JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES IN ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
Year:2014 | Volume:1 | Issue:3|Papers Count:7

Human’s perception and cognition of city form is based on his mutual interaction with the environment.The knowledge of urban design, which is aimed at creating a good environment for humans, tries to identify ways of deepening their relationship. It has mostly utilized the achievements of environmental psychology. But the notion of perception, as an epistemological issue, has its conceptual roots in other cognitive domains such as philosophy. Philosophy can be considered as the origin of conceptualization of perception while this notion has suffered from the inattention of urban designers. The present research aimed to make maximum use of the viewpoints of Iranian philosophers on the notion of perception to identify productive achievements of philosophical opinions in this regard, including those that are applicable to urban knowledge. It tried to attain this goal by drawing comparative analysis between philosophical achievements and those of environmental psychology.In this study, the notion of perception was explored and investigated based on content (including issues based on the content of perception) and procedure (including issues based on its procedural structure and its design in urban design) in the following two cognitive fields: philosophy and environmental psychology.The effectiveness of the use of referred philosophers of each section was assessed as well.The present manuscript adopts an interpretive (non-positivistic) approach and uses the logical reasoning method to perform a comparative assessment of the viewpoints of two areas of knowledge. Research findings were tested using the Delphi method (theoretical saturation) and the principle of research. This study aimed to answer the following questions: How are the thoughts of Iranian philosophers effective for perception as compared to environmental psychology? How can the opinions of Iranian philosophers be used for explaining the nature of structure of the perception process and its application to urban design.Among Iranian philosophers of Islamic eras, the theories of the following famous philosophers have had the most contribution to the growth of philosophical movements in Iran: Avicenna, Sohrevardi and Mullasadra.Research findings revealed that application of the thoughts of Iranian philosophers is useful for clarification of the nature of perception and its contents as well as refinement of the structure of perception and its phases.The process of perception has the following levels with respect to philosophy: sensory perception, imaginary perception, illusive perception and rational perception. Each of these phases is differentiated from other levels using a constructive factor. Each phase also has a specific function and product. The most important issues derived from the opinions of philosophers are presented in the following table.***The research adopted an interpretive approach (instead of a positivist approach) in the analysis of the contents of texts. It also studied the viewpoints of the aforementioned two cognitive Results of comparison and integration of the two theoretical areas showed that environmental perception is a “subjective and objective process”, which results from the interactive (mutual) relationship between the human and environment.This process has a dynamic and progressive nature. It depends on human’s constant growth and his mental construct. During the perception process, the mental image resulting from the influence of the environment is re-created to demonstrate the true essence of the environment.The perception process is composed of distinctive steps and various functions which are classified in the following three groups: reception and selection (emotional perception); organization and preservation (imaginary perception); and interpretation and signification (rational perception). In addition, numerous factors (human and environmental factor) influence the process and mechanism of perception in the form of stable dynamic factors.

