CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Introduction
This research investigates family participation and its effects on house design in the
city of Ahvaz, Iran. It is an attempt to understand the relationship between expectations
of each family member and their consequences on house design. This was done by
studying selected renovated houses in the city. This chapter discusses the framework of
the research, which includes the problems addresses, the aim and objective, and
instrumentation applied for the research. The structure of this report would be explained
at the end of this chapter.
1.2
Problem Statement
Adaption of shelters by their residents to suit their varying needs has always been
a part of human habitation (Edwards, 2005). When societies were nomadic, the ability to
adapt was relatively easy, since the dwelling carried by the dweller from site to site was
light and simple. When more space was needed, it was easy to construct another tent of
2 hut, then dismantle it and move on. When people settled, however, dwelling conditions
naturally changed. Permanent walls could not easily be altered; adaptability took on a
slower pace. In addition, extended families in both eastern and western societies
commonly shared space. A single dwelling was commonly a residence for several
households. Homes were inhabited and used by generations of the same family. They
often doubled as living and work spaces either on one or two levels. Gradual
modifications happened over a long period. When a member of the family died, his or
her place in the home was taken by another. Physical changes such as the demolition of
the partition wall or the addition of another level were limited to the constraints of the
dwelling itself, the available space, and the skills of the builder regulations (Edwards,
2005).
Despite the new housing scenario discussed above, it is a common practice in
any design process of a house the spaces created on the drawings are simply indicated
as, master bedroom, bedroom, kitchen etc. Architects also draw furniture to provide a so
called. However, it can be argued that this design and construction process tends to
ignore the family’s evolving needs and because of that, the occupants are forced to
change the design of the houses through renovation.
Family is the most influential institution in the life of individuals in Iran. There is
rarely any major decision-making and action of individual through life-course, which is
not discussed and evaluated within the network of the extended family (Aghajanian,
1988).
A study by Toker and Torker (2003) on the transformation of Turkish house
plans from the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century and late twentieth century
has discovered that the transformations in spatial configuration in these three periods are
3 interpreted through their relationships to family structure represented by household
compositions and women’s status.
The nuclear family structure became dominant. The household size has
decreased, suggesting a higher number of independent household formations upon
marriage, which supports more equal gender roles. Moreover, women’s education level
and proportion of the paid labour force has increased following the institutional
improvements. These transformations have been related to variations in the spatial
configuration of cases as follows (Toker and Torker, 2003). The need for a “main room”
was no longer sustained upon the disappearance of the patriarch from the family
structure.
However, Toker and Torker (2003) have not described is the role of different
family members particularly the children in shaping the spaces. Contribution of the
children in the houses has not been identified.
Another important fact about house design as discussed by Petherbridge (1987)
is the dominant emphasis of the Muslim house on the “privacy” and “the seclusion and
segregation” of women. These two are parallel design elements of a Muslim house,
although he did not describe the spatial configuration of the seclusion and segregate on
of female members.
Despite the huge amount of urbanization (Iran Statistical Center, 1997), which
has influenced the residential aspect of the extended family, the social and economic
interaction among extended family members has remained. The patriarchal line of
authority is continuing to protect the fame and status of the family through guidance and
decision making to control the younger generation. The Islamic values, which have
shaped the way of life in the Iranian society for many centuries, is continuing to support
the patriarchal family framework for family decision-making, and individual behaviour
and action. According to Aghajanian (1988), also marriage is continuing to be a marked
4 transitional stage in the life of the individual and the family is having primacy in mate
selection.
However, the effects of this social change have not been seen in the context of
family house design. For example, suitability of the current house design can be
assumed as being affected by the change in women’s role in a family, but no studies
have been done to investigate this phenomena in Iran.
Currently there are no studies done in Iran on the changes in family structure and
role of each family member on house design. Aspects of user participation in the current
literature do not take into consideration participation of each member i.e. the wives,
husbands, and children. Whereas interactive relationship between space and society
suggest that, each individual is an active agent, who is not restricted with the limitations
of larger contexts (Spain, 1992). It can be argued that patterns of housework, use,
perception, and privacy are consequences of individual interpretations of the family
member’s floor plans, decoration, furniture, etc are implicitly related to the idea of each
family member. Therefore, this research is attempting to address two notable gaps,
namely participation of each family member’s in house design, and the effects of the
participation in shaping the house design.
Johnson (2007) makes clear, migrant women to Australia over the 1940s and
1950s made and remade their kitchens—securing in the process some measure of
autonomy and sense of home-making—but they also did so within the principles of
scientific management as part of their social and cultural adaptation to their new
country.
As a summery, it has to be mentioned that there should be a fit between
residents’ design expectations characteristics of houses. There is a need for new look at
the designing of housing units. Rapid changes in the family are also taking place in
countries, which are currently undergoing industrialization and modernization. Some of
5 these changes may be less apparent and less perceptible than those of the advanced
industrial countries may, but may also be quite radical.
1.3
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to investigate family participation and its influences
on the contemporary Iranian urban family houses.
