Formal-comparative analysis of the spatial organization of student residence halls based on their spatial threshold patterns

Functional quality of the student residence halls has a great deal of importance due to their collective nature and the fact that they are considered as housing units, identifying and defining the role of intermediary spaces on the spatial organization and and spatial consociation of student residence halls which is a compound system of masses and spatial borderlines can bring order to its system. This structure is defined through a hierarchy of transition spaces, between numerous external and internal factors and the interaction between the arenas and explains the thresholds in multiple orders, in the macro, meso and micro scales. With an emphasis on the factors of spatial threshold in the student residence halls, the following study aims to refer to the impact of their presence on defining the subjective and physical borderlines in order to define local territories. In order to do so and in order to evaluate this concept with a qualitative method, after explaining the concepts of spatial threshold, at first it analyses the impactful physical factors on the spatial system of student residence halls and then there will be an analysis on two instances of residence halls in the residential complex of Imam Khomeini International University which includes linear arrangement and the other which possess courtyards using the opposition of space syntax and architectural concepts in some of the factors of spatial systems. Another tools of the research is field research and researching the environment, interviews and objective observations. Results of the study indicates an emphasis on the position of intermediary thresholds, especially the role of central courtyard on increasing the efficiency of student residence halls in respect to the prevalent linear instances