Artworks are treated as important because they are sources of aesthetic experiences. These experiences attract audiences. The concept that all aesthetic experiences are based on is their perspective of perception.Aesthetic experience is an artistic response. A response that requires the understanding of aesthetics features and contemplating the artwork’s form with it’s ultimate purpose. On one hand, aesthetic experience is a pleasurable feeling towards a beautiful object, and on the other hand, it is beyond the feeling and it brings along assessment and judgment; we experience the art piece in order to understand its values. But, through what stages do the audience gain this experience? The relation between the audience and a beautiful object or an artwork that has impressed them is the total origin of aesthetics. The constituent elements of aesthetics experience can be mentioned as, sensory perception, emotions, understanding, imagination and exploration.These models are a sub-category of theories of developmental psychology. One of the primary contexts of developmental psychology is its cognitive contexts, which studies the changes regarding intellectual abilities including attention, perception and memory, reasoning, creativity and imagination. Aesthetics Development theories are also in line with individual ability for thinking, followed by promoting the understanding of aesthetics. Those who have worked in this field and their works have been discussed in the present study include Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Rick Robinson and David Perkins. As yet, in our country, no aesthetics experience model has been conducted in accordance to Islamic philosophers’ theology which is originated from Islamic culture, doctrine and theology. On this basis, the present study seeks to design an aesthetics experience model based on the theology of Mula Sadra as an Islamic mastermind.The fundamental question is that can an aesthetics experience model be designed and explained based on Mula Sadra’s theological principles? These principles can be mentioned as the following: 1- Perception hierarchy: perception is one of the most prominent and most important acts of the human soul. Mula Sadra believes that perception is accomplished not through the soul’s reaction, but yet through the scientific creativity and imagination of the soul within the sphere of perception and imagination, and its promotion and sublimity within the domain of reason. Thus, perception leads to the soul’s evolution through the threestages of sensation, imagination and intellection. 2- Substantial motion: in Mula Sadra’s opinion, motion means “becoming” and therefore, soul’s motion is defined as “exiting potentiality to actuality”. Also, imperative motion is joining strength from weakness. In other words, imperative motion is intense. The human soul pursuits perfection and is ascending, without its constant form changing, the soul finds excellence through its substantial motion in different stages of the world. In fact sublimation in its levels is the same as the soul’s evolution motion stages according to the substantial motion principle. Meaning that first the soul is a sensory perception and is promoted to imagination perception through sensory perception reserves and according to the substantial motion. After that stage, it is ready to enter intellectual perception. 3- Love and beauty: love in Mula Sadra’s opinion starts with an image and ends with an image. The initial image is when the lover perceives the beloved and the ending image is artistic image that is the result of satisfaction and exemplification. Exemplification means portrait painting in aesthetics of imagination and this creative imagination is exemplification. Because from Mulla Sadra’s viewpoint, imagination is not a passive power, yet it is innovative and creative. 4- The union of known and unknown: based on this principle of Mulla Sadra’s epistemic principles, when an individual perceives something, the knowledge that has been created from perceiving the object becomes unified with the individual’s cognition. From his viewpoint, the soul is incomplete at first. It is through knowledge that soul is actualised and perfected, and it becomes unified.Based on principles that have been derived from the epistemological foundations of Mulla Sadra, it can be concluded that aesthetics experience is a renewable process and based on the substantial motion principle, mankind is always growing and the soul is in the path of completion and every moment with any phenomena that mankind is faced, a new creation occurs for that person. Aesthetics experience, as like the epistemology of this world, is the epistemology of a world that opens a window or a new artwork towards its audience. When the audience start understanding the world with their senses, it is at first through their sensory perception which leads their emotions to follow the artwork; these senses and emotions don’t bring information to our perception without considering the attention and awareness elements. Awareness and attention emerge with repeating the observation process and in this case, the art piece is memorized by audience which is called “the presence of mind”. Presence of mind is defined as the shadow of knowledge and through noting and thinking in regards to the obtained forms from the artwork and from what was previously saved in the audience’s mind, with aid of imagination, the audience wi9ll be able to combine and remodel the forms.During the sensory perception and imagination and intellectual perception stage, the art piece becomes united with the audience’s existence and spirit. In some stages such as sensory perception, noting and thinking, Mulla Sadra’s aesthetics experience process is similar to other aesthetics experience models. However, elements such as imagination and recreation, attention and awareness, and union are elements that either only a few models have taken them into consideration or have not been considered at all. The ongoing-ness of aesthetics experience without the physical presence of the object is also another difference of Mulla Sadra’s model and previous models.

