Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

Background: House in Islam, is considered as a center for teaching probity and creating a society without corruption and sin. Quran defines the best settlement for a human being the one, which is consistent with his needs and provides context for his growth and excellence. However, the mentioned factors are forgotten in contemporary housing and the Islamic theme is almost removed from the Iranian houses. So today we are witnessing houses far from the traditional Iranian pattern, which was combined with the rich Iranian-Islamic culture. In order to eliminate the gap between traditional and contemporary pattern, it is necessary to retrieve the values and principles considered in traditional architecture.

Researchers in this area, introduce features such as "unity, security, identity, coexistence with nature, moderation and social justice, beauty, hierarchy, preference spirituality, perfectionism, modesty, humility, purity, centrality, equality, privacy and comfort for Islamic house.

Purpose: Recent research in a different approach was after the principles, mentioned in Quran about the desired space arrangement in Islamic house, and by examining a sample of Iranian-Islamic house spatial arrangement, tryed to discover the latent geometry of Iranian-Islamic house spatial structure.

The purpose of the current study at the first step was to achieve the indicators affecting the desired spatial arrangement in Islamic perspective by grounded theory, and then evaluating the priorities of these indicators in Iranian- Islamic house spatial structure.

Methods: the methodology of the research was divided in to two main sections; the grounded theory and the case study method.

 In the first section, in order to investigate the pattern of desired spatial arrangement, the related verses extracted from Quran. Then, for apprehending the intention of each verse, the key points extracted from three different Quran interpretations; Al-Mizan interpretation, Noor interpretation, and Nemuneh interpretation. These key points then changed to codes (open coding). At the next stage, the codes with similar concepts gathered in groups called concepts. Psychological effects, social effects, residence interpretations, building orientation, visual contact of spaces, permeability control and different aspects of safety such as personal, bio-climatic and psychological, were some of the concepts extracted at this step. Then in axial coding, the concepts similar in content, created categories. Hence, the categories including the importance of Islamic residence, the importance of desired residence, importance of security, zoning, control and permeability, and the aims of the Islamic house, were some of the created categories. Finally the theory devise by selective coding. Selective coding was used after having found the core variable, which was the “characteristics of the Islamic residence” that was thought to be the core and explained the main concern. When the core variable was chosen, the data were selectively coded with the core guiding the coding not bothering about concepts with little importance to the core and its sub cores. Hence, the categories related to each other, and made four main sub cores; causal factors that include factors defining the cause of the investigation; underlying factors that defines the background of the investigation; preventive effects including factors that prevent achieving the main core; and strategies, which defines the solutions for achieving the goal. So, with the use of the grounded theory, the model of desired spatial arrangement extracted from Quran. Thus, the three key features of the desired arrangement and their application strategies defined: A) bioclimatic comfort and safety. B) Zoning. C) Monitoring and Control.

The second part of the research was devoted to the case study and assessed the extent to which the strategies were applied to Rasoulian house. At this stage, according to the extracted model, application of strategies for preparing bio-climatic comfort (appropriate orientation and spatial settlement of the building), appropriate zoning (visual hierarchy and connectivity of spaces and zones) and monitoring and control (space prmeability and permeability control of spaces and zone) evaluated in the case study in three scales: microscale, macro scale, and middle scale. The macro scale evaluated the extent to which the climatic factors were applied to the building. Zoning and monitoring factors evaluated with space syntax method and its two related software programs; “a-Graph” software, used for justification graph and permeability indicators analysis including mean depth (MD), relative integration and Control, and “Depth map” software, used for visibility graph and visual indicators analysis including visual connectivity and visual control. The mentioned indicators were analyzed both in micro and middle scales. Finally the evaluated indicators were scored according to their responsibility to the Islamic house aims mentioned in extracted model.

Results: According to the results, the example of Islamic-Iranian accommodation was in full compliance with environmental factors. The hierarchy of access and visibility control of access to the space results in more security from theft, psychological security, personal and family privacy, and provides a hierarchically well segregated complex. Besides, the great integration of private and semi-private arenas shows the importance of familiarity in Iranian- Islamic house structure. However, the high integration of public arena (the entrance) with the complex, which means easy access from entrance to the other spaces of complex, was inappropriate for security from theft, as well as individual and family privacy.

Also visibility of the private spaces from the half-private arena, damages the personal privacy. Moreover, the same permeability of semi-public and semi-private sectors from entrance, which means the separation according to permeability was not performed well and may undermine the privacy of the family.  Evaluation of the permeability of entrance space resulted in the priority of privacy to safety in placement of spaces.

Also the linear settlement of some interior spaces with opening on both interior and exterior facades, between interior and exterior yard, shows the importance of bioclimatic comfort in space arrangement. So the features according to their priority in spatial organization of Rasoulian house were as below:

According to the results, the most important issue was the adaptation to climatic factors and creating climate comfort by taking advantage of natural conditions and connection with nature. So, establishing bioclimatic comfort and security was prior to two other defined characteristics. That is while security of invade or theft was less important than the other aspects of security in the spatial structure of this Iranian- Islamic house example.