نشریه مطالعات معماری ایران
سال یازدهم شماره 21 (بهار و تابستان 1401)

After the inscription of the historical city of Yazd on the world heritage list in 2017, more emphasis was put on the preservation of historical monuments within its urban structure. Simultaneously, more effort was made to carry out different types of monitoring to protect the authenticity of historical monuments. This study, using a qualitative and interpretative approach, researches the role of historical monitoring as a method to assess the authenticity of the architectural revetments of Seyyed Rokn ad-Din Madrasa (or Rukniyya), which is one of the most important monuments of this city. The history of interventions based on the principles of world heritage preservation as well as the history of deteriorating factors that altered the building is documented in this research. For this, after defining the concept of historical monitoring, this paper documents the damages, repairs, and interventions that occurred in the Rukniyya. Content analysis of these documents was carried out to identify the risk critical points and finally to draw the timeline of the restorations of the architectural revetments to assess their authenticity. According to these documents, significant damages in the Rukniyya include cracks, structural damages caused by the digging of wells in the periphery of the building and the subsequent moisture, and termite activity inside the building. Outside, the destruction of the main arch of the iwan, structural interventions, and the falling of dome tiles due to natural conditions specifically on its western side are among the major damages. The damaging factors should be considered in terms of activity levels in future conservation plans. For the purpose of authenticity assessment, the findings of the investigation differentiate authentic parts from later alterations in this building. The inner shell of the dome, the end wall of the iwan, and the tile inscription on the dome stem are materially authentic and date from the Muzaffarid period. The motifs and material components of the iwan and its facade as well as the tiles on the outer shell of the dome are interventions of the past fifty years. These parts were reconstructed based on the architectural style of the fourteenth century, imitating the tilework patterns in the Shahab ad-Din Qassem Madrasa, Shamsiyyeh Madrasa, and the Jame‘ Mosque of Yazd. The purpose of such interventions was to preserve the physical and functional features of the building and improve its legibility. Although the reconstructed and renovated parts are interesting in terms of restoration works, they do not have historical or archeological value and cannot be referenced as Muzaffarid-style artwork. The findings of the study show that two separate conservation plans are required for each of these two parts of the building providing clear and transparent decisions.

Ribat-i Sepanj, located on the northeast of Shahrud, is among the valuable historical monuments boasting magnificent brickwork ornamentation. It dates from the middle centuries of the hegira and is mentioned in most research sources as a construction of the Ilkhanid period. A closer look at the history of the monument and the comparison of its decorations with that of a number of other caravanserais and monuments of the middle centuries of Islam raises the idea that it dates back to the pre-Mongol era. However, it is not easy to date the monument because many parts of the original building are destroyed and only the entrance and the enclosure wall remain in their original form. Although the original plan is recognizable in the form of the central courtyard, the construction of rural houses in the courtyard greatly distorted the plan in later periods. This study aims to determine the time of the initial construction of the Ribat-i Sepanj, and to answer the main question: can the Ribat-i Sepanj be considered a construction of the pre-Mongol invasion according to the available evidence and historical-comparative studies? The method of conducting this study, due to the limitations of field research (especially excavation and tracking) focuses on three main items: first, studying the monument based on historical sources and previous research works; second, studying the ornamentation and comparing it with similar other samples from contemporary monuments; and third, conducting a comparative study of the available evidence remaining of the plan and entrance of the monument with those of the well-known examples of contemporary caravanserais (specifically from the Seljuq and Ilkhanid period). Finally, although most researchers consider Ribat-i Sepanj to be an Ilkhanid monument, the present study finds that the monument recognizably dates from the pre-Mongol invasion, and the closest historical period attribution is the late Seljuq era.