Researchers and experts have employed various approaches in dealing with Islamic Architecture. Architects, scholars, designers, mystics and philosophers have interpreted this phenomenon in their particular ways over time. Some merely have considered historical descriptive methods as an outward expression.Sometimes these descriptions and analysis aim at definition of spaces and architectural elements and at times an architectural description of different eras of governments from a historical point of view has been carried out such as Pope, Groop, and Herzfeld.Architectural works have usually been examined with the use of historical analysis; unfortunately some of these analyses have digressed from the truth of the subject for not being familiar enough with the principles, values, and percepts of Islam and its relation to architecture. Pope, Papadopoulos and others have analyzed Islamic Architectural works over history belong to this group.Few of these historians such as Papadopoulos in his book titled The Islamic Architecture has concluded that there is no such a thing as Islamic Architecture; it is in fact a combination of Greek and Byzantine architecture.He introduces the Damascus mosque as an example that is take from the Byzantine architecture; such analysis as Papadopoulos are to a great extend simple and shallow since they lack any scientific value and credibility.Some others have utilized a philosophical view or in other words have examined the subject with an ontological or epistemological perspective. Philosophy means knowledge of the facts of beings to the point of one’s capability and its applicability. Other characteristics of philosophy are general. Various references can be made to what general is. It is the opposite of details which for instance, the concept of architecture, square, and garden can be referred to. However, generality has only one place and it is in man’s mind and wisdom. Nevertheless, general is external and objective.Others have used logic which is the tools of orthodoxy of man in relation to subjects. The logical approach of using the mind is to gain knowledge. Logic includes analogy, induction, and world of ideas. They have attended the Islamic Architecture using these logics. It should be noted that Islamic Architecture has mostly benefited from world of ideas or in other from form and concept. Form signifies the appearance of an artistic and architectural work that can be heard (music) or read (writing). Concept is meaning, logic, purpose, objective, reference, interpretation, and what form or word signifies. Form and concept in architecture is concerned with tangibility and rationality (oversensivity) and architectural form signifies that meaning and concept conveying the architect’s meaning.Some researchers have also found the roots of valuable works of Islamic Architecture in the past teachings.With training the architect (student-teacher based), they have dealt with the formation of Islamic Architecturethat is how students are trained and disciplined and how their teachings have led to unparalleled works. Letters in magnanimity are the foundations of such discussion. The basis of this approach, in addition to interest and talent of the student, are refinement, construction of the soul and from world loss. The manifestation of God’s spirit is in them and in turn learning its terms. Thus, primarily, the student should be committed to be well mannered, have high understanding and be physically able.Scholars have also benefited from generalization in studying the Islamic Architecture. Each group consists of objective, basis, and factors. In this study, the objective of Islamic Architecture is elevation and ascent in the living spaces. Basis is the cause of the research; therefore, its principles should be looked at through religious, philosophical, and scientific outlooks. Its factors should be found in more general categories of the Islamic Architecture. With the three mentioned outlooks as the basis of subjects in the Islamic Architecture, and through examination of the factors, objectives, and domain of the subject, a comprehensive perspective is formed according to the capacity of the designer. Religious point of view studies the religious insight, moral ethics, and religious percepts, embracing all the ontological subjects in regard to common concepts and domain of the knowledge. The philosophical point of view questions why, what, and how to achieve a logical word from the external world. Knowledge about the subject is formed logically in the world of mind. The scientific point of view employs the experiences gained from a specialized subject in Islamic Architecture over the time. In this phase, the subject is divided into internal and external strategy where each should be taken into consideration.The aim of this article is to brows different approaches toward Islamic Architecture with their analysis.Undoubtedly, each approach pays attention to limited boundary of knowledge in accordance to Islamic Architecture realm. Certainly researchers in Islamic Architecture are knowledgeable in their choice of approach in analysis and research. Here, the important point is that to what extent does the researcher and scholar in Islamic Architecture aims to gain knowledge over the subject? Relying on the mentioned methods we can gain dominance over its perspectives, zone, and development. The questions of the present research are as follow: Are there different methods to understand Islamic Architecture? What are different approaches towards Islamic Architecture? To what extend does knowledge of Islamic Architecture take place.The method of research in Islamic Architecture is first through brief descriptions of these outlooks followed by an analytical, comparative, and synthesis, using proofs and documents. Finally the argument is examined and concluded with a systematic method.

