نشریه فرهنگ معماری و شهرسازی اسلامی
سال سوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 4، بهار و تابستان 1396)

The quality of interior space of each building should be amenable to the life type according to which its structure has been created. Mosques as distinctive structures of Islamic Architecture, observe this princi ple, as well. The main activity occurring in the mosques, i.e. praying, has not changed during the history and their aesthetic characteristics as a funda mental concept in Islamic Architecture have always been under attention in all stages. With this back ground, this paper tries to study how Aesthetics and the quality of interior space of mosques are related and how coordination as one of the aesthetic criteria with regard to Islamic philosophy affects the quality of interior space of mosques. It seems that the rela tionship between these two concepts should be con sidered both in parts and as a whole. So the main hypothesis of this study is that “coordination affects the spirituality of interior space of mosques by influ encing the elements of space and the interaction that exists between these elements”. Since the historical mosques are the most prominent instances of Islamic art and architecture, Sheikh Lotfollah mosque is con sidered in this study. In order to determine the extent to which coordination affects the spirituality of inte rior space, 40 specialists in architecture and Islamic architecture in Tabriz, who had previously visited Sheikh Lotfollah, participated in this study. The data gathering instrument was a questionnaire, consisting of two parts. In the first part, 15 direct questions were asked in order to examine the impacts of coordination between the elements of space on the spirituality of the mosque, and in the second part, 20 indirect questions were asked to evaluate the interaction between the elements of interior space of Sheikh Lotfollah mosque. Moreover, some photos of interior space of Sheikh Lotfollah with high resolution and great quality were given to the participants along with the ques tionnaires. Then all the questionnaires were analyzed by the SPSS software and the results were discussed using qualitative methods. The results indicate that not only is there a significant relationship between coordination and the spirituality of the interior space of mosques, but also coordination significantly affects individual elements that create the spirituality of the interior space of mosques as well as the interaction that exists between these elements. It means that, individual elements cannot create the framework of a building by themselves, rather, the interaction be tween the elements and the effects they have on each other is essential in this regard.
 Considering the coordination of each element of interior space, it can be claimed that the items of ma terial and color have the most influence on the spirit uality of the space and when the interaction between the elements and their coordination is being exam ined, proportion and color have the most impact on the spirituality of the space.

Whilst environment is man’s habitat and supplies his most essential needs, the environmental issues have become a global crisis. The issues may be traced back to the industrial revolution and the ensuing need for more residences and expansion of urbanism and con sequently the unleashed exploitation of nature. Apart from the extensive changes it required, the revolution was associated with the departure from religious thoughts in favor of the spread of such modern philo sophical principles as individualism, rationalism, changed status of the God and human, and the idea that man must dominate the nature, thus man begin ning to neglect and turn his back on the environment. With the arrival of modernity to Iran and the Iranians imitation of the West, indiscriminate constructions and maximum use of natural resources was begun and it had dire consequences which were followed by the destruction of the environment, notwithstanding its prolonged and rich history of Islamic thoughts, which would have been of profound help in prevent ing the mentioned repercussions had they been in voked. Through a close look at the Islamic teachings one can easily find instructions that reveal the general position of Islam on how the natural sources must be used with the due regard to the ensuing environmen tal issues. On the other hand, in the monistic view resulting from the Islamic culture none of the phe nomena and subjects related to human life are inde pendent of each other. Therefore when Islam speaks of the protection of the environment, it means paying attention to it in all aspects of man’s life. One of the most important aspects of human life is considering the pivotal role of accommodation and the interaction between human, nature and architec ture. In this paper the question is that what criteria and principles for achieving the optimal housing are introduced by Islam. For this purpose, in this paper by studying Islamic thoughts, the ways which help to achieve ideal ac commodation are discussed. Thus, with the Grounded theory as the research method, the criteria of an Is lamic eco-friendly ideal house are explored. In the end, parameters of the ideal and contemporary hous es are compared to pin point the requirements neces sary to achieve an optimal residence. The results showed that unity, balance, interaction with nature, and faith and religiosity are the basic principles of interaction with the environment that should be considered in the design of houses. Hence, a model is developed to achieve the ideal Islamic housing. This model shows that Islamic residence can contribute to restoring identity to architecture, reduc ing environment damages, reviving Islamic culture, improving social relationships, and economic devel opment in various fields such as energy efficiency and conversation of natural resources.

