Journal of Studies on Iranian Islamic City
Year:2013 | Volume:- | Issue:13|Papers Count:10

The interdependence of man and nature on the one hand, and predecessors’ experience in garden construction and the pleasant quality resulting from the appropriate integration of nature and artificial elements in them, on the other hand, has led to paying attention to the design principles of these gardens, thereby, in redesign of gardens, with the creation of a familiar sense of place, the mental health of mankind could be regained in today’s society. In this research, taking into consideration, the machine’s dominancy in industrial age, the quality of the emergence of the sense of place in the Iranian garden (in its traditional sense) and modern urban gardens have been investigated. In order to respond to this important issue, using library studies, field studies and published articles and utilizing analytical-descriptive method, the physical characteristics of sense of place in two case studies have been evaluated for the purpose of knowing the strengths and weak points of urban landscapes with regard to the needs of users and the role of these spaces in promoting the life quality and urban environment. At the end, this result was obtained that the mutual understanding of human and physical environment and also the type of activity that occurs in it will lead to the formation of memories in the human designer’s mind - the memories which became lasting through their specific sense and spirit.

Though the Iranian mosques with all their diversities are among the most important symbols and honors of Islamic civilizations, but there are different opinions about the rate of their compliance with Islamic original values. These rates of agreements which have different features differ, such that in some periods, they are closer to the Islamic concepts and in some period, they have distanced from it. For having a comparative study of this issue, and using the basic concepts of Islamic mysticism such as metaphor, transcendence, beauty and glory, this article deals with the conceptual type studies of mosques and introducing the features of each type. This article also aims to study these concepts and explain them in a different style of Iranian- Islamic architecture (Khorasani, Razi, Azeri and Isfahani) in order to be able to find a way to have a proper use of historical models for contemporary mosques by detachment of contextual and physical values of historical periods. In the first step, using a logical method, the conceptual foundations of mosques have been described, and in the second step, using an evolutionary historical research method, the evolution course of the characteristics related to each concept have been studied during the style changes of mosques in Iran. Result show that from the dimension of simile and purification, the mosques of early ages have been more transcendental and functional, and in later periods with the growth of metaphoric imagination, the mosques have moved towards semiology and decoration. This issue continued up to the Azari age which is climax of simile and symbolic imagination and by the Safavid period, it reached to a balance between simile and purification. From the viewpoint of beauty and glory, a middle balance is observed between beauty and glory in most of the periods. At the same time, it can be claimed that to some extent, the early mosques were more glorious due their extreme simplicity and the Azari mosques were more beauty oriented due to extremism in decoration. In very rare cases in Azari and Safavid ages, some mosques can be named that out of balance limit, have an extreme state in beauty and metaphor.

In the Iranian contemporary architecture, diverse samples of mosques are observed and the literature of the subject shows that mosques and Mosallas have been centers for disseminations of discussions about the social issues of their age and have established a direct relation with all walks of life. The performance of these types of units has not been only to spread the religious teachings, but they have contained other factors effective on the social life of people too. Some of the Mosallas have had such functions. The question which is put forth in this research after reviewing the Mossals of the past period and comparing them with contemporary Mossals is: Which kind of issues the designers of these types of religious spaces have been facing with? What kind of regulations have they considered in the concerned design? To answer the research questions, at first, the meaning of the “Mosalla” concept and its philosophical existence have been elaborated and then on that basis, the theoretical framework of research has been developed. At the next stage, based on the outlined theoretical framework, Iranian contemporary Mosallas have been analyzed. The outcome of the research show that in the design of contemporary Mosallas, features such as urban access to the set and proper traffic connection with the pivot of people welfare, employing constructing principals in the design with roots in traditional architecture, suitable heating and cooling equipment and using modern materials have been the cases considered by designers.

The issue of cultural heritage conservation in Soltaniyeh town is of specific significance because of the location of the world heritage of Soltaniyeh dome and citadel” in that city. This article is an attempt to learn about the social conflicts in the conservation of Soltaniyeh dome and citadel. This research has been conducted by using the field study related to the subject. The theoretic framework of the research is based on extending social psychosocial topics to the public conservation of architectural cultural heritage. The results of the studies indicate a set of factors have been effective in the domain of architectural cultural heritage in this city. Some of the most important of the factors include: Lack of interconnection between the principles and fundamentals of “cultural heritage” and “public demands”, the ownership of about 10 hectares in Soltaniyeh small town as the premise of dome and its surrounding citadel, discordant and sectional treatments in the executive process of owned places, disorder in redevelopment of the site round the dome and other historical and cultural limits of the city, the conflict of the social groups working in the dome premise limit and citadel with the administrative system related to the conservation.