Research on the relationship between science and architecture in the Islamic era has made significant progress in Iran in the last decade. This progress has simultaneously created new questions, such as about the transmission of science to the field of architecture, which itself requires questioning the nature of architecture education in the past— a relatively neglected subject because of two presuppositions. The first presupposition is the illiteracy of the architects of the past and the second presupposition is the oral way of teaching architecture in the past. The result of such thinking, which is mainly derived from comparing Iranian architecture during the Islamic era with the architecture of medieval Europe, is that architectural education in Iran after Islam was oral and was carried out face-to-face in construction workshops and there was no written or school education involved. In the present article, a new hypothesis about architecture education in this era is proposed by reviewing the two aforementioned presuppositions. For this purpose, through two introductions, the matter of “kuttab” or “maktab” education as a type of elementary school and pre-vocational instruction in the Islamic world will be discussed first, and an attempt will be made to provide a clearer picture of the level of literacy or illiteracy of professionals in the Islamic era. Then, using Gregor Schoeler's theory in the field of education in the Islamic era, the two “oral and written” modes of education are discussed, and next, the role of each in the Islamic education model especially of crafts is explained. Finally, by using these two introductions and some historical evidence, a new hypothesis is presented about the transmission of architectural knowledge. Based on this hypothesis, the architectural education model, contrary to the existing model, includes school education and the transmission of practical skills. According to this model, the builders of the Islamic era were minimally literate, in general, through elementary school education which made them able to read and write and understand the basic principles of geometry and mathematics. Therefore, this education model had two main and complementary pillars. One pillar included the technical skills teachings that were usually taught in workshop environments in practice and were mainly oral processes; the other pillar, however, included the theoretical teachings and scientific materials which were taught in a school environment and by the usual methods of school teachings, i.e., sama‘ (audition), qira’a (recitation) and imla’ (dictation). Thus, architecture education combined both "oral and written" modes.

This article presents the process of text recognition of a lost inscription in the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and the identification of its calligrapher. This band of inscription which framed the entire forecourt was one of the most important elements of this mosque. Most segments of this inscription were damaged and destroyed before the first photographs were taken of the monument. Subsequently, the destroyed inscription was covered up with plaster and during the next restorations, tiles with vegetal designs replaced it.In this research, we have tried to read the text of this inscription and identify its calligrapher by reconstructing the pictures of this lost inscription from the few available historical photographs. This qualitative research is conducted with archaeological document analysis method and proceeds by library study, field study, and digital reconstruction. The findings show that the text of this inscription is a hadith known as the Hadith of Jabir. This research also shows that the calligrapher of this inscription was ‘Ali-Reza ‘Abbasi, a prominent and famous calligrapher of the Shah Abbas I era.

As various as meanings and concepts in architectural history, there are different approaches to the historiography of architecture. "Justice" is one of these concepts. Justice is sublime in Islamic and Iranian thought. Although its non-historical links with architecture and related sciences have been the subject of numerous studies, it has rarely been researched in the history of Iranian or Islamic art and architecture. The purpose of this article is to provide an explanation and a framework for architecture historiography by questioning justice, i.e., how to tell if the architectural works and practice of a historical period were just. The answer to such a question requires a design for a theoretical framework or research approach. The method applied is through a logical strategy or reasoning. For this purpose, four main questions about the key concepts, the main question, the answering method, and the findings of the research should be answered. Historical research on the relationship between justice and architecture can proceed in two ways: based on a presupposed definition or theory of the two, or based on the historical context. In the first case, it is necessary to study the historical data of a given period according to the definition/theory provided, and in the second case, it is necessary to study the historical concept of ​​both (justice and architecture) with the help of the methodology of conceptual history. In the next step, a connection should be established between the two concepts and the main questions should be proposed. If we consider the basic concept of justice as the distribution of affairs, and the basic concept of architecture, as the creation of place, the main question of the research is whether the distribution of affairs regarding place-making at a certain historical period has been fair. According to the extent and normative meaning of justice, topics such as the origin of its definition, its various meanings and criteria, and the feasibility of the critical study of past architectural works based on justice will be discussed and an extensive study of contextual documents and collective mentality will be performed.