The so-called “Karbandi” and “Rasmibandi” are two kinds of vault covering elements based on Islamic star geometry, which are of the most common patterns in the restored projects and new buildings, including the Haj Mohammad Qoli Timche in Tabriz historic bazaar, the Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur, and others. These patterns are created by intersecting several rib vaults based on totally strict mathematical and structural techniques. Despite the importance of Karbandi and Rasmibandi in Persian architecture, there are plethora of contradictions and disagree ments between workmen and researchers for deter mining and classification of various types of Karbandi and Rasmibandi. Therefore, the solidarity of previous statements and papers are diminished. Accordingly, the major question is as: what are the differences between various types of Karbandi and Rasmibandi based on their place and method of usage. The pur pose of this paper is the clarification of Karbandi and Rasmibandi types and to find the similarities and dif ferences between them. This study is a basic theoreti cal research and the research methodology used is analytic-descriptive, which relies on historical sources, historical documents, texts and images in historical periods and constructed samples. The paper is pre sented in two major sections. The first section is re lated to the scrutiny and comparison of previous works and attempts to determine the specific defini tions of Karbandi and Rasmibandi concepts. As a con sequence, the position of Kars in either major or sec ondary vaults cannot be used as criteria to distinguish Karbandi from Rasmibandi. The Karbandi as coverture can be used in both covertures of major vaults and coverture of secondary vaults, whilst, Rasmibandi can exclusively be used beneath major vaults. The most important difference between the major and second ary vaults is the kind of their load bearing mechanism. In the case of major vaults, the burden of both two clusters, dead loads and live loads, is by means of Karbandi. However, in the secondary vaults, Karbandi usually bears its own dead loads. Moreover, the Nim kar (semi-work) can be categorized in two Karbandi and Rasmibandi groups based on their performance and load bearing behavior. Karbandi has a rib vault of load bearings elements, whilst, Rasmibandi is con structed in dependence with upper vaults.
In the second section of this paper, the applica tions of different Karbandi and Rasmibandi types are investigated and their key points are highlighted by considering the findings of the previous section. The results indicate that, not only can Karbandi be used in the applications of coverture positions, but it also has non-coverture uses. Karbandi is someties used as either “Chapireh-Sazi” or in facade of buildings. In the case of “Chapireh-Sazi”, Karbandi is usually used by means of “Shekanj” and “Gosheh-Sazi”. In the case of Gosheh-Sazi, the transition is usually done without any height increase of dome. Thus, “Chanbare” is not created beneath the dome and the height of Cha pireh-Sazi remains unchanged. Finally, a comprehen sive classification of various types of Karbandi and Rasmibandi was presented based on usage place, constructional and form-related features, application, structural function, and material of rib vaults.

In addition to their ritual function and sublime terres trial status, Mosques play an important role in sys temizing the various aspects of human life and activi ties.  Mosques need an appropriate space to meet the needs of the users. Although the spiritual benefit of mankind from mosques is highly realized, minimum architectural requirements are necessary to facilitate his/her spiritual excellence. So a set of architectural requirements of a mosque such as a right layout, a true function, an appropriate form and decoration, as well as its natural structure seems necessary to be defined. Tabriz is one of the oldest cities in Iran and has many historical mosques within its urban struc ture, most of which are located at Tabriz Bazar and, due to a great number of people attending these mosques for praying and other spiritual activities, they are considered as the most successful examples. The reason for this, it seems, lies at their structures, along with other conceptual parameters. Therefore, a comprehensive study of the architectural aspects of these historical mosques can be of utmost im portance. One of the advantages of the typological study of buildings is the identification of the architec tural strengths and weaknesses of the samples in order to arrive at a deeper understanding and evalua tion of their structure. So, based on a field study, the present research attempts to extract the typological parameters of more than 40 historical mosques in Tabriz by implementing Delphi tools. In so doing, first the samples are analyzed based on the users’ behav iors and then, according to features like internal space and configuration, architectural structure, decora tions, materials, light, entry manner and relation with the environment, the typological parameters are in vestigated. The findings of this study can provide a comprehensive understanding of the historical mosques in Tabriz and build a basis for their topologi cal as well as paleontological categorization.

