Architecture, Land, and Man, Rereading and Criticizing Pirnia's Suggested Principles for Iranian Architecture

Mohammad-Karim Pirnia، one of the most prominent scholars of the history of Iranian architecture، had two major achievements: The principles of Iranian architecture and the stylistics of Iranian architecture. In this article we will discuss his suggested principles for Iranian architecture. For this purpose، we will first show how his five principles have evolved and completed through time. Following that، we will mention his words about each of the principles which we have gathered from their original but widely spread sources and will present them in integrated and coherent terms. In another section of the article، we will deliberate upon the entirety of these principles and evaluate their worthiness for specifying Iranian architecture. We will strive to study and criticize Pirnia’s motivations for proposing them and their assumptions، and tacit implications. In the end we will show that the current order and content of these principles have an outer and inner side. Their appearance is in accordance with the necessities of Pirnia’s time and it’s possible that they may not be suited or credible for Iranian architectural historians of our time; but their inner side is a valuable element for identifying and understanding Iranian architecture in the context of Iranian culture. In this case، we will be able to reread Pirnia’s principles and use them to serve the improvement of research on the history of Iranian architecture and its development.