Climatic Function of Girih Art in Islamic Architecture- Case study: Residential building at Qajar era in Shiraz

One of the valuable arts in the Iranian Islamic architecture was Girih which has showcased the beauty of the Iranian art by relying on a unique and unprecedented geometry. The generative nature of such an art coupled with granting style to the woodworks through taking advantage of elegant colorful glass and the use of geometrical carvings has been perfected during the course of history.

Girih are lines (strap work) which decorate the tiles. The tiles are used to form Girih patterns, from the Persian word, meaning "knot". In most cases, only the Girih (and other minor decorations like flowers) are visible rather than the boundaries of the tiles themselves. Girih are elaborate interlacing patterns formed of five standardized shapes. The style is used in Persian Islamic architecture and also in decorative woodwork, it could be applied either as lattice frames, left plain or inset with panels such as of colored glass; or as mosaic panels used to decorate walls and ceilings, whether sacred or secular. In architecture, Girih forms decorative interlaced strap work surfaces from the 15th century to the 20th century. Most designs are based on a partially hidden geometric grid which provides a regular array of points While there are various materials regarding the aesthetic aspects and the incorporeal and theosophical origin of such art as Girih but it seems that the climatic dimensions has been less dealt with. In the present study, there is proposed this presumption that the Girih is not merely an ornamental furnishing art and that it is in a functional interaction with day lighting meanwhile avoiding vanity and uselessness in its architecture and also that it takes advantage of masonry proportionate to the regional climate through its adoption of a vernacular approach. Thus, it looks necessary to find an answer to the question that “whether the Girih used in the buildings constructed based on the Islamic architecture designs can be defined in fields with climatic functions?”

Another question which can be set forth here is that “whether the Iranian architect has been successful in taking advantage of Girih works in realizing and deploying masonries, and making use of the daylight and natural ventilation?” To answer the mentioned questions, there is made use of the qualitative research strategies and the subjective information and data have been categorized in terms of the content they bear through exploiting rational reasoning via performing library studies in order to be able to extract the effective functional factors related to the Girih work from the background literature and then, in the next step, select the main target samples encompassing the residential homes from Qajar era (1-Forugh-Al molk, 2-Asadollah Shojaat Asad, 3-Akbar Javanmardi, 4-Parviz Amooee, 5-Jalal Sahebolamr, 6-Habibi Pishehvari, 7-Hossein Ali Tasmim Haghighi, 8-Dabagh Manesh, 9-Seyyed Mahmood Fateminejad, 10-Aliakbar Asgharzadeh).

In order to be able to evaluate and assess the case samples and finally the Girih application frequency in the case samples and the type of their application can be obtained through making use of various sampling methods.

Related to case studies and comparing them to documents wood and glass is the most useful materials in Girih structure.

After finding documents about quantity of Girih in each case study authors started to explore the Girih area into façade area which showcased by “f”. As authors mentioned “f” is made by dividing Girih area (Ag) multiplied by Girih numbers (Ng) in each façade side into window area (Aw) multiplied numbers of each window (Nw).

The study findings indicated that there exists a significant difference between the Girih frequency distribution rates along the western side in respect to the other fronts which concomitantly accompanied by the use of a pier’s vertical parasol the same as a similar configuration in the modern climatic radiation protection system provide for the unfavorable western side light effective control.

The absence of the Girih along the southern side is due to the need for making complete use of the sun light and radiation in this front because the interior spaces situated along this side of the house were used during the winters. The use of the vernacular or the regional climate-compliant masonries in Girih provides for the walls’ thermal control and the non-accumulation of the thermal and heat load along the western side.