Analysis of Physical Identity via House Typology (Case Study: Sabzevar City)

The destruction of historic residential buildings of Sabzevar city in recent renovations has increased the need for documenting the housing of Sabzevar. Documenting these buildings requires recognizing indigenous and original patterns that can be interpreted as a "housing types". In this article, typology of Sabzevar city’s houses and its analysis in order to explanation continuity of physical identity of Sabzevar city’s Houses have been specifically discussed. The main questions of this study are “What are the types of houses in Sabzevar City?” and also “How has the continuity of physical identity been in the housing types of Sabzevar city?” and to answer to these questions, the study uses cases study method combined within analytical-descriptive method. Based on this study, it can be claimed that “typology” and “typological process” are suitable processes for analyzing the “continuity” of physical identity. The results show that there are fifteen types of housing in the city of Sabzevar from the Qajar until now, among which, five types are related to the Qajar, five types are related to the first Pahlavi, two types are related to the second Pahlavi and three types are related to the Islamic Republic. The results of analysis of typology of Sabzevar city’s houses indicate that the types of houses in Sabzevar city have characteristics such as distinction, change and plurality due to the passage of time, and the houses of this city has lost its physical identity due to the passage of time.