This study aims to raise public awareness regarding Iranian architectural heritage values by identifying the dominant subjective patterns of experts regarding “visual literacy in Iranian architectural heritage education for children” with an emphasis on informal education. What we mean by visual literacy in Iranian architectural heritage is the ability to comprehend and interpret architectural heritage features and values. This study is exploratory in nature since it attempts to identify and extract the subjective patterns of experts. The research data was collected through a survey using the Delphi technique and the results were analyzed through Q factor analysis. Thus, the research process has four steps: 1) interview with experts, 2) analysis of interviewees’ transcripts with open and axial coding, designing the target-content table and the researcher-made questionnaire, 3) Delphi survey in two steps, 4) and Q factor analysis using SPSS-22 software. The statistical population comprises experts in the fields of architecture, preservation of monuments, archaeology, graphic design, and children educators (formal and informal). In the first step, 10 experts were selected and sampling was continued using the snowball sampling method until theoretical saturation was reached. In the Delphi survey, 30 experts were selected using the non-random purposive method. The results obtained from factor analysis introduced eight dominant themes of visual literacy in Iranian architectural heritage education among experts. These dimensions include extra-physical-conceptual, aesthetic, heritage-preservation, spatial perception, interactive-group, individual experiences, learning environment, and social-cultural context. Furthermore, the subjective patterns of experts, according to the multidimensional aspects of the topic, included the study of architectural heritage works (semantic, aesthetic, heritage-preservation, and space orientation), attention to the learner (individual, interactive), and learning conditions (contextual, cultural-social). The dimensions mentioned above can pave the way for visual literacy education in children with an emphasis on informal techniques.

Resident behavior is one of the main factors influencing energy consumption and building design. Since residents spend most of their time indoors, it is both important and necessary to have sufficient knowledge of their adaptive behaviors and interactions with building systems in order to improve thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption. This research aims to investigate the adaptive behaviors of people in conditions of thermal discomfort in villas and apartments of Rasht. The data was prepared during the summer of 2021 from the selected dwellings based on field studies and through questionnaires, and bivariate and multivariate regression models were used for data analysis. The findings show that 48% and 57% of the residents of villa and apartment dwellings had neutral thermal sensations, and according to the ASHRAE standard (+-1), thermal comfort was determined as 84% and 80%, respectively. The thermal comfort range for the residents was higher than the standards. Among the foremost passive solutions of residents to achieve thermal comfort were taking off clothes, drinking cold beverages, opening windows, and changing places. The most influential variables in the multiple regression equation were indoor temperature, outdoor air speed, number of indoor spaces, thermal preference in villas, building area, and thermal preference and satisfaction in apartments. Knowledge of the thermal comfort range being at higher temperatures than the standards and the reactive and interactive behaviors and seasonal habits of residents helps to properly design for thermal comfort and energy efficiency.

This study investigates wayfinding in complex office environments. Many works of research have investigated the subject since the 1970s. Examining the available research literature showed that a precise and comprehensive classification of influencing factors on wayfinding that could be used to develop design guidelines for office buildings is currently absent. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the effects of environmental factors, specifically physical factors relating to behavioral scenarios in office buildings. For this, through a qualitative research, the effects of path openness, connection type, path width, and intersection angles and shapes of isovists were evaluated in office environments. Visual accessibility was assessed based on the concept of the field of view and wayfinding behavior analysis. The study had nine participants (men and women) walk through a predetermined path in the municipality of Karaj. Data was collected and analyzed through questionnaires, interviews, observation, and field-of-view analysis. The results showed that wayfinding is directly affected by visual accessibility in office environments, i.e., the higher the overlap of viewsheds, the faster people could find their destination and fewer failings in wayfinding. Moreover, the study illustrated that people frequently choose paths that provide wider visual fields and more environmental information at intersections. These results suggest rethinking design considerations for office buildings.

Indigenous architecture comprises one of the most important “forms of the social organization of space” that can be understood by studying the connection between the physicality of architecture and the life and culture of inhabitants. The indigenous architecture of Iran constitutes part of the cultural-historical continuity of Iranian architecture, and the learning and re-establishment of its conventional models can play an effective role in advancing contemporary architectural practices to preserve the cultural identity and authenticity in design, while also creating a valuable legacy for future generations. It also provides a differentiating criterion for distinguishing Iranian from non-Iranian architectural models. It shall be emphasized that this view does not mean reproducing the models and spaces already existent in contemporary times, rather, it means understanding how architecture relates to human beings and their surroundings and transforming it into contemporary spaces. This descriptive-analytical case study uses the space syntax plugin to describe the mathematical relationships governing space such as spatial depth, control value, choice value, integrity, and entropy by evaluating and analyzing the relationship of juxtaposing spaces to reveal past concepts that can play a role in today’s architecture. Also, based on the values mentioned and on maintaining the position and relationships between different spaces in the graph, express an existing model in contemporary language. The results indicate that although past and contemporary architecture differ structurally in terms of massing codes, using connecting and intermediate spaces, the spatial configuration of an existing model can be translated into contemporary architectural space, providing for the continuation of identity in contemporary architecture.

