Attributes of Prevailing Styles of Residential Apartment Facades in Contemporary Tehran

Due to the emergence and influence of elements of architecture from different places, there is always confusion in determining the architectural style of facades. Identifying the characteristic elements of the prevalent styles of residential facades in the city of Tehran that have gradually taken a certain style over time brings about many benefits. Identifying and distinguishing styles and determining their characteristics can be effective in future analysis in guiding the visual tastes of the community and creating visual harmony in the cities. The purpose of this study is to identify the physical elements of prevalent residential façade styles in Tehran so that a basis is provided for the classification of facades. For this purpose, the facades of middle-height residential apartments located in seven municipality districts of Tehran which represent the postmodern, late modern, and neoclassical styles were recorded by the camera. Then, the physical elements of each style were recorded in a table according to the images. The frequency of each physical element was determined by the logical reasoning and analysis method. This research is a case study with a descriptive-analytical approach. A total of 2303 facades were analyzed, of which 1131 were late modern samples, 1086 were neoclassical samples, 85 were postmodern samples, and 1 was a combination of the three styles. 40 physical elements were identified in the postmodern style, 39 physical elements in the late modern style, and 44 physical elements in the neoclassical style. The late modern and neoclassical style façade categories are prevalent in almost equal ratios, while the postmodern style accounts for only about 3.7% of the total facades examined. In the postmodern style, there is an attempt to renew the design elements of Iran’s past architecture. Therefore, identifying the physical elements of the postmodern façade style can be beneficial in designing residential facades that are linked to Iran's past architecture. A pattern was identified in some of the postmodern facades that were analyzed which included the presence of three physical elements at once: arches, awnings, and vertical divisions. This could indicate a new style of postmodern design. Several identified physical elements are specific to a facade style. These physical elements are either rarely observed or do not exist at all in the other styles. These include 17 physical elements specific to the postmodern style, 13 physical elements specific to the neoclassical style, and 2 physical elements specific to the modern style. Therefore, the greatest variety of physical elements specific to a style is evident in the postmodern style. The elements specific to the postmodern style include: bricks as the most used material, embossed brick volumes, turquoise/blue tiles or elements, brick frames with light-colored materials within, vertical facade divisions, cog-jagged volumes/materials, awnings, void in the roof guards, designed guards, brickwork around windows, fakhr-o-madyan design (wall barriers in gardens, bazaars and religious places made of bricks in the form of a grid of empty spaces so that the outside can be viewed from the inside), brick designs, vertical façade divisions, stepped brickwork, curved volumes, arches in the roof guards, lozenge designs and textures, and vertical façade divisions + arches + awnings.