Family participation in house design of Iran

Abstract

Contemporary roles of family have transformed from conventional to unconventional family types. These and the changes in gender ideologies have given rise to family participation in house modification. The conventional housing design fails to accommodate contemporary families spatial needs in their houses. Although researches have shown that families’ gender ideologies have influenced house design for housework, research into spatial needs of the different family members in housing has been limited. This study is an attempt to understand family participation and its influences on housing unit design. This study employed a qualitative methodology based on a multiple case studies. Interviews and visual documentation of the houses were the methods of data collection employed. Data from the interviews were analysed using content analysis techniques. Respondents in this case study were residents of family housing in an area in the city of Ahvaz in Iran. This study reveals that the traditional patriarchal decision making approach has been replaced by family decision-making. Not only the husbands decided the changes, the wife and the children also have played bigger roles in changing the houses design. Housewives have changed the design of the house especially kitchen, by replacing a counter instead of the wall and having an open space kitchen and the living rooms, by placing a permanent place for a dining room. The children have also been involved in the decision-making process but the participation of children was limited only to their bedrooms and not in all the spaces. The study also shows that family income has a great influence on the husband in their participation in house modification. The most common factor that influenced the children was the variation in family size that implicates the need for extra bedrooms. This study shows that involving different family members in the design process not only help families to have suitable spaces in their houses but it could also help architects to understand family needs in house design process.