Architectural design is about creating several solutions at various levels to adapt a suitable one. Architectural design is a variety of non-limited fields in architecture that require complex mental abilities for gathering a wide range of information, combining it into a set of ideas, and creating a unique form of those ideas. Therefore, there is no complete response to a design problem; each design problem has different resolutions [
1]. In the words of Frank Gehry, architecture should speak of its time and place but yearn for timelessness. Architecture should be connected to when and where it is being built, yet it should still stand out as the positioning of new designs in a space between past and future designs [
2]. Following World War II, architecture focused on site-specific, anti-international design. At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, it is more important than ever for designers to review their understanding of the site and its relationship to its surroundings [
3]. Between 1945 and 1951, Robert Venturi’s master’s thesis, “Context in Architectural Composition”, included analyses of historical structures using Gestalt principles and revealed that context gives an architectural structure meaning [
4]. Site identification is a generative core of architecture; it is to architecture as meaning is to language [
5].
The word “context” originated in linguistics and spread to other creation disciplines. In architecture, context refers to where architecture is located, and it greatly impacts how ideas for new projects are developed. Context builds an artificial identity for architectural projects [
6]. Either architecture is integrated as part of its environment or reacts against it; the resultant buildings are contrasted by their surroundings. In both ways, what matters most is that the context has been carefully considered, examined, and addressed [
7]. Moreover, contextual architecture becomes challenging while studying how the different cultural identities are formed and translated into the design. Learnings from the context provide a link between history, society, and culture, thus allowing the design to utilize the features of the place and become integrated with the city roots [
8]. The contextual design approach greatly influences a designer’s decision-making process. If the original context is lost, the situation can be remedied by gathering, compiling, and making available all existing information about the place [
4]. In this detail, site context is effective and contributes positively to constructing architectural identity by merging physical settings with sociocultural parameters [
9]. The integration of the building with its surroundings will create an architectural form based on several environmental influences. Therefore, the site context means the background in which a building is located to create an environment that creates a defined place. It is the reflection of the topography of the site on the adjacent buildings that conveys the architectural message. Understanding the context is considered the most important stage in architectural design, as well as the history of the site and its previous and present uses. Contextualism reflects the adaptation of the form to the context of its surroundings by looking at different contextual types such as natural, historical, sociocultural, and human-made contexts [
10,
11]. In this regard, architects’ design approaches, such as Eisenman’s, consider the physical and cultural archaeology layers at each site, not just the obvious contexts [
12]. Contextualism in architectural design came from the desire to resolve the problems regarding the placement of new buildings within the historic environment. Therefore, it became significant in the relationship between the architectural object and the fabric of the urban surroundings. In architectural theory and practice, the contextualist perspective was the basis for increased critique and evaluation of the design product [
13]. Eisenman stated that the architectural forms are no longer derived from the transformation or decomposition of an ideal form like the cube but result from the superposition and scaling of artificial figures derived from the project’s archeological or topographic texture [
14]. The architecture of both Le Corbusier and Eisenman shows remarkable interest in the methods of site reading. They focused on the historical and mythopoetic concepts that the site contexts offer; they started with methods of first deconstructing and later re-constructing the site context as part of the design process. Le Corbusier reviews the site for its historical and poetic essence; his approach is about clarification through reduction, whereas Eisenman’s approach, resisting reduction, sought decadent immersion in the opulence of the site’s historically and culturally layered nature [
3]. In architecture, there are various kinds of reference techniques. The form-creating process relies on other existing forms because it is impossible to create new forms from nothing; forms exist in forms [
15]. The liberation of formal expression is considered one of the major developments in architecture in the past twenty years to reflect the diverse nature of cultures and contexts [
16].
There is a fundamental need for an architect to understand the site that a building is located on. The site proposes a series of parameters that will impact the architectural design. The project site cultivates design as the starting point and main idea and even becomes a source for concept development. The site is both a limitation to design and a provider of incredible opportunities. It is what makes the architecture-specific and unique, as no two sites are the same. The purpose of this study is to discover the role of site context in increasing the diversity of architectural concepts and draw strategies related to site context that can be used in architectural design. The study objectives are to explore the role of site context in architectural design, including how elements and concepts found in a specific site are adapted to design. Additionally, this study aims to investigate the diversity of architectural products resulting from these adaptations. This approach will provide insights into the relationship between site context and design innovation.
