The Second International Conference of Art and Architecture Was Held at Khatam University

The second "International Conference of Art and Architecture, New Technologies and Construction Management" was held with a focus on "Future research of the fourth industrial revolution in art, architecture and construction industry" under the supervision of the Group of Art and Architecture of Khatam University.

According to the public relations and website of Khatam University, the second "International Conference of Art and Architecture, New Technologies and Construction Management" with a focus on "Future research of the fourth industrial revolution in art, architecture and construction industry" was organized by the group of Art and Architecture of Khatam University. This event took place with the participation of Researchers and experts in this field from different universities of the country on Wednesday and Thursday, 15 and 16 of May 2024.

At the beginning of this conference, Dr. Amir Faraji; the director of the group of Art and Architecture at Khatam University stated that one of the main goals of this conference was to introduce the activities of the Department of Art and Architecture. He also announced that Khatam University is ready to involve the industry in such scientific events.

He went on to introduce the activities of the Faculty of Art and Architecture of Khatam University and said: “The group of Art and Architecture of Khatam University started recruiting students for the master's degree in 2015 and since 2018, it has been recruiting doctoral students. Besides, since 2014, this group started accepting undergraduate students. Fortunately, the matter of turning the group of Art and Architecture into a department has also been approved and the building of this department will be completed in the near future.”

In addition, Dr. Seyed Hossein Razavi Haji Agha,the research director of Khatam Universitypointed out the metrics and indicators that show the validity and value of a scientific conference and said:

“Concentration is one of these indicators. The fact that it is a general conference or is specifically focused on a topic is automatically effective in its validity. The second issue is the location of the conference. The fact that a conference is held in one university rather than another place is definitely different and has an effect on its validity. Another issue is the composition of the scientific committee of the conference, which honestly, the art and architecture conference is at the highest level in this aspect. The fourth thing is confirmation of the validity of the conference by external institutions, which have the necessary approvals in this field. The fifth issue is the continuation of the conference. Fortunately, after 6 months, we are witnessing the holding of the second international conference of art and architecture, which is a very important and valuable point.”

The research manager of Khatam University stated that we would like Khatam University to be known as a hub in some fields and conferences, and reminded: “In this field, the necessary investment can be made on the art and architecture conference.”

In addition, referring to the division of issues of the second art and architecture conference into three areas of sustainability, artificial intelligence, and technology, as well as future research, Razavi briefly addressed some general research requirements in these areas and stated:

“There are about 30 sustainable development goals 17 of which have been agreed on in our country. In the field of sustainability in architecture, various research has been conducted and the position of our country in the field of research in this field in the world is acceptable. However, the reality is that our international communication in this field is low, and for this reason, it is necessary to benefit international researchers by presenting their up-to-date articles at our conferences. In the field of Artificial Intelligence, it cannot be denied that architecture has been greatly influenced by this field and we must move forward with modern knowledge. As the research department of Khatam University, we welcome and support the research conducted in this field.”

In the continuation of the conference, a panel entitled "What is future research in the field of architecture" with the presence of Pouyan Bizeh (Engr), a futurist and one of the alumni of the State University of New Yorkand Dr. Masoumeh Yavari was held. In this panel, the ideas of possible future research, especially in the field of architecture were discussed and analyzed with the participation of other members in the panel.

Besides, Dr. Azadeh Shahcheraghi, an associate professor of the Department of Architecture of the University of Science and Research, gave a speech entitled "The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Architecture" while pointing out that we all would like to see a new vision of the future due to the existing generational differences in terms of experiencing some technological events. Importantly, she pointed out the emergence of the Internet in the past few decades and said: “It seems that since my generation has experienced the era before the arrival of the Internet, we believe that the age of artificial intelligence is a new phenomenon.”

She added: “In 1919, the issue of the artistic productions having no souls had become a challenge, and this led to the formation of a school called ‘Bauhaus’, whose founders followed a certain intellectual model. That production can be done in mass and cheaper than before. This approach was a functionalist look at artistic products. The school of thought of Gestalt psychology, which emerged in Germany in the early 20th century, believed that the number of elements is limited and instead the number of combinations is infinite.”

Shahcheraghi further emphasized: “The legacy of the ‘Bauhaus’ school and the ‘Gestalt’ school of thought go back to 100 years ago and are very worthy of consideration. The criticism though is that, for example, in the field of architecture, it was exclusive to architecture for vision which means visually oriented form finding.”

Dr. Shahcheraghi added: “For many years, architecture was thought of linearly, but today as we have entered the world of Big Data, it is no longer possible to proceed with the same approach. Today, the form is a function of Big Data, and it is no longer possible to implement this form with the previous methods. It should be noted that artificial intelligence is supposed to be used in conclusions because if artificial intelligence is to be used the way it was in visual architecture, we have not done anything new. It must be accepted that the use of artificial intelligence in today's architecture is no longer a choice but a requirement.”

In another part of the second art and architecture conference, Soroush Naderi (Engr); an architect and a digital artist, in an online lecture from Vienna, Austria, entitled "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Today's Designs of Art and Architecture" with a focus on a project running in this city, discussed the importance of applying new artificial intelligence image generation technologies in the design process.

