Phenomenology of Persian Garden Using Gestalt Psychological Theory of Perception(Case Study: Shahzadeh Mahan Garden)

The Persian garden, with its rich history, is the best landscaping pattern in Iran. It is the result of an interaction between an Iranian man and nature. The interaction between man and nature is reciprocal, meaning that one affects the other. This study aims to analyze the Persian garden using the Gestalt psychology perspective to investigate its effects on human perceptions of the surrounding environment. This study also investigates how Gestalt visual principles affect human perception of the existing structural systems of Persian gardens. To examine the extent to which Gestalt laws and structural systems match with the case study of Shahzadeh Mahan Garden, this study uses a phenomenological method and an analogical approach. For this purpose, this study scrutinizes the psychological and functional characteristics of the Persian garden, which can reveal the extent to which each of its features reflects the use of Gestalt laws. In this process, Gestalt perception laws were used to simplify the existing geometry of Iranian gardens and to investigate the effects of these laws on the perception of the surrounding environment in the case study. The findings suggest that the Persian garden, as a whole, results from the consistency of some elements whose structures by themselves do not convey a specific meaning. The great concept of the Persian Garden takes form as its elements (e.g., thinking, geometry, and a specific worldview) are arranged along with each other. The Persian garden is based on the Iranian person’s attitudes and beliefs in the face of his surroundings; thus, it is a cultural and multi-dimensional phenomenon rather than an artwork.