1.1. Site Context and Architectural Concepts
Each project site has numerous contextual traits and histories relevant to architecture, such as cultural, social, spatial, material, and environmental, that can inform the architectural concept. The site contains memories and traces of other buildings, in addition to the surrounding buildings and their essential characteristics, from materials, form, and height to the type of details. However, the site’s physical qualities, topography, geology, and plant life serve as indicators for architectural design [
7]. Elements that exist on the site and can be used in the architectural process vary. Neighborhood context, or “the immediate surrounding of the site”, is the first type of site context, which includes site geometric shape, location, size, traffic condition, climate condition, orientation, and accessibility. Natural context is another type of site context that includes actual features of the site, such as trees, rocks, topography, rivers, ponds, and drainage patterns [
17].
Site topography and existing fabric are another type of natural context that is used as a design concept in many architectural projects. Topography is a substantial source of concept and material selection. There are two types of topographical context: the immediate context (locale) and the ultimate context (region). Human-made features in the site, such as existing buildings, walls, surrounding vernacular, setbacks, materials, and landscaping, are a type of site context that exists in almost all sites. In addition, historical or time context is another notable type of context that is used in the architectural design process. Time context reconciles the conflicting memories of the pre-existing and the aspirations of the new [
3,
18]. Historical context includes the historical background of the site, old maps, and previous uses of the site. Ideas and elements of past cities are present in the physical shaping of contemporary cities; therefore, a context urbanist should be able to understand the characteristics of a place and put that as part of his designing process. In designing a new building as a part of the city, the designer should remain committed to the following points: physical contextualism in pre-existing form, historical contextualism, social–cultural contextualism, values, and goals. In contextualism, the city components are not studied alone but in a wider environmental range because architecture work is associated with a larger city system [
19].
1.2. The Interactive Architectural Approach
The architectural design process is a complex series of different variables on various levels that interact and affect each other to provide the goals of an architecture project. The design process is a novel approach to combining well-known components and presenting new concepts [
1]. Hence, interaction means a mutual relationship among two or more persons, groups, or systems. The American dictionary explains the meaning of interaction as ‘the activity of talking to other people or working together with them’ and also a process by which two or more things affect each other [
20]. So, the ‘interactive architectural approach’, also called ‘interactive architecture’, is a process in which the mutual relations between the factors, groups, and systems affect the architectural design process. The final architectural design results in a relative balance of mutual interaction among all these factors, groups, and systems. Moreover, interactive architecture analyzes all aspects of an architectural design and makes a mutual relationship between different aspects of it [
1]. Based on this, the interactive architectural approach can be related to contextual architecture. Contextualism is a standpoint that focuses on the specific features of a place and uses them in design. In contextualism, the human aspects as well as the physical aspects are considered. Contextualism means adaption to physical, historical, and social–cultural backgrounds. Interactive architecture, one such contemporary design technique, enables architects to account for multiple contextual parameters simultaneously in real time. The interactive architecture approach enables a building to adapt to its surroundings [
21].
Approaches to designing architectural projects through the interactive method are: first, the pastiche approach, which aims to create harmony between the design and its surroundings by mimicking apparent elements and the existing order. Secondly, the conventional method becomes a natural modern approach, references historical quotations, and persists in the present era. In addition, the third approach is the arrogant approach, which is highly separated and ignores the historical context. Fourth is the contemporary approach; the design is in contemporary language, incorporates elements from the present, draws inspiration from the past, and discusses the historical background. Finally, the subtle approach has a more balanced and humbler attitude toward the environment, which has the greatest respect for the historical context [
22,
23]. The interactive architectural approach tries to replicate the context as closely as possible with the least possible intervention. The purpose is to use the similar language of the existing context in architectural form without replication of the properties of the environment and to maintain the existing uniformity in the architectural language of the context. In this approach, sometimes small differences in context are evaluated positively. In addition, abstract reference creates a dialogue within the context, taking into account the abstract alternative. This approach, sometimes with free and independent ideas, shapes unity [
24].
In architectural creation, using a single concept may produce poor architecture. The research problem is the similarity in the architectural product; thus, searching for aspects that may create a diversity of architectural products becomes necessary. The reality is that site considerations have received progressively less attention in architecture’s academic and professional practice in recent decades. Thus, this study will explore how architecture and its site collectively inform one another throughout the interactive approach to achieve different solutions.
