Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Today, citizens find their surrounding environment dynamic and in constant changing. In such a “short-term society” of Iran, relying on merely building new static and permanent buildings and structures that we are experiencing everyday seems not be a good response to spatial planning in city. What has been common in our urban context is demolition of buildings and replacing it with new ones. The construction of a new building requires much more budget and energy than reuse of buildings and thinking of temporary and flexible spaces. One should ask whether we need these new buildings, such as Mega Malls which erecting them has become a new fashion in Tehran urban context, although the society does not need a large number of those buildings. Whenever vacant sites or any large green spaces like gardens are found, immediately it will be replaced by erecting new buildings. Again another static order within urban context. It seems for contemporary needs of people in society, temporary use of space would be a reasonable response to efficient use of energy, space, building materials and sustainable design. In others words, alternative production of space which is flexible and innovative. Temporary use of space can be traced back to Iranian traditional architecture and urban fabric, which has been forgotten and neglected today. This paper identifies different meanings and types of temporary use of spaces in architecture within urban context of Tehran. It also examines how these temporary spaces can be effective in the ever-changing environments of the city.