The prevailing idea of this research is to have a link between two issues: the
interaction of design expectations of each family member and the influences of their
participation in the design of their housing environment. This study argues that the link
between housing and its cultural use cannot be understood without considering the end
users: "when culture is not a factor of creation of the built environment. The result is a
social disorder and a loss of identity" (Hamdi, 1991).
The ultimate purpose of this study is to develop insights into future housing
requirements to accommodate family’s changing roles in households. Since related
literature supports the view that the family variations have changed due to the gender
ideological changes, this study aims to point out that these changes affect and are
affected by the spatial organization in houses and by the spatial characteristics of
housing types.
1.5
Research questions
The thesis is set to address the following research questions:
1. How do the family members in Ahvaz city participate in the decision making of
house design?
2. What are the roles of each member of the family in shaping the spaces?
3. How does the design of a house influenced by participations of each family
member influences?
6 1.5.1
Research objectives
The objectives of this research are:
1- To identify approaches of decision making in house design.
2- To determine the roles of each family member in shaping the spaces in urban
housings.
3- To investigate the effect of each family member participation on house design.
1.6
Research Methodology
This research employs a case study research approach to investigate the influence
of family influences in house design. The study was carried out on personalized
(renovated) houses in the city of Ahvaz that is located in southwestern Iran. It is a
qualitative research using semi structured interview as a method of data collection.
Thirty houses were randomly selected from several locations in the city. The
selected cases were from the educated, middle class families in the city.
Data collection method used was semi-structured interview. The verbal data was
supported by visual data, which was obtained from photos, and recorded house plans
before and after the renovation. Researcher also took written notes during the interviews
and recorded field notes after the interviews completed. All the interviews were recorded
with a tape recorder.
The qualitative method was employed because this research is going to study
human behaviour and its influence. Because of the nature of this type of research,
investigations were often connected with methods such as in-depth interviewing and the
collection of relevant documents.
7 The importance of visual data in this research was to clarify and make a richer
meaning of the design not only from the plan, but also from the areas and spaces that
could not be verbally described. For example, the color of the spaces and the decoration
element designed to suite the taste of each person in the house and the meaning of each
space for them after the changes. The photos were taken from the entrance of each house
progressively until to the back yard of the houses.
Measured drawings (floor plans, sections and elevation) were used to make the
research rich and powerful. In this research, the buildings have been documented prior to
the interview.
Content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts in order to reveal or
model people’s information related behaviours and thoughts. This technique was used to
analyze verbal data that were obtained during the interview. After recording the
interviews, the data was transformed into written text format before analysis started. The
analysis process followed the following sequence: (1) all questions of the interview were
transcribed; (2) the recorded verbal data were transcribed literally; (3) in the
observations during the interview, sounds, pause, as well as audible behaviour were not
transferred and instead the photos that have been taken were collected.
Due to the different meanings of each word in Persian, the research used sentence as
coding unit in which the researcher looked for the expressions of an idea (Minichiello, et al.,
1990). Thus, codes were assigned to a chunk of message of any size as far as they together
represent a theme or issue of interest to the researcher.
1.7
Scope of Study
This research concerns with Iranian housing, focusing on the contemporary
single-family houses in the city Ahvaz. It identifies various factors influencing the
single-family houses by limiting the house that younger than 50 years old. The owners’
houses are investigated to search for changes made in the life span of the buildings
8 (rental houses were not included in this research, since normally they are not allowed to
undertake such alterations).
In addition, the research investigated the influence in term of changes to look for
the pattern of changes. The research is limited within individual family houses and does
not cover aspects of neighbourhood.
Respondents were selected among the middle income of the families in Ahvaz,
which are more educated and exposed to foreign influences. Most of the selected
families have children over 12 years old, so data could be collected by interviewing the
children of the family and their questions about the house from their point of view.
Ahvaz was selected because it was the researcher’s hometown and the researcher
was familiar with the neighborhoods and districts of the city. Secondly, Ahvaz is the
second widest city in Iran; hence, families in Ahvaz preferred to stay in single family
houses instead of living in apartments.
1.8
Structure of Thesis
As it is shown in Figure 1.1, the thesis is structured in the following pattern: The
first chapter is the introduction, outlining the framework of the thesis. The second
chapter is the literature review, which aims to present and clarify the core theme of
this research. The complexity of housing and the type of family variations that
influence Iranian families would be explained and historical context, where a brief
history of settlements in Iran would be presented in this part.
The issue of user participation process and its impact on the house changes is
taken. The user participation process is explored first in a global sense, as an
introduction to explore the case of Iran.
9 In order to develop a rational understanding about the housing issues related to
the Ahvaz city, the literature review is supplemented by a site visits and interviews
to cover the broad set of aspects involved in the Ahvaz domestic environments.
These physical surveys involved daily visit, interviews, preparation of measured
drawings, slides, photographs and some observational notes.
The third chapter discusses research methodology employed in the study.
Finally, in the light of the theoretical and historical background, and the field
survey, the fourth and fifth chapter deals with the general findings of the research
and concludes by recommending some valuable ideas in relation to the arguments of
this thesis.
10 Figure 1.1 Research Structure