مجله هنر و تمدن شرق
پیاپی 8 (تابستان 1394)

Phenomenological and poststructuralist approaches in the field of architecture are among the latest considerable efforts to define the concept of "place". Phenomenology, however, by emphasizing the static ontological nature of places, fails to consider socio-cultural aspects in the production of places. On the other hand, poststructuralist relativity and endless chain of signification are more confusing for designers rather than useful. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to introduce a holistic definition of the concept of "place" which gives more attention to the socio-cultural aspects of places –in addition to considering human experience– so that it can be applicable for designers. In order to achieve this purpose, the article mainly takes advantage of the semiotic approach. The article concludes with a discussion of the concept of place from the standpoint of layered semiotics and the study of semantic field of "space and place" in Persian language to understand people’s desires and expectations of places in Iranian culture as a case study.

Human being has a special status to the creator and the created nature, he is not the absolute subject and creator of meaning; however, he is a conscious mediator in giving meaning to nature and interpreting meaning. Human rational soul as a source of prior knowledge of the spirit and as an intact desire, circumscribes intellect and imagination and generates relationship between subject and object and the minds of man and God. Intact desire is the source of pure human feelings and animal soul is the origin of human instincts. The Closed and constant process of artistic creation explains both the organic unity of communication and its elements (artist-artwork-addressee) as well as the relationship of each component with the whole (meaning). Artwork, is the visualization of meaning intuition, corresponding feelings of the artist and his aesthetic outcome, and the initiator of interaction and interpretation of the addressee which fully completes the embodiment of meaning. The main workshop of the artist and the origin of his work is the artist's creative imagination, in which form and meaning are combined. Art has a reflective nature and aesthetic characteristics are the product of meaning quality in the identifying spirit as well as evaluating the meaning attributed to things with the same meaning and offering them with spirit and meaning.

The archaeological remains pertaining to hunting tradition and Destagerd, i.e. royal hunting grounds, thus far discovered and published from ancient Iran may be divided into two groups of Parthian and Sassanid. The main argument in the present work is that the architecture of royal hunting ground palaces or hunting pavilions is essentially a Sassanid phenomenon, and that there is currently no definitive evidence on analogous complexes from the Parthian or Achaemenian periods. While there are archaeological data attesting to the popularity of hunting practice among the Parthian aristocracy, nothing can currently be said of the presence of hunting ground pavilions with certainty in this time.
However, the monumental tetrapylon known as the pavilion of Qala Zah’hak in Azerbaijan may be construed as a sort of Destagerd, though of course the hypothesis needs to be examined by conducting further excavations at the site. In the wake of the Parthian period, representing hunting scenes becomes more common in the Sassanid art, though it in reality had its roots in the representation of boar chasing in the Parthian traditions. However, apart from the artworks relevant to hunting tradition from the Sassanid era, archaeological finds from the Kermanshahan region highlight the existence there of royal hunting grounds and hunting pavilions in line with the hunting tradition of the Sassanid court. Here, the three archaeological sites of Taq-e Bostan, Kangavar and Farhad Tarash of Bisotun are theorized to represent potential Sassanid palaces in royal hunting grounds.

Women in Iranian culture are considered as a symbol of affection and love, creation and fertility, purity and chastity. From long time ago, the family form and foundation have been on the shoulders of women, mothers who by hard work, dedication, tact and farseeing managed men and children, by wisdom and God’s grace and the power of affection and sympathy organized their home and family. Discovering hundreds of statues from archaeological digs in Shoush, Tappeh Sarab in Kermanshah, Toorang Tappeh and other parts of Iran and then worshiping fertility goddesses throughout the history indicated respect and celebration of women as her constructive and life-giving force. Fortunately, good and holy beliefs’ hometown is never forgotten in the history context but always rising and survive in the hearts and lives of the people progressively. Respecting queens, goddesses, saints and saints and holy women was since the generation of Imams and hundreds of shrines in Iranian-Islamic land are marks of continuity, honor and respect for the woman in pure and bright history context over the millennia and centuries.
The remaining figures, coins and stamps, as well as figures of containers and objects and fabrics of the period are considered as important sources that have depicted political- religious history and culture of Sasanian.

The water in Iranian plateau and its environs have a main role in urban landscapes; complicate structures which shaped according to the hydraulic situations and played a multi-purpose role in the urban spatial structure. today with the new environmental and social concerns about modern infrastructures, rereading the historic semi-natural infrastructures and their multifaceted integration with urban structures, will contribute to redefine the dominant one-dimensional characteristic of water infrastructures in the modern era.
One of the most considerable examples for the multi- dimensional integration between water infrastructure and urban structure was situated in Bukhara in Uzbekistan. A system, developed on current water, with a vital role in the urban landscape of Bukhara, which remains till now, in spite of more than 90 percent of destructions.
The main question that this paper tries to answer is not the formation of the system, although it’s important by itself, but the way this system resist through the centuries. How to promote this system from common semi-natural infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with the most influential effect of the urban structure of Bukhara? For this purpose, the research focuses on the way the water system arises in integration with the urban structure of Bukhara in its started pointing in the 19th century and its expansion till the 20th century, and also it falls in start of the modern era in Bukhara in the early of 20th century.
The survey shows two important and related facts about water system of Bukhara: first, the water system of Bukhara made a tangible relation to the physical and social structure of the city in various scales (from public to private) which made the system as a key player in the urban landscape of Bukhara and promote it from a mere subsistent infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with a symbolic role in Bukhara. Second, Although the functional role, was the necessity of the existence of the system and its relation to the urban life, but it’s not the mere requirement for its continuation through centuries. in fact, the subjective integration between the water system and its components with the city has the equivalent role as the objective integration between system and urban structure in the resistance and continues of system in common language more than ten centuries.

Study of religious spaces in the city`s system, as one of the layers of semiotics, is effective in understanding the urban landscape as a sustainable social-spatial structure. Religious activities are related to spiritual and cultural concepts base on dominant ideology of the society; so recognizing their influence on city is an expedient switch for understanding social- spatial structure and the formation of public place. This research is followed by reviews of religious sites in the city`s semiotics system, and its impact on public place.
Therefore, based on field studies conducted, three of the religious atmosphere is selected and has defined their station based on the characteristics of each space, as the city symbol or a focal point in city`s semiotics system, and is explored their effect on the creation of public place. Indian community is the context of different religions with variety religious activities in urban space. So three religious urban spaces of Indian cities have been selected for this study. The review process demonstrate a significant relationship between the public place and civic focal point. The religious-based focal points will form public place; while religious sites in the city are considered merely as symbol, areas have not been bed. Study conclude that the effective index of the focal points in the city, are foreground the public place.