Rethinking building footprint regulations towards conservation of historical urban fabrics: a case study of Rasht city

ABSTRACT This research is an attempt to reconsider current Iranian building placement and plot coverage regulations which in combination define the permitted building footprints for new constructions in the historical districts of cities. Since their introduction to the Iranian building control system about eighty years ago these regulations have had a vast disruptive effect on the form of organic urban fabrics of Iranian cities. It is discussed that the current regulations are based on some western building typologies which are alien to the old cities of this country and in order to conserve basic formal characteristics of the remaining valuable urban fabrics of Iran these regulations should be based on vernacular patterns of architecture. As a case study Rasht city, in northern Iran, is examined and through studying its historical architecture it is attempted to identify the prevailing patterns for building placement, common dimensions of building mass, courtyards, and plot coverage ratios as a plausible basis for a new context-based regulation on building footprints. Considering these points in new regulations or guidelines will guarantee that the footprint of new constructions in the historical district of Rasht will be in harmony with their context in terms of geometrical attributes and dimensions.