living in crowded urban areas and minimal houses, and exposure to pressure and environmental stress, threatening the physical and psychological health of citizens in the long run. In this regard, an environment that facilitates the relaxation of the mind from everyday life conditions is a preferred environment. The reason for the preference of such environments is the ability to “ restoration. ” Such as “ Restorative environments” by repairing the resources and depleted capacity of the individual, enables them to meet their needs and demands. The studies of restoration environment are concentrated on the benefits of communication with nature, and during thirty years of its existence, so far in its different socio-cultural platforms, this theory has been frequently used and tasted. According to the position of nature in Iranian culture, attention to this theory is relevant in the socio-cultural context of Iranian, especially in today’ s conditions that tangible communication with nature, especially in metropolitan, has been weakened. Due to the presence of long hours of special classes such as disabled, elderly, children and women in the home, new working conditions such as teleworking and attention to the home as a place to escape from work outdoors, it is necessary to contemplate the possibility of clearing of mind and relaxation in the home context. Since this approach, like other approaches to environmental psychology, is valuable when it leads to the improvement of users’ health by leading experts to planning and design, it is necessary to identify the types of restoration environments and their characteristics. The present study attempts to explore the physical and social components of the restoration in the context of daily life to recreate the restoration environment. in this regard, two questions arise: “ How individuals seek refuge after dealing with the pressures and limitations of everyday life? ” and “ What is the specification of a restoration environment? ” . In this study, a semi-structured interview with 100 inhabitants of two residential complexes in Tehran, in the framework of theoretical studies, is taken to test the restoration theory in the socio-cultural context of Iran and to extract the vocabulary and phrases refer to restoration and to clarify this concept. The present study shows that it can be found restoration in residential environments on a different scale ranging from micro to macro. Despite all the benefits that are associated with the surrounding nature such as communal spaces between structural blocks and neighborhood park, the limitation of such collective spaces in many minimal residential complexes and also the necessity of frequent experience of nature and the importance of ease of access to it, the “ Balcony” in the housing arena as a semi-open space in and outside, in case of having some spatial qualities and the possibility of carrying out different activities in it, can be very restorative. The results of this research, while introducing the architects and the designers of the environment with the topic of restoration, make them sensitive to the experience of nature by assigning appropriate levels to the Balcony in residential buildings.

Today, traffic-related pollution in cities has become a fundamental problem, especially in large urban areas. Balcony characteristics, including shape, depth, length, height of the parapet, Balcony position, and so on, have different effects on ventilation quality and the concentration of pollutants entering the building. This study evaluates the role of two variables, Balcony depth and its placement, on indoor air quality. For this purpose, 12 buildings with different Balcony depths and placements near a metropolitan highway were chosen as case studies and simulated using CFD. The Balcony placement in the case studies includes three Balcony patterns: facing the prevailing wind, facing away from the prevailing wind, and on both faces, in each pattern, four depths from 0. 5 meters to 2 meters were considered for the balconies. This study employs three-dimensional steady RANS equations combined with the k-ω turbulence model to solve the equations. The results show that balconies generally reduce both wind speed and the ingress of pollutants into the indoor space compared with buildings without balconies, however, increasing Balcony depth on the windward side decreases the incoming wind speed but increases the concentration of pollutants entering the building. Therefore, changes in Balcony depth within this range have little effect on airflow speed or pollutant concentration entering the building, ultimately, employing balconies on both the windward and leeward sides markedly reduce wind speed and pollutant concentrations entering the building, and increasing Balcony depth on this side decreases the incoming wind speed while increasing the pollutant concentration entering the building.

