Effective Factors in Shaping the Identity of Architecture

An architecture that has its own identity acts like an identity certificate for its homeland and reveals the thoughts of its people. All major and lasting works of architecture have been formed based on ideas of people living in that historical period. These ideas are specific, consistent thoughts rooted in the people's ontology and have created a unique architecture in every period for every nation. In fact the architectural identity is formed based on orderly thoughts and organized action. This harmony between thought and action forms architecture with identity. If architectural identity is lost, it can lead to loss of identity and instability in the nation. In these circumstances, people do not know what they want from architecture; therefore, rather ephemeral fashion values replace authentic cultural norms and values. In this regard, Lyon Carrier deems temporary aesthetic values as one of the crisis factors and states that the beautiful architecture created today should remain beautiful two hundred years later. This kind of architecture cannot be disposed after use like an object.The present paper investigates factors shaping the architecture identity in three sections: terminology of identity, architecture identity and comparative study of contemporary works of architecture. The results show that seven factors of spatial organization, time organization, semantic organization, general design principles, building shape and form, building materials and relationship with context are considered as effective factors in creating architecture identity