An Analysis of Wood Sloped Structures in Industrial Buildings of North of Iran Belonging to the Pahlavi Era

The arrival of European architects and the return of the Iranians students were the root of modern architecture in Iran. Roofing with truss structures is one of the architectural achievements of this period. In many buildings, and even for covering industrial buildings, trusses were used to cover large spans. The present study tries to address the differences between Iranian and non-Iranian truss structures in industrial heritage buildings.

The first step of the research is documentation. The second part is based on the field study and structural analysis. Six samples were selected from among from the shared-heritage of Iran and Germany in the late Qajar and beginning Pahlavi era in the Gilan and the Mazandaran provinces. The methodology was set to explain the difference between Iranian and non-Iranian truss structures.

Among the six selected samples of sloping structures, the two were made with Iranian truss systems and in the four other samples non-Iranian truss systems. The first group is only pretending to be sloping structures but the second group could be categorized as real truss structures.

Investigating the two different groups of sloped roof structures suggests that Iranian truss systems are different from the western truss due to deployment of elements, cut of the wood, joints and distribution of forces. It shows that what we name as Iranian systems of truss structure is only similar in face with the western truss systems; and in statics point of view, those are different obviously.