This study examines the impact of Balcony design on energy efficiency and daylight performance in residential buildings located in Tehran's hot and arid climate. Balconies function as semi-open shaded spaces during the warm season and transform into greenhouses with enclosures during the cold season, significantly influencing ventilation efficiency and thermal dynamics. To investigate these seasonal effects, simulations were conducted using Rhino 7 and Grasshopper3D, along with plugins such as Ladybug Tools, which incorporate Radiance for daylight analysis and EnergyPlus for energy modeling. A dataset comprising 1,636 Balcony models with varying dimensions and window-to-wall ratios (WWR) was analyzed. The results indicate that well-designed balconies, optimized for depth, width, and orientation, can substantially reduce energy consumption while enhancing visual comfort. Optimal designs vary based on orientation: east-west elongated balconies maximize daylight access, square-shaped balconies improve versatility and energy efficiency, and north-south elongated balconies achieve the lowest energy consumption. Balconies shorter than 3 meters in length, approximately 1.5 meters in width, and with a WWR of around 20% effectively balance energy efficiency and natural lighting. These findings provide practical insights for sustainable Balcony design, promoting reduced energy consumption and improved occupant comfort.

The present study tries to investigate "femininity" and its relation to "death" in The Balcony by Jean Genet, with the help of Julia Kristeva and Maurice Blanchot’s views. These two concepts have always been abjected as "other" in the history of Western phallogocentrique thought. According to Hélène Cixous, the root cause of this abjection of women resides in language, the one which is based on binary oppositions. According to the researcher, the reason of death abjection should also be sought in language; Blanchot mentions this gap in his article "La Littérature et le Droit à la Mort" and considers the task of literature to give the reader the experience of death, and thus to fill this gap. In the play Balcon, Jean Genet, by crossing the boundaries of symbolic order, deconstructing the binary-based language, and relying on the semiotic mode of signification rather than symbolic mode, creates a new language that can be called "feminine" by Cixous and Kristeva’s criteria. With the help of the motherly features of its language and narrative, this work has been able to instill the experience of death as one of its main elements, and has fulfilled the task of literature, according to Blanchot, in granting the experience of death to the reader.

Background and Objective: According to the equality Terms and conditions of twenty-two national building regulations topics in all cities of Iran and being forced to run them around the country, Balcony design course is the same in terms of size and its only appearance is different. However, each climate has its own requirements for the design. The aim of this article is study about Balcony climate features in residential buildings in Tabriz, according to the national building regulations.Method: This article is based on analytical-descriptive research collecting information based on documents and comparative. At first, by using the canopy depth formula, canopy depth and penetration of sunlight into the buildings in Tabriz are calculated and once again, this process is repeated according to the national building regulations, and finally the results are checked through the two methods.Findings: In the condition of N=0, the difference in penetration of sun in the south side of building, between regulations and optimum condition is 71 cm, and in the condition of N=15, is 59 cm.Discussion and Conclusion: the results show that, Balcony with only climate feature and using as a canopy, with depth of 1.2m is more than enough and it is absorbing the sunshine to enter into the building.

Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources and Iran is an ideal place for the use of solar energy. This form of renewable energy can be utilized through both active and passive systems. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the most common methods of using solar energy in passive ways, which are sunspaces (glazed Balcony and atrium) on reducing energy consumption of two residential buildings in Iran-Mashhad city with cold semi-arid climate. The method of the research is descriptive, analytical and practical. The data collection was based on literature review, case study and climate data from meteorological station of Mashhad and reputable global web sites during a period of (2004-2018) for a short term and (1944-2020) for a long term. Also, a combination of the Echotect, Climate consultant and Autodesk Revit 2020 with insight 360 plug-in has been used. The Echotect software is used for optimum orientation analysis function and Climate Consultant is used for building design strategies appropriate for the unique characteristics of that climate of Mashhad. In this paper analyzed annual energy consumption in case A (with Balcony and without Balcony) and in case B (with atrium and without atrium). Results indicated that glazed balconies and atrium in two buildings could reduce the energy consumption by 41. 33% in case A and by 26. 28% in case B with respect to the reference building, respectively. Overall, using sunspaces can have a significant effect at city scale, by repetition in cold semi-arid climates. Thus, these systems can be considered by the designer in the first step of a designing project.

