Re-evaluation of the Patterns and Practices of Contextual Architecture in Islamic Cities in the Age of Globalization

In the world architecture literature, Islamic architec ture features as an important and noteworthy histori cal tradition. This tradition is regarded far beyond a purely historical tradition by Iranians. Iranian architec ture represents a manifestation of unity in plurality and an attempt to achieve unity in the plurality world through uniting the opponents via an order; this kind of architecture, is considered as a part of architectural identity in Islamic Iran. In the Iranian-Islamic culture, architect as a devotee worshiper and bystander in this world, would design and implement the capsule of human living  in harmony with the facts of the uni verse and not for the sake of showing off, as he relied on a power beyond human will and control. It is not through wealth, dexterity and expertise but through the amount of transparency, capability and require ment is able to get a glimpse of the infinite truth and manifest it in his work, with respect to the physical, historical, climato-geographical and socio-cultural contexts of the architectural context. “Islamic archi tecture”, unlike Renaissance architecture, does not make man aware of the function of each part of building, as this is a mixing between two realms of re ality from the Islamic view point and means lack of in tellectual honesty. Accordingly, it is through considering “identity” in the context that brings plu rality close to “diversity,” and it is the diversity that makes life attractive and beautiful. Nowadays, reli gion and religious teachings have been however mar ginalized in the body of the contemporary Iranian city, resulting in a body shaped entirely based on the pat terns of modernity (especially contemporary western civilization) or globalization. This, and the available lit erature on contextualism, warranted a study on this field of Islamic view and Muslim thinkers. The present study consists of two parts: in the first part, using the “meta-analysis” method, addresses the previous works on the  “Islamic city” and its subsets as well as “contextualism” in the Islamic thought and the availa ble literature of eastern thinkers. In the second, the components are analyzed based on the types of “con textualism” in the contemporary architecture before the “model of Islamic view on context” is presented in a diagram. Based on the results, considering the de sign processes and patterns practiced and formed by “experienced and thoughtful architects” represents a way to grasp socio-cultural roots of contemporary so ciety. Because, these projects adhere to simple and consistent patterns that stem from the culture, be liefs, nature and lifestyles of the community, and the conversion of these factors into architectural patterns should be explained to the public and should be acted in a way that the simple and consistent principles be come context of the architectural designs spontane ously. This study aimed at obtaining a single source, guiding principles and executive guidelines to be used by designers in designing new buildings in the valua ble contexts of Islamic cities; as “future shapes and patterns will be born in relation to the past and the persistent and repeating past principles will take on their new form with new experience and insight.”