From long ago, “house” was something more than just a shelter and the spiritual aspects could be seen in every step, from construction to the usage. But nowadays, ignoring the quality as well as spiritual requirements of the inhabitants while considering the economical and functional factors, result in reducing the role of houses in devoting the identification to the human beings, to the extent which one of the regardless issues in programming and designing process of the houses appear to be the cultural values. From the authors’ point of view, making use of our ancestors’ experiences in designing the identified houses, today known as “Iranian houses”, seems to be helpful in overcoming the current situation. The paper is a case study research with a combinational method that has the descriptive, analytical and logical reasoning research methods. Therefore, in this article, the authors tried to investigate the valuable concepts of traditional Iranian houses, relied on the particular lifestyle by the means of direct observation, field study, documents review and interviewing with some of the traditional houses inhabitants. Thus, for identification of “life”, indicators such as family and lifestyle are discussed and the data resulting from the questionnaires is listed .The results show that there was correct relation between the building and the inhabitants’ “life style” in traditional houses. In this way, the association between “the life” and some of the important factors found in the Iranian houses, including nature, group living, space flexibility, neighbors, beauty etc. are explained to achieve a comprehensive viewpoint of Iranian houses.

The art of Qajar period includes many unique features and themes. One of the most exceptional features of Qajar artworks (painting on tiles) is women motifs depicted at semiprivate and private spaces, at houses of nobilities, and palaces. Qajar women in these paintings interact with foreign women’s identity and they have shown a new face of Iranian women. The archi-myth of Qajar period is included of three different groups of myths: Islamic myths, Iranian myths and distant myths. After all, we can say in the female motifs of Qajar’s artworks, Iranian, Islamic and native identities are present simultaneously. Qajar woman has an independent entity in solitaire frames. This article has investigated the identity of the Qajar woman and her actions and her personal characteristics, by analyzing a set of visual documents- solitaire frame tiles with women motifs- which is left from that era in Shiraz’s houses.

Decorations in Iranian architecture refer to both aesthetic and infrastructural aspects such as social beliefs and religions. These sources have been effective in the way of decorations in Islamic architecture, so that the content of the image and the way of expressing that narrative are related to these tendencies. However, this process has undergone changes in different periods. Qajar period tiling is an important example of how to express the ideas and life of the people of that period. By recognizing these images, a clear and significant understanding of the cultural situation of that historical period can be obtained. It should be noted that these works of art are in danger of destruction and with their destruction an important part of Iran's cultural heritage will be lost. Iconography is that branch of the history of art which concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of works of art, as opposed to their form. Originally, iconography referred to the description and classification of religious or artistic objects/images, while iconology referred to the interpretation of their meanings, but these two terms now tend to be used interchangeably or as closely interwoven. In order to systematise the process, Edwin Panofsky constructed an integrated frame of three levels of primary, secondary and tertiary analyses. Primary level (factual description of representations): the purpose of this is to enable the researcher to see all aspects of the object/image in order to prepare for the next level. Secondary level (iconographical analysis at a more abstract level): seeks the meanings of the signs/symbols/images presented. Tertiary level (iconological interpretation): involves seeking the deepest meaning through clarifying how the signs/symbols/images reflect the underlying principles or period in which the object/ image was created). Although Panofsky did not suggest this, an overall alternative analysis can often help by giving you another perspective through which to view the image. Topics such as feast, religious Quranic, epic, political figures, soldiers, martial themes, poetry, hunting scene, erotic, special motifs, single frame, daily life, battle, decorative motifs and Slimmi (arabesque) were examined in these images. Even as the new hybrid forms of Euro-Persian design grew more prominent in court circles, the older traditions of vegetal, geometric, and calligraphic ornament remained in use. The latter two types predominated in the decoration of Qajar religious architecture, and the arabesque was frequently engraved on metalwork during the 17th-19th centuries. In this age, this industry had unique features and characteristics. Moreover, the cities of Isfahan, Qashan, Yazid, Mashhad, Shiraz and Kerman were among the greatest ceramic centers in Iran during this period. The purpose of this study is to find the components affecting the image formation in the tiling of historical houses in Shiraz during the Qajar period. The main question of the research is to know what are the visual values ​​of iconographic designs of Shiraz’s tile decorations? The research method in this article is based on library and field methods and based on Panofsky's iconographic method. The method of collecting information is through field observation and personal perception of historical houses and library-documentary studies. In this study, 15 houses with intact tiling were examined. Image analysis was performed based on iconographic method. The houses names are Forough Al-Molk, Saadat, Tavalaee, Salehi, Modarressi, Tawhidi, Atrwash, Basiri, Owji, Tavakoli, Javaheri, Ardakani, Dokhanchi, Ziaeyan, Manteghinejad. The studied houses are located in the historical context of Shiraz and the researchers have done the research based on the photography and analysis of each photo. The study area includes a collection of eleven old neighborhoods. It can be seen that there is a clear method and a coherent narrative process in the pictures drawn on the tiles of the historical houses of the Qajar period in Shiraz. This shows that there are three trends in how the image is formed and expressed in these works. Adherence to public culture due to the use of national-lyrical and religious images, the tendency of the homeowner to modern thoughts such as images of European mansions or jobs centered on industrial technology as well as the inner desires of the individual are three major trends shaping these images. These three tendencies can be seen, not only in the general form of the image, but also in determining the color and type of expression of each narrative. Human paintings represent the highest percentage of the researched study pieces. They have been found to be highly varied and rich. In addition to including various age groups, the human paintings carried different body features, costumes and themes. Human images were used on the pieces represented by some tiling; while another tiling included portraits represented only general themes. The researched ceramic ones reflected distinguished paintings of birds, horses, fish and some animal like those which were depicted in paintings.

