Garden Museum or Museum Garden? A Scrutiny on Miniature Garden-Museum of Tehran

Miniature garden-museum is the first phase of a leisure-cultural complex in Tehran that is used to display a number of miniature replicas of registered World Heritage of Iran. Despite natural, historical, cultural and environmental diversity, miniature garden-museum of Tehran is the first in its own kind in Iran. According to the employer's aim, this museum focuses on displaying a compact demonstration of history and culture as well as familiarizing citizens with the cultural heritage of the country. The basic idea comes from the spirit of Persian garden design combined with irregular spaces to provide miniature models, taking into account the geographic context and distribution of world heritage. This garden-museum offers the dual function of park and museum which varies from other parks. Miniature garden-museum is a new idea emerged out of combination of garden and museum which tends to blend the traditional aspect of museum with public space and offer a new type. The degree of success miniature in this garden-museum can be clarified by studying the goals and strategies of the design parameters and by comparing these goals with what have been projected eventually. The main criteria examined in this process include a sense of attachment to place, creating an exhibitive landscape and a familiar landscape to Persian garden. Despite providing a social space for daily interactions, the place attachment indexes do not show a successful relationship between people and the building. In spite of some aspects of a public space, miniature garden-museum fails to create a sense of place that offers a successful public space. Although the unconscious information provided by displayed replicas of the heritage offers a particular perceptual space that encourages the observer’s being in the space the main critics target the inappropriate choice of location and ignoring the scale of the national exhibited works. Being located in a part of the city incapable of acceptance degrades the museum’s position. The exhibiting landscape features and attention to the landscape requirements, requires a certain type of space. However, predetermined goals are not met due to the lack of service needs and requirements of landscape. Despite using Persian garden elements such as symmetry, garden terraces and viewpoints, disfiguring some of the main elements of the Persian garden and their formal use has made the final project different and contrary to designers claim. Lack of unity among the whole and fine spaces, creates a combination of familiar and unfamiliar elements in landscaping inspired by Persian gardens which decreases the Persian spirit of the garden. In general, despite efforts to use Persian garden and landscape features and creating a public space, the resulting has not met the needs since the composition serves the incorrect formal elements rather than identifying ones.