A Ensuring Privacy in Traditional Iranian Houses with Time Space in Entrance

The entrance of traditional houses, like many other historical buildings in Iran, does not separate outside from inside with just one door and is more of a combination of components and spatial organs. Unlike some types of Iranian architecture, such as mosques and karvanserais, the entrances to traditional houses are not legible or facilitative. The fact that one of the purposes of this effort was to provide privacy has been discussed many times, but this study examines the factor that has been less addressed: time. The purpose was to examine the time duration required to enter and see how the fourth dimension was present in the design of the threshold and entrance space and how it could contribute to the provision of privacy. In total, 37 traditional houses from all over of Iran were selected and their data were taken from drawings and documents. The research method is a comparative comparison; the dimensions and proportions of traditional houses are observed as dependent variables and through quantitative and statistical relationships, their relationship with the time variable- as the independent variable - was tested. Three stages of data analysis were performed. In the first stage, the correlational analysis between aforementioned variables was investigated. The dependent variables that were predominant in this test, were further studied in ANOVA test. Furthermore, the uniformity of distribution was inspected and a follow-up test of LSD was performed. Finally, the variables that had a significant relationship with the Time, were analyzed by independent t-test to determine significance time groups. The findings show a significant relationship between the entrance time and the total area and functional used percentage of the house, which can indicate the use of the role of the entrance space as a factor in providing physical security. Moreover the correlation between the entrance time and the complexity of the entrance space and house decorations can indicate the use of the time factor, for perceptual preparation and to remind the guest, the difference between the outside and inside world. Both findings clearly show that the time interval created in the entrance space has been considered by the designer and architect as a factor to ensure perceptual readiness and more privacy within the space of traditional houses. As a result, the spatial and metaphorical potentials of the threshold and entry space are well-used in the design language to meet the physical and nonphysical requirements of the building. The researcher hopes to show how familiarity with the details of daily life, helps the traditional architect to be able to combine properly religious, social, personal and family life in his plans and designs. According to the researcher, “arrival time” has been designed and controlled in a “non-verbal” way, by creating distance, rotation, deviation of direction, change of visual space, creating mystery, movement, and other methods. It seems by designing the entrance space and creating some time delay in there, architects practices a smart “non-inversional” way of design for the remind mental “adaptation” of the guests, and “preparation” of the family.