Social and Cultural Sustainability

Subject Areas : Urban Design

Hengameh Haghi ¹ , Hossein Zabihi ²

1 - M.A., Student., Department of Art and Architecture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant professor, Department of Art and Architecture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2012-05-28 Accepted : 2012-08-23 Published : 2012-10-01

Keywords: Sustainability, Culture, society, Nature, green architecture, cultural centers,

Abstract :

Of building cultural centers in all communities and with any kind of attitude has always been one of the designers’issues. When we use the term in ordinary daily conversation, we often think of culture as an equivalent to the “higher things of themind”- art, literature, music and painting. According to sociologists, the concept of culture includes such activities, but also farmore. Culture can be conceptually distinguished from Society, but there are very close connections between these notions. Cultureconcerns to the “life Style” of the members of a given Society- their habits and customs, together with the stuffs they produce.Society refers to the system of interrelationship which connects the individuals who share a common culture. No culture couldexist without a society and no society could exist without culture, as well. Nature, as a sort of context for society has always beenthe catalyst for cultural issues. Architecture is considered as a link between man and environment around, which is a step forwardto close up the society, culture and nature. By considering human attitudes to nature and the principles of sustainability, GreenArchitecture, helps to expand the favorite Cultural themes for designers in such cultural centers. This paper aims to assess andanalyze the connection between society, culture and nature. Also, investigating this form of addressed sustainable cultural centersregarding the improvement of society in the case study of Cultural Center and Garden of Niavaran. It is prepared on the basis oflibrary-based phase of the research, case study method and observation for its field study phase. At the end, to sum up, the findingsof this study comprise the distinguishing characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of our case study and some efficient proposalshave been used to achieve sustainable development.