The programs of the second day of the second "International Conference on Art and Architecture, New Technologies and Construction Management" continued with the participation of the members of a specialized panel included Dr. Mahnaz Rezaei; an assistant professor of the group of Art and Architecture of Khatam University, Dr. Ehsan Nik Sefat; a lecturer of Khatam University, Dr. Marjan Il Beygi, a PhD researcher in Engineering with specialization in Energy in Architecture, Dr. Heydar Jahanbakhsh; a faculty member of Payam Noor University and Chairman of the Environment and Energy Commission of the Organization of Engineering and Ahmad Sadr; a senior expert in architecture, a university lecturer and a senior member of the Engineering System Organization of Tehran province who presented their findings around the theme of artificial intelligence and energy efficiency".

 In this panel, Ahmad Sadr (Engr), an MS holder of Architecture and a University lecturer pointed out the importance of sustainable urban issues and tried to answer the question of how the architectures that exist in desert cities like Yazd, Kashan, and Isfahan still meet the needs of today's citizens.

He recognized the importance of sustainable architecture in its emphasis on compatibility with the environment and the use of environmentally friendly materials, which leads to separation from non-renewable and fossil energies, and said: “Sustainable architecture leads to making the buildings smarter, and so does green architecture. It seeks to reduce citizens' need for fossil fuels.”

He also pointed to the role of the government and the Engineering System Organization in the development of sustainable architecture and added: “The government should give subsidies to buildings that are built in a green way. Certainly, sustainable and green architecture has been effective in saving energy, and since the most important principle in designing sustainable architecture is the selection of materials based on their performance, it can be said that quality orientation, attention to the future, and attention to the surrounding environment are among the characteristics of sustainable architecture.”

In the continuation of the program, Dr. Heydar Jahanbakhsh; a faculty member of Payam Noor University and the head of the Environment and Energy Commission of the Engineering Organization, explained the main components of sustainable architecture by referring to the developments that have occurred in different intellectual paradigms in the field of architecture since 1970.

Marjan Il Begi, a PhD researcher in Architecture with a specialization in Energy in Architecture, also pointed out the differences in zero-carbon, low-energy and zero-energy buildings and added: “There are two very practical issues related to the field of architecture and artificial intelligence. One is the issue of predictability and the other is the issue of energy consumption optimization, and we all know that one of the important issues related to the field of architecture in the field of artificial intelligence is the issue of energy consumption.”

She also emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the field of architecture and that an architect should have majors in mathematics, law, and even philosophy, and presented the results of her several articles on the topic discussed in her speech.

In this meeting, Dr. Ehsan Nik Sefat, a lecturer at Khatam University expressed some points about building rating systems and pointed out that the issue of sustainable development was first raised in 1987 at the global level and later entered various industries such as agriculture and construction. He further added: “The concept of sustainable development means that the development should take place in such a way that it does not cause problems for future generations.”

He also explained: “The most important indicator in the field of ranking buildings in developed countries is the issue of energy and its consumption, and about 15 points out of 100 points in the global rankings for sustainable buildings are related to complying with the category of energy consumption. The most important criterion in getting good ratings is reducing energy consumption in the building.”

In the following, Dr. Ali Ghasemi, the Project Manager of the Home Office Building of Pasargad Insurance Company, while introducing the architectural project of Pasargad Insurance Building on Daman Afshar Street in Tehran, considered it the result of the intellectual efforts of Hossein Sheikh Zainoddin, who was also one of his professors, and emphasized: “Architecture is not only a product of thinking but also of leadership and management; That is, the missing link of many architectural projects in Iran.”

He listed creativity, design, having high public relations, teamwork, being an artist, having the ability to solve problems with the employer, engineering skills, and project leadership among the characteristics of a successful architect.

Additionally, Dr. Simon Ayvazian, a faculty member of the group of Art and Architecture at Khatam University, while appreciating the executive team of the Art and Architecture Conference, said: “In 1993, when I had just returned from abroad, the oil company claimed that it would run out of oil tanks, so we should anticipate and think about using non-fossil energy.”

 He continued: “I asked Dr. Tabibian to help us in this field and he, who had just come from Australia, said that the renewable energy program has been implemented in Canberra. In summary, I gave this report to the oil company and extracted an article from it entitled "Energy Savings", which was also published. I just wanted to say that this idea has been in Iran for many years and the issue is not new, although it has not been implemented.”

In the continuation of the programs of the art and architecture conference, Dr. Siamak Haji Yakhchali, a faculty member of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering of Tehran University held a training workshop titled Passing to PMBOK 7.

The last speaker of this conference was Dr. Alan Abrishamchi, a PhD holder in architecture, an architecture lecturer, and a graduate student in the field of artificial intelligence, who spoke on the topic of "Industrial Revolution and Human Creativity in Conflict".

“We all know that the steam engine was invented by James Watt about 250 years ago, but what happened in Iran before this revolution, which became known as the Industrial Revolution, that James Watt was able to build his steam engine in England? What was I doing in Iran at the time of the invention of the steam engine?”, Alan said.

He further elaborated: “Certainly, that need has been very effective in the formation of scientific revolutions. It has been the development of the transportation system, and this issue is much more important and vital in a country like England and other European countries that have many raging rivers than in a country like Iran which does not have many rivers.”

This researcher added: “In general, all scientific revolutions, including this industrial revolution, have resulted from the issue of people communicating with each other, and the central issue among them has been the issue of energy and the ways of using it optimally.”

Abrishami also pointed out the importance of big data and its accessibility. At the same time, he emphasized: “What is much more valuable is the analysis of the big data.”