Tiling is one of the ways of idealistic imagery in traditional Iranian architectural ornaments. In the Qajarera, architectural ornaments found a new effect throughreligious icons and themes. Tile designers in the Qajarerahave considered literary, historical and religious books, ancient traditions of Persian painting and Western stylesas sources of inspiration for imagery. Entrance portals, walls inside and outside of religious buildings and public and private places have been ornamented in accordance with social and cultural function, with epic, religious, historical and mythological faces, figures and scenes. The purpose of this paper isto examine theiconology of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the Naserid era houses in Shiraz. In the old part of Shiraz, a number of houses have been identified by the Heritage Foundation of Fars province and National Heritage Organization of Iran, in which various architectural ornaments including brick work, tile work, stucco, wall paintings, mirror work, painting on wood are seen. The subjects of the works of epic stories are originated from Shahnameh, Quranic stories and Iranian and sometimes foreign historical characters, and iconography of Shia imams and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Many of these houses have beendestroyed or their functionhas been changed. So, this study seeks to examine theiconographyof Prophet Muhammad in these buildings. Regarding the questions, what is the position of these images in the historical courseof iconography in Iranian art? Is it following traditional Persian painting or is it under the influence of westernculture and art? The results showed thatthe works with regard to the subject and visualization follow the tradition of iconography and works of Coffee-house painting (KhialiNegari), and with regard to the procedurefollow the common style of Qajarera. The research methodology of this studyis descriptive-analytical and the data were collected through field work and library research.

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (1995) stated that people spend about 90 percent of their time indoors and various aspects of indoor environment affect the occupant`s well-being and performance. This resulted in the development of various standards to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in recent years. Iranian spend Approximately 75 percent of their life indoors and as IEQ directly affects occupant`s health، it is requires special attention. IEQ is comprised of many intricate factors including: daylighting، thermal comfort، IAQ (Indoor Air Quality)، acoustics، etc. These factors make the study of IEQ a lot more complex، and during the review of literature of this article، it was found that most studies concentrated on merely one aspect of IEQ or the other. Hence، this research seeks to focus on indoor thermal comfort through a cumulative index. Some residences built during Qajar dynasty in Shiraz were selected as case studies and their thermal conditions were evaluated based upon the measurement of major climatic parameters in six separate rooms، on two different days: first of September 2014 and 21 of Jun 2015. Then by the Design Builder software utilized to assess the PMV، the rooms were modelled during the year and the results of the data’ s were analyzed in two steps. First، annual PMV data were compared with the ASHRAE standard 55 and then، architectural elements of the rooms were studied to find out the relation between these elements and thermal conditions. The findings of this study indicates that most of the rooms of these old residences such as Shahneshin (The main Sitting chamber) are in acceptable range، while the value of thermal comfort index (ASHRAE) are in comfortable range from October to May. In conclusion، the outcome of this study contributes to suggest design guidelines for energy efficiency for residential buildings in Shiraz.

Due to the lack of a suitable visual model in Shiraz, it was decided to solve this significant gap with architectural courses in Iran. The research method used in this qualitative study is content analysis. With the grammar shape method, patterns and typology can also be analyzed and designed. The result of the research: the houses and windows of this period are of three types: Early Pahlavi houses (three-sided and four-sided buildings with longitudinal construction and terraces with arch, full frames, and wooden windows with decorations and metal grids) 2- Middle Pahlavi houses (buildings on both sides, one floor with a basement, are non-parallel, the two-part windows are semicircular or rectangular and gridded, and the windows are colored glass) 3- Late Pahlavi houses (mostly on one side, divided into three horizontal axes, each with protrusions or depressions in the definition of the entrance). A centaur, stairs, and columns are among the main decorations at the building's entrance. The facades are parallel, the windows are lattice and wooden with colored glass. It is necessary to establish fundamental and basic rules, as well as general rules, in order to write and implement the Shape Grammar method. Tables No. 4 and 5 demonstrate basic signs of writing. The reading of Basic Shape Grammar rules is presented in table number 6. The researcher then draws and displays two numbers of the house using this method in a step-by-step manner, and finally, two views are generated randomly using Shape Grammar rules. As a result of the external existence as well as the existence of a built-in shape grammar, these rules are accurate in not separating houses from each other. The results of this study support this assertion.