The traditional architecture of the historic cities of Iran (Islamic period) has always reflected the culture of the indigenous people. Moreover, each region’s climate constraints are of the major factors for creation of particular style of architecture. Amid these, the traditional markets in Islamic- Iranian towns have been the most important centers for cultural, social and political activities and are considered very organized systems. This article explores the unique elements of Islamic Iranian architecture of Dezful old Bazaar. It tries to identify their physical characteristics and justify the reasons for their formation, with regard to climatic constraints and the need to establish and conduct a constant flow of air in indoor spaces. For this purpose, a combined method was used: At the first stage, with the experimental strategy development, indigenous elements of Islamic Iranian architecture of Bazaar (research’s variables) were identified and survey data were collected. Analysis of the data was done using descriptive comparing method. In order to validate the results, the indoor air flow of the selected sample was simulated using CFD method. The results indicate that the position of full and empty spaces, squares, proportions of the Bazaar, and the position of openings has created an orderly system that based on the findings of this research determine the flow conditions (as a dependent variable) in the market and each changes causes disrupting the system, comfort and subsequently disrupting its function (as one of the most important factors in giving identity to Islamic Iranian city) And, as has been observed in market developments and renovations, it converts it into a non-functional symbol. Examining the relationship between the Islamic Iranian elements, the present research proposes certain approaches for the development and revival of bazaar.

Neighborhood space and district is an issue that has been forgotten in contemporary architecture of cities. With regard to the quantitative increase of districts and also the increase of a unilateral physical view towards them, their security declines and consequently the capacity for crime increases in the residential spaces and fear of crime occurrence among the residents of the districts. In the environmental design, the CPTED attitude is one of the most effective approaches to enhance security. The main pivot of this article is to study the rate of agreements of the physical elements of old districts of Shiraz with the features of CPTED attitude. The research method is a combination of descriptive and analytical and historical methods and the necessary information has been collected by using the systematic visual taking tools, regulatory checklists, and documentary sources. The results of this research show that the applied principles in the design of historical districts of Shiraz are close to the stable principles of this method. This research presents an opening to the localization of efficient approaches like this which can help with the increase of the security of residential districts. This objective as the pivot of this research has been presented within the framework of concluding remarks. On this basis, with regard to the identity of the Iranian residential districts identity, certain approaches have been presented based on CPTED approach. Having considered them in the process of design, it can lead to the increase of the security in the designed residential districts proportional with the Iranian identity.

The perception process in architecture and environment design is a complex issue. This complexity has brought about the production and presentation of different views on this issue. Gestalt theory with the attitude of understanding the space through an outcome of the establishment of forces existing in the space is one of these issues. This theory is directed at organizing the perceptions by shapes. Other views such as the theory of mutual action which deals with the mutual impact of subject and preceptor individual and has a probability nature and the ecologic theory of perceptions which pays attention to a set of sensual and experimental features of an individual and also to the shaping features of the environment have a relatively culture-oriented attitude. These attitudes with regard to meaning, value and attitude in the process of perception in architecture and design show that the elaboration of perception process is dependent on understanding the cultural components affecting it. Reviewing such a process in the world of Iranian thought through studying the remaining historical texts, this article shows that the perception issue, in the beginning was supposed to be based on the components of the inner senses in addition to outward senses. Then gradually and with the completion of these theories, today, perception is dependent on the relevance of produced qualities, taking into consideration all existing tools which are redeveloped by the author of an artistic work.

Architecture of Guilan province enjoys especial physical specifications arising from temperate and humid climate conditions. Saturated moisture in the air and high level of underground waters with an impact on buildings frames have made the architecture be influenced by these conditions. Architecture of Guilan province -which due to climatic reasons insists on construction of veranda, high foundation, gable roof, by considering this fact that shrine architecture doesn’t have the residential behavior specifications- considers the shape of the building body as a function of its performance in agreement with climate. Using a descriptive-analytical method, while describing the climatic elements of Guilan architecture and enumerating a part of Lahijan history, which has been effective on multiplicity of shrines in the area, this article discusses the architecture of holy shrines and their forming elements. Selecting some outstanding and less-changed shrines in Lahijan architecture, the author tries to gain similar models in the architecture of the holy shrines in this area of Iran. From the findings of this research, it is possible to refer to a similar pattern in the shape of the tomb, ratio of open and closed spaces, walls, ceilings, decorations and number of verandas in lahijan pilgrimage units.