Indigenous architectural masterpieces have broad dimensions that can be studied in different areas of focus and identified with their original patterns to transfer a new framework based on fundamental principles concerning the particular time and place. Architecture of each territory is the outcome of the beliefs, culture, climate, industry and the ways in which the land is built. Therefore, architecture is considered as the mirror to represent the interests, resources, knowledge and ability of its creators. An architectural work consists of forms and shapes in spatial framework; the open and closed spaces and openings Shows, empty and full volumes and physical characteristics, hierarchies and measures. The color due to the extent of its role with psychological effects in social beliefs holds a special place playing an important role in the projection of an architectural expression. In the analysis of the different layers of the architectural works and the style of each architect, color has an important stance. The factor that relates architects` thoughts and emotions, on one hand and themes, theoretical principles and the cultural and social structures of the building, on the other hand. Therefore, investigating the type of color and its application in traditional architecture opens a window to recognize some of the features of this unique style of architecture and the artistic and architectural ideas, attitudes and abilities represented in the context. Although many articles and books have been edited and compiled on architectural history, building analysis, and stylistics amidst which there is a minor issue considering the color, in general, or the colors of the buildings, there is felt to be a great need to specialized researchers about painting and architecture in ecological aspects and its cultural roots in the historical civilizations. Color in architectural studies of West has been focused from psychological dimension since Bauhaus period, but in the social and ecological aspects, the most recent researches have been done on archetypes and indigenous and religious attitudes mixed with architecture.This research aims to identify and review the physical and emotional aspects of applying blue color in architectural practices of Uraman. Architecture in Kurdish territory has remained mysterious so far in many ways, although its physical structure, have been paid attention to by many researchers but it requires in-depth review. According to Uraman area, the research population is geographically widespread but considered proportional to the number of numbers required with all aspects in order to achieve validity.Therefore, five regions of Kamaleh, Uraman takht, palangan, naravi and hiravi were selected with suitable scattering. Among 40 aged people residing in these areas (55 to 90 years), questionnaires were filled in the form of interview. In addition in the initial evaluation and field studies, the presence of blue in the arrays, the window and Folk Literature endorses the need for research in this field. Although the present research is an effort to explore the beauty formation in the architecture based on the local culture and try to represent it in contemporary architecture, also to a large extent, it is located in the field of the fundamental studies. In this study, the influence of beliefs, geography, climate, literature and aesthetics as the independent variables on how and why to apply the paint and color in a traditional residential architecture, as the dependent variable is the focus of this paper. This research is descriptive and analytical. Part of the data has been collected through library research methods. Analysis and discussion have been on the psychology of color and hidden identity, the impact of lifestyle, climate and geography of the aesthetic and consequently, the selection of a specific color, covered in native tissue architecture and window applications. The other part of the data were collected through the field studies with architectural texture of the substrate, the distribution of questionnaires and interviews with older people of Uraman so that the obvious evidence of blue color application for residential windows becomes clear. Perhaps, what comes to mind in the first confrontation with mountain architecture is the minimal space of construction for a simple life. But in the deep investigations and comprehensive surveys, we find a collective power which analyzes the application of color in the windows from different angles and chooses the best one. Regarding the specific representation of color in architectural quality and anatomical texture, some researchers have had brief hints to color without any specific and coherent view to the issue in Uraman architecture. These points are one-dimensional and generalized. Ignoring the psychological, and belief effects and the fashion have not been mentioned with aesthetic or natural philosophy tendency. In the initial surveys and library studies, with the quality nature of the issue, there can be different views which are based on the hypotheses each research considers. But in this study, in order to obtain conclusive results and minimize the effect of researcher, by completing the questionnaire through interview and discussion with the audience of this architecture (target population), we tried to make research results clear free from vision of researchers based the current situation.  Finally, according to field studies and interviews with older residents in Uraman, opinions of scientists and psychologists and researchers in the field of architecture of Uraman, we can get the reason for the widespread application of blue in native architecture of Uraman homes to be expressed in this way that by accepting the dramatic role of geography, natural, climate and people in the unconscious memory formation followed by an indirect effect on aesthetics, it is the most important role in the widespread application of the blue traditional residential buildings of Uraman.Since each color finds value and the effect on the proximity of other colors; combination of sharp blue in low area with great surface of light brown of walls brings about a beautiful color contrast. In addition, these colors also add to the sense of comfort. Finally, the sacred hypothesis or removal of an eye sore has no originality in research findings and this view is no longer valuable in this field.

