A Formal Analysis of Houses in Vernacular Architecture of Khorasan; Case Study: Boshrouyeh City in Pre-Pahlavi Period

Certain theorists of architecture and cultural-studies scholars have pointed out the mutual interrelationship of physical characteristics of dwelling in each region with the lifestyle of its indigenous residents. Therefore, a better understanding of the physical characteristics of residences would clarify how cultural and environmental circumstances affected settlement practices of local residents. As a primary abode, the very first experiences and memories of the human beings are framed via dwelling has important role in forming their worldview. Therefore, understanding the forming factors and their impact mechanism on form and spatial structure of vernacular dwelling would play an important role in understanding the Quality of residential life.
Today shortage of designerly attention to lifestyle and the attractive nuances of vernacular architecture are at the grassroots of identity crisis and lack of quality space in residential architecture. Thus in this research, existential reasons of these elements in Boshrouyeh houses is investigated. Boshrouyeh is a city in southern Khorasan province, which seventy percent of its historical residences have still sustained and considered as one of the intact valuable urban fabric in the whole province.
Historical residences and valuable urban fabric they have formed have been greatly endangered by the unconscionable contemporary interventions. The shortage of current available resources calls for a further analysis of the constructional and spatial elements of these houses particularly in this specific region. While modern housing practices have totally chosen a different language, still there is much to learn from vernacular housing in sense their behavioral suitability, privacy, multiplicity of spatial functioning and climatic logic.
The main objective of this research is to identify residential spatial typology and the formation of each type’s characteristics in the study area. The research has employed a combined strategy of descriptive, interpretive and historical methods. The data has been collected via field surveys and questioners and interviews were conducted with the residents.
This study benefits from two inquiry methods in order to target spatial organization and dwelling properties that are as the following: 1. Ethnography; to study the living style and behavioral and activity systems
2. Typology of space and dwelling patterns.