Today's common housing is not only built for shelter, but it is an effort to produce a life-oriented space. Now, with the transformation of housing into a capital good and its price value and the necessity of providing comfort to the residents, it requires special attention. Therefore, the concept of performance efficiency based on the mechanism of today's common buildings in order to strengthen the utilization of spaces has a very special role. On one hand, with the understanding that residence is a process during which a person has turned the "place of being" into a home, and considering the discussions of recent years regarding the relationship between man and nature in apartment housing, the importance of looking at the relationship between man and the natural environment through Some kind of intermediate spaces like a Balcony are established and gain meaning. Therefore, this research seeks to investigate the arrangement of balconies to improve the functional efficiency of these spaces in order to increase the desired spatial quality. In this regard, by using the system dynamics method, the effective indicators have been examined and the data has been measured with depthmapx software (0.50) and finally, the main results have been obtained through logical reasoning. The investigated samples were randomly selected from the common residential buildings of the cities of Guilan province in the government and private Constructions. Based on the results obtained, in the rearrangement of the balconies by increasing their connection with more spaces and also by increasing the area of the balconies and changing its position from the surface of the facade to the inside of the building, more access and visibility have been given to the balconies and also The depth of the spaces compared to the balconies has been reduced and its performance efficiency has been improved

One of the most important components of a building that influences physical properties, environmental behavior and responses, and energy consumption is the building envelope. Therefore, accurate decision-making in this regard will be of particular importance. Most of the measures taken to reduce energy consumption in buildings are somehow active and mechanical strategies that not only impose the increase of construction cost on employers but also the emission of greenhouse gases in the global environment. Regarding the importance of the role of architects, if the initial decisions in the design process are made based on environmental issues and climatic approach, a considerable saving on cost and energy consumption can be achieved. In the meanwhile, passive systems are the most efficient and clean ways to meet the thermal needs of a building by means of utilizing renewable energy resources such as solar energy, wind power, and so on. In this type of system, fossil fuels and mechanical powers are rarely used. Among the mentioned methods, the element of shading device is one of the most effective solutions that has been widely used in traditional Iranian architecture. This solution has a high potential to be implemented in contemporary architecture as well. Measurements and simulation studies have shown that Balcony form and solar protection can significantly affect the thermal comfort of occupants on the Balcony as well as in the adjacent room. In this research, one of the existing buildings equipped with a glasscovered Balcony was selected as a case study and experimental measurements were taken by two data loggers located in the Balcony and adjoining room in order to record the temperature fluctuation. The simulation process was validated by comparing the experimental results. The base case building was modeled in Openstudio software )2. 6. 0( and Energyplus 8. 9 and was then utilized for annual energy simulation. The depth of semi-open space, the window area of the adjoining wall, and its thermal conductivity coefficient in the two types of balconies and porches were considered as the variables. The effect of shading strategies such as movable louver and glass cover on thermal performance was comparatively investigated. The simulation results indicated that the use of an open-angle louver as well as a movable glass partition in summer and winter respectively would enhance the thermal performance of the room adjacent to semi-open space. Regarding under-construction buildings, the effect of using attached shading devices on thermal performance on cold days of a year increases based on the depth of the semi-open space along with window to wall ratio. Although the reduction of the thermal conductivity coefficient of window would make the attached glass partition more effective in the winter, the negative effect has to be considered in the summer. Based on the research findings, this paper concluded in determining a design guideline for the application of a movable attached shading device of semi-open spaces in residential buildings in Tehran metropolitan city.