Protecting and improving values is among the major purposes pursued by cultural heritage conservation and requires a proper understanding of cultural heritage. The Persian Qanat is a valuable heritage inscribed on the World Heritage List. Because of their close ties with human settlements and the environment, Qanats have many values associated with them. Although there are different classifications of heritage value in national and international documents and research findings, little or no research is yet conducted on the values of Persian Qanats, a comprehensive classification, and a theoretical framework that could be applied to conservation practices. This research aims to identify and classify the values of the Persian Qanat and develop a theoretical framework. Three questions were posed in this study: a) What are the principal values of the Persian Qanat? b) How are these values related to the classification of values in national and international literature? c) What are the relationships between these values in the theoretical framework? This study adopts the qualitative approach and content analysis strategy to explore existing research. It later draws on logical reasoning to develop a theoretical framework.  The Persian Qanat was nominated for inscription based on two of the six criteria of the World Heritage Center; however, its true values excel well above those and are associated with the sociocultural context of Iran. Optimal conservation of Qanats calls for an understanding of all these values. According to the findings of this study, seven value groups for the Persian Qanat are presented and defined: aesthetic, sociocultural, economic, technical and engineering, ecological, and functional, and their related sub-categories are also explained.

Yazd is a historical city that has the oldest residential buildings. It was a large government center exhibiting glory and prosperity in the 77-year period of Muzaffarid rule. In the Safavid era as well, Yazd saw an increase in residential construction due to the governing sense of security and peace in the city. One of the integral parts of houses built then was the courtyard, many diverse types of which remain from that period. The evolution of the courtyard represents the practical and theoretical transformations of architectural thought. The diversity of house forms during that period and the chronology and evolution of the courtyard from the Muzaffarid to the Safavid era are the inquiries of this research. This research uses historical documents as well as field studies. The analytical-historical method is employed and the main historical sources include Tarikh-e Yazd and Tarikh-e jadid-e Yazd (for the Muzaffarid era) as well as Jame‘e Mofidi and Jame‘e Ja‘fari (for the Safavid era). First, the characteristics of the houses in the historical texts are explained and then, the architecture of existing houses is briefly introduced. Then, a comparative study of the physical aspects of the courtyards is completed in the form of quantitative reports. The findings show that during the Muzaffarid era, three types of courtyards were used: inner courtyard, khalf-e-bagh, and sarabostan (a small garden that was built next to old houses and had a great impact on the microclimate). In the Safavid era, the inner courtyard and sarabostan continued to exist but the khalf-e-bagh courtyards were not built anymore. Finally, it can be said that the design of courtyards in the Safavid garden houses is a continuation and upgrade of the model of Muzaffarid sarabostan and harmonious with the design of the Muzaffarid garden houses.

Regarding the high importance and great value of geometry, we have heard that it was written on top of the entrance to the Academy of Plato: “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter.” Unfortunately, in most artistic, architectural, and industrial areas, nearly all of our young and highly active planners, designers, and engineers are unfamiliar with the spirit and essential meanings of the main keywords in the eternal culture of Salam (Peace) and Islam. They do not have any worthy or supporting knowledge of the related fields, which has resulted in their hindrance to such invaluable divine treasures and wisdom and their principles (and of their heavenly sources, i.e., the holy Qur’an and the Hadith). One of the main keywords of the eternal culture of Salam and Islam is “Qadr” (Geometry), and the other is “Laylat al-Qadr” (Divine Treasure of Celestial Geometry). This article aims to clarify some of the invaluable mysteries of these concepts and open an introductory way to the core of such a treasure. This article is based on the facts from the holy Qur’an and the Hadith and states that Allah ‘Azza wa Jalla is “The Absolute Living Knowledge, Life, Power, and Will.” It is “The Absolute Living Geometry,” and “His Divine Treasury or Kingdom” is “The Living Heart or Mind of Humankind” and it is “The Throne of the Divine Governor of the Holy Earth.”