Natural light has been an important element in Iranian architecture and shaped interior spaces of monuments.During different historical periods, the presence of light in various Architectural works, have always been under focus from spiritual religious aspects in addition to the functional aspect. The incentive towards light direction during worship has existed in different religions and still exists. Daylight has always had a special place and value in Islam and the Islamic worldview. With emerge of Islam, usage and application of light in architecture increased especially in mosques as the most important monuments of Islamic architecture.Daylight, in addition to functional aspect, is considered as a mystical symbol and a sign of God's presence in the mosques, which raises the human sense of reverence and humility in front of God. To this end, for centuries, Iranian architects have been trying to use traditional architectural elements and day lighting solutions to improve the deployment of natural light in their designs.This study attempts to investigate and evaluate the application of light-catching elements in Iranian mosques, particularly in mosques and mosque-schools from Qajar period. We use a descriptive and analytical research method and our study is mainly on the basis of resources and the literature available in Iranian libraries. After describing the theoretical foundations of our research, we analyse a number of common light-catching elements through research’s selected mosques. Although a multitude number of studies have been done on the concepts of light and its role and function in the traditional architectural monuments, particularly mosques and homes, little study has been done on light-catching elements in mosques of a specific period as done in this research.Structural elements which have been used in Iranian traditional architecture for utilization of daylight are studied from two directions. In the first direction, light-catching elements often have the task of transmitting light into the interior space. In the second direction, light controlling elements adjust the entered light through the building (similar to canopies). The subject of this research is in line with the first direction. We only study light-catching elements and we chose thei common elements such as door and window, Shabak, Horno, Rozan and Roshandan. Although these elements are different in term of material, type and location of application in the building, all of them are used for light-catching even though some of them are also containing ventilation application. We chose 10 mosques and mosque-schools of Qajar period in Tehran. The examined mosques and mosque-schools in this research were selected based on the following criteria: first, all the selected mosques and mosque-schools are located in old and valuable regionof the city and they are tourist attraction. They have architectural values and are well-known among people and experts. Secondly, the buildings of selected samples reflect prominent features of Qajar’s architecture.Also the sufficient information (including maps and images) are available for these monuments. We chose 5 mosques and 5 mosque-schools among Qajar’s architectural works. Then, the usage and the application rate of light-catching elements in these buildings are evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively by the use of maps and the available visual data. Quantitative analysis is based on the approximate numbers of elements used in these mosques which have been extracted from the available images and maps. To qualitatively evaluate the application rate of various methods of light-catching in these mosques, we specify four levels of usage: "insignificant", "low", "medium" and "high". We provide the results of quantitative as well as qualitative analysis in this paper.Our analytical studies indicate that although door and window, Shabak, Horno, Rozan and Roshandan had been considered as innovative lighting elements inside mosques of Qajar period, architectures of this period still mainly used door and windows as the main lighting elements. Next to doors and windows, Rozan stands at the second place, Horno in the third place, and then Shabak and Roshandan. The utilization rate of doors and windows among considered mosques and mosque-chools has been similar. Nevertheless, the usage of Horno as a lighting element in mosques has been more than mosque-chools. Rozan and Shabak have yet been used more in mosque-chools rather than mosques. Roshandan has been barely used in the mosque schools, and only few samples could be found within some mosques of this period.