Extended Abstract Background and Objectives: Today, for various reasons, a small and inadequate floor area is often allocated to private semi-open spaces in apartment housing in Iran. This allocation results in a significant reduction in the efficiency of these spaces. Consequently, the potential of the space to accommodate the daily presence and use by the residents is almost lost. The present study aims to specifically address this issue from the perspective of the development control system and to consider the role of building regulations in ensuring the minimum acceptable usability of these spaces.Methods: In this research, in the first step, 10 international examples of building codes related to the minimum allowable dimensions of residential balconies in some developed countries of the world including England, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands are studied and an attempt is made to identify the logic of calculating these values. In the second step, a review of building codes related to the minimum dimensions and floor area of semi-open private spaces in the current development control system of Iran and specifically the city of Rasht is performed. In the following, an attempt is made to provide a definition of the “usable minimal Balcony” for the city of Rasht and to calculate its required area and dimensions. In the next step, the current status of balconies design in the apartment housing in Rasht is examined. To do this, the apartment plans approved by the plans control department of the Iran Construction Engineering Organization (IRCEO) of Rasht City were used and we examined all the apartment housing plans of three floors and above, which were approved in this organization in the period of three months from January to March 2021. During this period, 340 apartment units with a total of 401 balconies were approved by the organization. In the final step, an attempt was made to make a comparison between the minimal Balcony dimensions defined in the present study and the existing balconies in the statistical community.Findings: Based To define the minimal usable Balcony dimensions, the specific conditions of the target community must be considered. Otherwise, the possibility of enforcing this rule will be reduced. It should be noted that currently in the city of Rasht, there are no regulations regarding the minimum dimensions of these spaces. On the other hand, the current common dimensions of balconies in the housing market of Rasht City are significantly smaller than the standards of the studied countries. This has its own economic, social, and cultural reasons and the study of these issues is outside the scope of the present study. However, it can be concluded that the required dimensions and floor area of the Balcony in Rasht apartment housing should be defined as smaller than the countries studied. Based on these considerations, the required dimensions of balconies depend on the number of bedrooms, the number of people living in the residential unit, and, in some cases, the geographical orientation of the Balcony in the studied countries. However, in the present study, the minimum dimensions of the Balcony in all apartment units are considered a fixed value. Thus, an efficient minimal Balcony is considered one that has the necessary area for the installation and proper operation of a small set of a table and chairs for two people, a barbecue, and a gas boiler. Accordingly, the standard is formulated as follows: “In every residential apartment unit, it is necessary to provide a Balcony with a minimum clear width of 1.25 meters and a minimum useful floor area of 3.75 square meters.”Conclusion: Based on the findings of the survey, it can be concluded that, firstly, a small percentage of the current balconies have the required area for proper use by residents. This is due to the small and unsuitable dimensions of these balconies. To be more precise, in one-bedroom residential units, only 16%, in two-bedroom units, 11%, and in three-bedroom units and more, 25% of the balconies can accommodate a table and chairs for two people, a gas boiler, and a barbecue. This finding is in line with the findings of researchers who, based on their qualitative research, have introduced inadequate dimensions of balconies as one of the main reasons for the inefficiency of balconies in apartment housing in Iran today. Secondly, it will have a relatively better perspective for application in the Rasht development control system, if regardless of the number of bedrooms in a residential unit, the minimum standard dimensions and area for balconies is formulated as a minimal two-person Balcony. Currently, the proportion of two-bedroom units with a minimal four-person Balcony is only 7% of the total (compared to 11% for two-person balconies) and the proportion of three-bedroom units with a minimal six-person Balcony is only 11% (compared to 25% for two-person balconies).

In the last few years, the urban population growth, the upward trend in housing prices and its conversion into economic goods, and the structural pattern alteration from traditional to modern have resulted in degradation in both quality and size in semi-open spaces compared to the past. This issue, being observed in the city of Sabzevar, endangers mental security, health, and life quality. Thus, considering the importance of root-cause analysis for the existing problems, and understanding the status of the current semi-open places, the desired functionality of these spaces has been the purpose of this study. This study aims to provide adequate answers to the following questions: Which parameters impact the functionality of a Balcony as an example of a semi-open space, and how desirable and significant are these factors. Considering the theoretical background, four components of somatic, social, operational, and cognitive factors, including their corresponding criteria, are examined to investigate the association between human-beings and such spaces. As a result, the Balcony is regarded as a private semi-open space. This research has been done subjectively, and has been carried out based on documentary research, field research and questionnaires. Fifty questionnaires were distributed among residents of Sabzevar who live in flats with balconies to conduct the case study. Analyzing data using (SPSS. 26) proves that the balconies are predominantly applied for laundry drying and keeping plants. Among somatic, cognitive, operational, and social components the operational component has the greatest, and the social component has the slightest significance from the residents' perspective. On one hand, safety and security are more desirable. On the other hand, the possibility of interaction with family members and people in public is less desirable. The difference between the desirability and importance of each criterion from the residents’ point of view, chiefly perceptible in the criteria of interaction with family members and the flexibility, represents that this type of space cannot fulfill the current needs. As a result, more attention should be devoted by designers to these deficiencies.