Basis for the Formation of Troglodytic Settlements and its In uence on Structural Aspects

According to some scholars, old traditional and rural houses and spaces, in which one feels comfortable, were built by those who were completely aware of the essence of this path. Building beautiful spaces, spaces where one can attend to him/herself and feels alive is not possible in any other way. And as we can observe, those who step in this path can create buildings whose appearances and forms is as old as trees, mounds and our own faces. Troglodytic spaces are one of the most interesting and amazing forms of architecture and refl ect a valuable and clever experience in human settlement. This type of architecture is highly infl uenced by its natural environment and has a close connection with new theories and approached such as sustainable development. Although the background of studies and research on troglodytic architecture is relatively young in Iran and other countries and less attention has been paid to it, these basic studies point to one important fact that is the existence of different types of troglodytic residential complexes. Studies show that each type of this architectural structure has been formed based on different environmental, geographical, political and social factors and their location, extent, density and spatial form are all infl uenced by such factors. Human need to spaces that can satisfy his living needs in company with other humans has been always present in his life. Conquering harsh climatic conditions, livelihood, using earth potentials to use it along with other issues such as security, closeness to and distance from other neighboring residential sites and quality of relation with them and fi nally proper interaction with the nature are all items that have led to the creation of the structural form of troglodytic complexes. This paper tries to examine examples of troglodytic architecture in Iran and the world and investigate the basis of their formation according to the available sources and along with a conduct a comparative study, examine the effect of these factors on their structural aspects.