Nowadays Islamic countries more than ever concentrate on identity to revive their dignity at the age of globalization. Countries of west of Asia especially Persian Gulf countries enjoy a prosperous architectural era because of oil well revenues. Saudi Arabia, from among them, is selected purposely to analyses and to understand the interaction of localization and globalization in contemporary architecture of developing countries. Saudi Arabia, as the birthplace of Islam with the growing economy of recent years, is a good context of massive constructions which result in identity crisis in contemporary architecture. Economic growth of these countries, mainly during the last 40 years, has affected various aspects of their lives. Undoubtedly, architecture and urbanism as one of the main substrates were affected by these developments. Limitation of construction technology and engineers’ abilities in these countries made the Arabs to assign the designing and construction phase of their huge projects to European and American architects and engineers with completely different background and cultural beliefs from Muslims’. Although some researches have focused on identity crisis in modern architecture, very few researches have noted the interaction and conflict between Islamic identity and contemporary architecture.The main objective of this research is to identify and analyse the native and Islamic identity in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia. The main research questions are: 1- What are the main current trends in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia? And how have they noted to the concept of identity in their works? What is the relationship between theory (what the architects have in their minds or the goal they are following to reach as an ideal design) and practice (what is observed as the final result or understood by people) in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia? According to the theoretical framework, current buildings in Saudi Arabia are analysed based on five general parameters and factors: 1-Main idea forming the design (concept), 2-The Construction Technology, 3- The material in the unit, 4- The shape and form of the unit, 5- their relationship with the surrounding environment. This article has analyzed the buildings of the past two decades impartially in terms of the referred parameters. This research consists of two main parts. In the first part the architect’s opinion about his/her design was discussed. In the second part researchers analyzed the mentioned works according to the theoretical framework. The comparative analysis of the architect's comments about his work and researchers’ inferences can determine the distance between theory and practice of contemporary architecture in Saudi Arabia, then the architect’s success in achieving his/her objectives will be determined. This comparison will indicate whether the architects have succeeded in conveying their ideas to people or not. To meet scheduled objectives, fifty artworks were selected randomly from among the buildings designed in the past two decades, and were analyzed according to the main parameters. Then the quantitative data were transferred to SPSS22 software to determine the correlation between these two groups.Conducted studies indicate that a considerable proportion of contemporary architecture samples in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are designed by foreign architects who are not familiar enough with Islam as the official religion of this country. We can see some puzzlement in contemporary architecture due to the diversity of forms and concepts. The architects’ description about their own works indicated that the main trends of contemporary architecture are in the use of postmodern forms, conceptualism, prevalent structures and modern materials. The findings indicate what architects’ statements and opinions expressed as the form of Islamic revival, is leading to imitate the famous forms of ancient architecture in practice. In fact, most of the foreign architects believe that the imitation of ancient forms and their reconstruction by modern technologies is expressing Islamic and native identity in contemporary architecture. This leads to a contradiction between the theory and practice in contemporary works, although the construction quality of the analyzed samples is remarkable. It is essential to assign projects to vernacular architects and engineers to solve these problems. Native architects with Islamic culture and beliefs will be more capable than foreign ones in expression and manifestation of Islamic identity in their works. On the other hand, foreign architects should change their strategies in dealing with problems.Avoiding imitation of old patterns, getting more information about theories, Islamic culture, main needs and aspirations of Muslims are some of these strategies which help the architects to deal with the referred problems.These challenges make some serious threats and challenged contemporary architecture of developing countries.The results of this paper show that new architectural technologies and revivalist trends are the most important players in contemporary architecture of developing countries such as Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries because of their richness in cultural heritage, spiritual findings and local identity.

