| This Big City

Jul

Four Changes that Made Tehran a More Liveable City

Categories: Africa and the Middle East, Planning, Urban Scale

Tags: cc

by Elyana Javaheri

Tehran's previous Mayors did many great things for the city, but there was a lot of room for improvement. Now, the Iranian capital's current Mayor is working to further improve the city, implementing four important and successful policies. Read more

Mar

How Ancient Persian Architecture Captured Wind Energy Underground to Green Buildings

Categories: Africa and the Middle East, Buildings, Components

Tags: cc, cities above and below, cities below

Comments: 1

by Elyana Javaheri

Environmentally conscious buildings have been around for much longer than the public debut of our modern environmental crisis. Since the early 19th century, residents of Yazd, Iran, have been channeling wind below ground to cool their homes on warm summer days. Read more

Feb

How Seville’s Hidden Treasures Became the World’s Largest Glued Wood Structure

Categories: Europe, Placemaking, Planning

Tags: cc, farmers market, history, public space, seville, Spain

Comments: 2

by Elyana Javaheri

When the Spanish town of Seville decided to move the location of their farmers' market, they didn't expect to find numerous items of historic value beneath the new site. These treasures dictated future design plans, resulting in a contemporary structure unlike anything else in the world. Read more

Jan

How Modern Buildings can Complement a World Heritage Site

Categories: Buildings, Europe, Non-residential

Tags: cc, heritage, Spain

Comments: 2

by Elyana Javaheri

There's a lot to consider when building a modern building in a predominantly historic area, and many developments end up feeling totally out of place. However, one project in Toledo, Spain, managed to avoid this fate. Here's how. Read more

Jan

Café vs Castle: How Contemporary Buildings can Impact Historic Urban Areas

Categories: Buildings, Europe, Non-residential

Tags: cc, heritage, silves

Comments: 1

by Elyana Javaheri

You only have to look at the queue for the latest iPhone to see that ‘new’ means a positive and desirable change for many people. But 'new' doesn't always bring positive change when modern buildings are developed in historic urban settings. Read more