1.3. Literature Review
Studies about the interactive approach in the architectural design process are limited. Parsaee offered a new approach to the architectural design process that incorporates the concepts of interaction and multiple relationships. The interactive architecture approach suggested a process in which a dynamic and mutual relation is created among all design parameters, and the effects of each parameter on the final design are considered [
1]. In this regard, Schueler interconnected emotional design and complex interactive architectural systems. The study elaborated upon the term complexity and presented interactive design strategies as a possible approach to complying with current architectural demands. Subsequently, the relation between emotions and interactive architecture is discussed [
21]. In this regard, Naghibi studied topography as the framework that unites architecture and landscape in Persian architecture. The study suggests the site’s character, considering design strategies influenced by its environmental conditions, natural forms, and functional elements [
25]. Burns described the interactive approach to architectural education through collaboration. The study presented a series of exercises to second-year architectural students as opportunities to commemorate the unification of architectural artifacts in a situated contextual environment [
26]. An interactive architecture approach can leverage site context as a valuable component in the architectural creation process, adding identity to the final architectural product by integrating site-specific elements. This approach enhances the design’s relevance and coherence, creating a more harmonious and contextually grounded outcome.
In addition, Wong believed in the creation of the modernist form as ‘free-form architecture’ and searched for factors that modernist architects take into account while creating their designs. Using this primary data source, the study employed the qualitative research methodology of grounded theory to analyze the architects’ process and create a hierarchical structure of factors influencing free-form design [
16]. In parallel, Stals linked the creation of architectural forms to computer technology development. The study focused on the strategies of parametric modeling tools. Digital challenges like parametric modeling tools reshape the design process architecture [
27]. Brösamle and Hölscher studied 22 experienced architects to investigate architectural design practice. The study systematically investigates the sketching and gesture activity as is typical in design practice through the graphical transcription method. The study concluded that it is possible to gain insight into the concepts and work practices of a visual domain [
28]. Architectural creation is a broad discipline influenced by numerous variables, with site characteristics and existing elements playing a crucial role in most design processes.
Çizgen discussed contextuality and deliberated the relationship between architecture and context. Contemporary contextual architecture is scrutinized for design activity, design product, and related background [
6]. In this regard, Margaroni rethought the relation to textual layering against the project background to reinvest in the layering concept in architecture. The textuality history of the site reactivates the critical force of textual tradition today through a renewed appreciation of its historical embeddedness [
29]. Sanghvi studied a context in architectural design and compared designing with the context and contrasted with context. Though contrast makes the building eye-catching at first glance, eventually, adding more contrasting designs, it loses its uniqueness. The goal was to find innovative ways to design while inventing within the existing site context without disturbing the surrounding fabric [
30]. Subrahmanian argued about the importance of context in architectural design, as it is a reason every project has its place. Identity as a project on a specific site does not necessarily make sense on another site. The study conceived the design as a dialogue between the artifact and the context [
31]. Abrar studied contextuality by details approaches used in a historical context. He studied contextual architecture with further subdivisions that include climatic, geographic, cultural, economic, political, and historical contexts [
8]. AlFadalat and Al-Azhari studied the integration between contextual approaches using architectural procedural modeling and augmented reality in residential buildings. A general framework is proposed to create a harmonious context through the new design generation based on the grammar of the existing context and the architectural style of the residential buildings [
32]. Contextuality is a crucial discipline in architecture, deeply influencing the design process. It serves as an essential feature in architectural creation, ensuring that designs are not only aesthetically pleasing but also harmoniously integrated with their surroundings.
In parallel, Choi and Park studied contextual compatibility through the relationships among heritage intensity, context density, and regulation degree. Contextual compatibility requires consideration of the broader urban context and its geographical setting, such as the site’s topography, geomorphology, hydrology, natural features, historic and contemporary building environment, land use patterns, spatial organization, perceptions, and visual relationships, among other elements of the urban structure [
33]. Costa and Rosado dealt with rural context and urban context to conveyed how the relationship between vernacular architecture reflected a profound change in the ways of living over time. This concludes that the architectural specificity, in both contexts, is subordinate to the same processes of historical change, which nevertheless acquire a circumstantial dimension. [
34]. Tarboush and Gurdalli studied the context in architectural education to explore students’ abilities to link the concept with the site context [
10].
Based on the literature review, studies that connected interactive architectural approaches to the site context and showed the impact of the site context on the architectural products are limited. Thus, this study aims to investigate the role of site context in generating architectural concepts using an interactive architectural approach. It intends to explore the project’s characteristic features that enhance the multiplicity of architectural concepts by analyzing the pioneers’ professional practices. Consequently, the research question is: what is the impact of site context on increasing the diversity of architectural concepts? Moreover, this study is searching for similarities and differences in senior architects’ strategies in site contexts. In addition, this study is searching for factors that have been concentrated on by architects to increase the diversity of architectural concepts. This research hypothesizes that pioneer architects who utilize site context within specific parameters through interactive architecture methods can significantly enhance the diversity of each project. By examining various case studies and theoretical frameworks, this study seeks to understand the mechanisms of site context and interactive design to enhance project diversity.