Analysis of the Architectural Features of Qajarian Bathhouses in Fars Province, Iran

Traditionally Iranian societies have been particularly concerned with their cleanliness. This concern was intensified with their conversion to Islam that made them subject to ritual duties. While the forms and structures of Iranian bathhouses evolved over the long time, their overall spatial arrangement patterns have been almost unaltered. The eldest public bathhouses in Fars Province, Southwest Iran, date back to Zand and Qajar periods. The present study investigates the structural patterns, proportions, and spatial interrelations as well as their correlation with climatic issues in order to explicate the role of regional climate in designing bathhouses in Fars during the Qajar era. Field investigation and library studies were conducted through evaluating the building plans and their major sections including the apodyterium (bineh), tepidarium (garmkhaneh), the passage in between (myiandar), and the service rooms at 14 bathhouses across the province, eight of which were located in warm and very warm and the remaining 5 in cold and moderate zones, paying special attention to their construction materials, proportions, ornaments, forms, and patterns of spatial arrangement as well as spatial, numerical and climatic relations. The results conveyed that: 1) the main spaces feature an octagonal plan as a standard architectural style. Hot, dry and semi-humid climates in the Southern parts of the province also featured a pothole room; 2) In both warm and cold climates, dominant construction materials consisted of stone, plaster, lime, and saruj; 3) The average length-width ratio of the whole bathhouse was estimated to be 1.67-1 in warm and 1.7-1 in cold climates; 4) The apodyterium always exceeds the tepidarium in size throughout the province. While the bathhouses in colder zones are smaller in average, their apodyterium and tepidarium together make a larger portion of the total area of the bathhouse; and 5) Generally speaking, karbandi (ribbed vaults or decorative gypsum lines on the vaults) is the dominant decorative element.