With the arrival of Shah Ismail I (1513-1551 A.D) to Tabriz and his coronation at Sahib-Abad government house, the Safavid dynasty was established in 907 AH / 1502 AD. The city of Tabriz, as the first capital of the Safavids, has had an elaborate spatial organization since the Turkmen period (Qaraqvinlu and Aghqvinlu). What impressed the nature of such a structure was how the old city center was linked with the new gov ernmental city center. The design of a new govern mental Arsan (complex) in Qazvin (962 AH) and Isfa han (1006 AH) as the next capital of the Safavids was influenced by this structure. In the city of Tabriz, the Atiq Square as an old ur ban space was connected to Sahib Abad Square as the new government city square via commercial spaces such as Bazaars and Qeysaries. With changes in the hierarchy of the communication elements, this sys tem can also be tracked in the Second Safavid capital of Qazvin, in the garden complex of Jafarabad Garden, Saadat Abad Square, and the new market complex and street.But the milestone of this developmental trend took place in the urbanization of the Isfahan school in Isfahan as the third Safavid capital. The present re search attempts to answer the questions related to the spatial organization of Tabriz during the Turkmen period, and how the urban elements in the form of a communication system in the Safavid capitals was used. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the pattern of the spatial organization formed during the Turkmen period in Tabriz on Sa favid urbanization in terms of the communication between the old and the new city centers.In order to explain the objectives of our research, a comparative study was carried out between the Safavid structure in three cities of Tabriz, Qazvin and Isfahan. The data were compiled and interpreted using the qualitative content analysis method. Finally, with the comparative analysis of the cases, it has been concluded that the pattern of commercial and public spaces in the form of a bazaar complex to link the old town center with the new government center has been a successful factor in creating a coherent urban structure.

Kabud masque belongs to Abul al – Mozaffar Shah Jahan from Turkaman Agh Quyunloo tribe. The build ing was finished in 870 AH by Jan Beyg Khatoon (Ja han shah’s wife). There are various plant and geomet ric features and inscriptions in the masque. The masque inscriptions are mostly created by two Kufi and Tholth writing and are related to the surrounding illustrations and give them harmony. In this research, we have tried to study the impact of mysticism and Sufism among Hurufiye religion (faith) on selecting contents of inscriptions and writings. The research method is descriptive _ analytic. The library method and on-site visiting have been used for data collec tion. The results indicate that azure blue has the most variety in the inscription basis and white in their con text. These two colors are symbolic in mysticism and Sufism. Choosing the kind of Shamseh features and mentioning mystic apothems show the impact of mysticism and Sufism on the form of ornamentations of the important buildings in Qara Qoyunloo era. At last, we have concluded that the religious changes in the 9th century like Horufiye beliefs within mysticism and Sufism have had the main compact on the form and contexts of inscriptions and features of the building. The Blue Mosque, as the most important work of Qaraqouyunlu dynasty, has a special place in the art of tile and inscription of Iran, which technically contains the most delicate works of mosaic tiles and includes a wide variety of tile designs. Also, in terms of design, it has interesting religious concepts, and in terms of inscription, it has a variety of lines embed ded in novel writing methods. According to the au thors, the blue color in this building and other build ings indicates that the Muslim architects want to as cend from the earth science and to get to the superior space. The blue color recalls the breadth of the clear sky. The white color that was used most for the Quranic inscriptions was among the colors that were recommended to be used by the Prophet. This color is in the references and symbols of Sufism and mystic features. In summary, the two colors of azure blue and white in Islamic art are symbolic and have been considered a lot. With regard to the cadre for the inscriptions, it should be noted that in this collection of designs, shades are used more than other designs. It should be said that the selection of the role of the candle in this collection is not a coincidence. This role is rooted in the deep mystical concepts of Sufism such as the pre-eminence of God, the light and the sky.