The Position of Ethics in the Formation of Traditional Architecture of Iran

Ethicalvalues are of the most impressive factors on the formation of Iranian traditionalbuildings, landscape and urban design. Literature review of architecture shows that architecture has a lot to do with ethics and there are lots of parameters which connect these ethics and architecture. A review on the theories and practice in traditional architecture in different eras of Iran shows that ethical values have always impressed the traditional buildings and their formation process in different ways. The main questions of the paper are: 1- What is the position of ethical values in the traditional architecture of Iran and the old city of Yazd? And 2- How ethical values can be recognized in Iranian traditional buildings, specifically in the old city of Yazd? Literature review shows that the case study of this research - the old city of Yazd - is selected purposefully; considering its importance according to being candidate to be located in the list of the world cultural heritage and also the specific characters of the traditional architecture of this city. Therefore, the old city of Yazd could be mentioned as one of the most appropriate selected cases to be analyzed about the effects of ethical values on the traditional architecture and the formation process of its buildings. In order to answer the research questions, the Interpretive – historical research method has adopted as inference mechanism. The data collection techniques of the research is a combination of librarical and survey method. The results of the research show that the effects of ethical values on the traditional built environment have been manifested in two ways: first, the process of traditional building formation and second, during the time of exploitation through considering the ethical principles of monotheism, humanity and preserving nature.