The promotion of technology and science is one of the Manifestations of community development and is one of the main programs in developing countries. Following this development limitations and problems also appear. Due to advances in technology and consequently increasing energy consumption, especially in the housing sector, numerous issues including costs and environmental pollution, arise. In parallel to these issues in recent decades, in the design of small and medium-sized country houses, the calculations of the installation engineer related to comfort and low energy consumption have received little attention. Whereas in the past, according to traditional Iranian architectural patterns, passive cooling without energy consumption has been the most important part of providing comfort in hot and dry climates. Also, it seems to be a particular link between the architectural design patterns formed by geometrical proportions and the climatic design, that made the design faster and less neglected to provide comfort. However, today, with advanced computing technologies, we still see numerous buildings with severe deficiencies in climate design. This article assumes that there is a significant geometric structure from the perspective of static cooling in the traditional houses of Shiraz, seeking to find the relationship between the geometric structure of the architectural design to detect the optimal conditions of comfort with the lowest energy consumption and the fastest design time. In this regard, evaluating past designs with a point of view of energy based on new standards is a priority for the research path. The research method is descriptive-analytical and due to variation in passive cooling techniques and methods, along with computer analysis. After selecting the samples according to the criteria and extracting the geometric design pattern, base model production and energy analysis with the use of Design Builder software are performed, which enables the evaluation of the energy level of houses by adaptation of the analysis to the Iranian energy classification standard. Finally, it can be concluded that the geometrical and structural patterns used in the selected homes are significantly consistent with the comfort conditions. In other words, the numerical proportions available at "Peymon", could produce a structure of dimensions and coexistence of components at the time of architectural designing that, in addition to meeting the structural and aesthetic requirements, were responsive to current energy consumption standards. At the time of the designing of the buildings, due to the lack of installation systems, this privilege was obtained only through static methods. In the performed analyzes, all extracted base patterns without any change in the components conducted Energy class label C. Next; it was possible to upgrade to B and A levels by optimizing the structure with thermal Insulation and double glazed window, etc. In the end, we can say that the modern architectural design inspired by the "peymoon" theory can increase the quality of energy consumption in the buildings with high speed and ease. So if in today's buildings, in the architectural design process, we use a pattern-based approach to the peymoon structure, at least in possible parts such as facades or general geometry؛ Not only can design time be reduced, but even without the need for installation engineer calculations in the energy field (which is usually eliminated in the design of small and sometimes medium-sized houses) much better conditions can be achieved in terms of energy efficiency.

The art of Qajar era has many unique features and characteristics regarding to materials, subjects and execution techniques. One of the notable art products of Qajar period is the tileworks used in private and semi-private sites of palaces and houses of aristocrats, the use of these tiles peaked especially in the Nasseri era. These tiles reflect the interests and tastes of the people of this period, regarding to themes, execution techniques and depicting the subjects, the tiles show special characteristics. They refer to the simultaneous presence of Iranian, Islamic and western elements in this period. To understand this, we need to know the concept of "archi-myth" and the functions of the myths in the semantic space of art and culture of Qajar era. After explaining the concept of archi-myth, the present article, first, tries to study the dominant myths in the Qajar's art and culture based on the tiles used in the houses of Shiraz, and then some of these tiles are analyzed. The main purpose of the research is to study the visual documents that explain the contemporary theory of archi-myth.

This research presents the traditional construction details of flat wood beam ceilings and a typology of such ceilings in Shiraz historical houses, as well as the spaces that each type is used in. In addition to the development of technical knowledge, this study would also contribute to the systematic conservation of historical buildings. Moreover, recognition of wood as a natural material and its harmony with other construction elements and materials in historical buildings, as well as its environmental sustainability is important. This typological research uses a qualitative case study methodology through direct field survey and drawing the details of the ceilings in case houses. The collected data is then compared and analyzed regarding construction details and the spaces where each type is used. The findings show two major types for flat wood beam ceilings in Shiraz historical houses: “ exposed” and “ dropped” ceilings. The first type has two sub-types: simple ceilings, which are mostly used in corridors and sometimes in rooms; and ceilings in which load-bearing beams boast outstanding decorations and are mainly used in the major mirror halls or the main room of the house. In the second type of ceilings, the underneath coverage can be of gypsum plaster, wooden lattices, or wood lining. The gypsum type is rarely decorated, and therefore is used in corridors. The decorative lattice or lining types are used in the main hall or the seh-dari and panj-dari rooms, and if simple, are used in other rooms of the house and sometimes in corridors.