality of urban spaces directly affects the level of people’s engagement within them, creating high-quality urban spaces is considered one of the key responsibilities of architects and urban planners. In fact, the awareness of construction industry professionals, especially architects and urban planners, about the direct impact of each building on the quality of the surrounding urban space is essential to achieving a city with high-quality public spaces. This study aims to identify the role of the Hakim Mosque in Isfahan as an influential element in the surrounding urban space, focusing on how it contributes to enhancing both the physical and non-physical qualities of the area. The authors believe that the findings of this research, in addition to highlighting the ability of buildings to enhance urban public spaces as small urban components, can serve as a valuable case study for further research by architects and urban planners interested in this topic.
Methods: In this study, the prominent entrances of the Hakim Mosque in Isfahan on the west, north, and east sides of the building—connecting the architectural space to the urban spaces of Hakim Mosque Street, Bagh-e-Qalandar Passage, and Hakim Mosque Alley, respectively—were selected for a more detailed study. The research method was a semi-structured interview, and the data collected from interviews with 160 citizens present in the urban space around the Hakim Mosque at different times during the week were summarized using Maxqda software. The data were then categorized in three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, to facilitate the study and analysis of the results.
Findings: The data extracted from the interviews were compiled and presented in the form of 24 coherent concepts as examples of the architectural role of the Hakim Mosque in enhancing the quality of the surrounding urban space. These 24 concepts were then consolidated and presented as 12 criteria representing the architectural impact. These criteria include: the role of architecture in promoting culture in urban space, the role of architecture in the legibility of urban space, the role of architecture in inducing a sense of place in urban space, the role of architecture in engaging human senses in urban space, the role of architecture in adding decorations to urban space, the role of architecture in restoring visual harmony in urban space, the role of architecture in controlling access from urban space, the role of architecture in strengthening the sociability of urban space, the role of architecture in mixing compatible uses in urban space, the role of architecture in creating safe zones in urban space, the role of architecture in providing safety in urban space, and the role of architecture in ensuring climate comfort in urban space. In the final stage of categorizing the research results, the axial codes were grouped into four main categories (selective coding): perceptual components, spatial components, physical components, and functional components.
Conclusion: Since the examples related to the role of architecture in strengthening the sociability of urban space, the role of architecture in the legibility of urban space, the role of architecture in inducing a sense of place in urban space, and of course the role of architecture in creating safe zone urban space were the most repeated among the interviewees’ opinions regarding the role of architecture in Isfahan Hakim Mosque in adding quality to the urban space around it, these four components can be considered as the strengths of the architecture of Isfahan Hakim Mosque in constructive interaction with the urban space around this building and focused on it to extract architectural solutions for application in planning, designing, and implementing new buildings. Furthermore, based on the research findings and in order to achieve the twelve components extracted from it, the authors explain how the factors affecting construction at three levels of legislation (including the municipal organization, the urban development organization, the national building regulations organization, the building engineering system, etc.), education and culture (including universities and educational institutions, architectural competitions, media, newspapers, etc.), and factors involved in the design and implementation process (including the designer and executive forces) are influential. For example, we can mention “the use of technical committees to guide the design process of new building facades” at the legislative level, “emphasis on the country’s national, cultural, and historical values in the process of training specialized personnel” at the level of education, and “regular study of landmark architectural works in the past and present world in order to increase the level of expectations of the quality of the living space” at the level of the public who involved in the design and implementation process. The examples related to the role of architecture in strengthening the sociability of urban space, the role of architecture in the legibility of urban space, the role of architecture in inducing a sense of place in urban space, and the role of architecture in creating safe zones in urban space were the most frequently mentioned in the interviewees’ opinions. These opinions were specifically about the role of the Hakim Mosque in Isfahan in enhancing the quality of the surrounding urban space. As a result, these four components can be considered as the strengths of the architecture of the Hakim Mosque. They reflect its constructive interaction with the urban space around the building. These strengths can be used to focus on extracting architectural solutions for application in the planning, design, and implementation of new buildings. Furthermore, based on the research findings and in order to achieve the twelve extracted components, the authors explain how factors affecting construction influence three levels: legislation (including the municipal organization, urban planning organization, national building regulations organization, engineering system, etc.), education and culture (including universities, educational institutions, architectural competitions, media, newspapers, etc.), and factors involved in the design and execution process (including the designer and executive staff). For example, at the legislative level, “the use of technical committees to guide the design process of new building facades” can be mentioned; at the educational level, “emphasizing the national, cultural, and historical values of the country in training specialized personnel” is important; and at the level of the public involved in the design and implementation process, “the regular study of landmark architectural works from the past and present to increase the expectations for the quality of living spaces” should be emphasized.