Many scholars believe that social modernity in Iran has been started far earlier than Reza Shah Pahlavi’s era and its up-down modernization projects. It is also argued that there has been an innate social process of modernity with a gradual development since Qajar period. So it can be questioned that which one of the two cultural models of Modernity and Tradition has been dominating Qajar artifacts and if there were any clear footsteps of cultural patterns of modernity in everyday life spaces of ordinary people of that time. Here, this question is inquired from the guest’s viewpoint of home spatiality. Beginning from this question then domestic examples from first period of introducing modernity to Iran (since Qajar to starting years of Pahlavi Dynasty), with an emphasize on the cases of city of Tabriz are studied concentrating on the effects of Tradition and Modernity culture on spatial patterns of hospitality within these houses.The hypothesis of productive effect of “self-other” dialectic on domestic spaces of modern era is put into critical debate. Three basic patterns of domestic spaces (minimal house, maximal house and collective house) are analyzed from spatial-cultural relations viewpoint. Each of these three patterns has its special theoretical debate in western discourse of early modernity. For each pattern, two examples of Tabriz Qajar houses are selected for analyzing guest space: Amir-Nezam house and Behnam House are considered as maximalist type, Alavi House and Sehhati house as minimal examples and Rastgar house as semicommunity house. So the research method is historical-interpretive based on historical texts, assessments and pictures as well as buildings.The maximal pattern is bourgeois’ that is manifested in Victorian examples. In this pattern all spaces are arranged upon a theatrical scene in which actors are homeowners and audiences are guests. This theatrical model as Goffman argued has been extended to contemporary western house. Introduction of large variety of rooms for various presences of guests can be interpreted as a byproduct of this culture. In comparison, in its Iranian counterpart there is no considerable social distance between the host and the guest in spatial order of a conventional party. Such a view has resulted in unifying of guest receiving space and living space which is placed at the central axis of house. This axial position is a socio-cultural characteristic of guest’s spatiality which is not restricted to maximalist ones. Any separation among people during guest presence would be upon vast family divisions which has no relation to guests. As our study shows, heavy interior decoration of bourgeois’ internal design is eliminated in many houses of rich men of Qajar. Two minimalist patterns of early modernity are arguable: dirty houses of Industrial revolution and what has been called “the minimum dwelling” by modernists. The latter is a product of modernists’ social project which was basedon reducing home-living in the favor of social presence. It was an essential step to deny private sphere. The guest’s spatiality here was seen as being with others in out-of-home places. So restaurant and saloons occupied the place of parlors. Searching for Iranian transformation like that model contains a reverse result. This study shows that in Qajar small houses of Tabriz, there were no conceptual difference in comparison with maximalist houses while historical documents show no sign of development of out-of-home places for guests. The third pattern is the community houses that were seen as utopias of the project of modernity. From the view point of guests’ spatiality, this pattern is movement towards denying any distance between self and other so the stranger becomes host as well as guest. In utopist text of William Morris (News from Nowhere) such a position is articulated. It has been argued by many writers of western culture that it has been common pattern of medieval society that has been destroyed by bourgeois’ culture. If the utopia were to be realized then strangers should be accepted in common spaces without any exception and if the socialist utopia was going on, then maximizing the use of common facilities would be seen as an instrument of saving the community. Private guests, in that sense, should make use of common facilities instead of host’s ones (the example of socialist Russia housing projects). Khanghah of Daravish in the Islamic word pursues such a pattern with the exception of absence of family i.e. these places where completely masculine spaces. So these could not be extended to dwelling patterns of traditional Iran. In Tabriz of Qajar era, there were no similar examples to multifamily apartments of early 20th century socialists’ utopias as well as utopian community ones. The only close examples to utopian patterns of modern guests’ spatiality in Tabriz are rare hotels of late Qajar and a house (Rastgar) with a linear and multi-unit plan that cannot be considered as a Qajar house.It could be said that social analysis of guests’ spatiality of modernity is heavily based on resolving the dialectic of otherness in western society of 19 century. This study shows that real patterns of modernity for guest’s spatiality at home differs greatly from its counterparts of Qajar Iran and therefore, Qajar houses could be interpreted far more persuasively with their traditional patterns than modern ones. So now it is possible to put some query on the hypothesis which stresses on the fact that if there was not obligatory modernization project of Rezashah, then there would have been an innate Iranian Modernity. Full openness toward strangers which were embedded at the center of utopian views of modern intellectuals and at the focal point of modern utopias, had no essential meaning in domestic culture of Qajar era in Iran because acceptance of guest as a member of family was so deep in cultural-spatial patterns of those people that modern utopian perspective of fading “otherness” in spatial arrangement of home hospitality brought no new message to people of that era. So it is conceivable that the theory of innate cultural permutation of Islamic and traditional lifestyle of Iranians without Rezashah’s projects cannot be easily confirmed for social history of Iran.