Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

Explaining the Characteristics and Components of Islamic City with Situational Analysis

Ehsan Babaei Salanghooch

Despite its simple appearance, the Islamic city is one of the most challenging concepts studied in scientific disciplines including architecture, urbanism and the history of art. Besides theories approving or rejecting this concept, much research has been devoted to the study of the nature of the Islamic city and similar concepts such as Middle East city, Arabic-Islamic City, Muslims’ city, Islamdom city, Islamicate city, and such expressions in Persian literature as good-life city, city of God, divine city, usury-free city etc. in order to present a specific definition of it by investigating its characteristics and component parts. The importance of this concept is due to the fact that the viewpoints presented about it have had a considerable role in any attempt for designing, planning, and organizing of cities based on Islamic culture in the contemporary period and the Islamic city has been considered as the key to the explanation of Islamic urbanism. On the other side, because of the history and the reasons for the genesis and circulation of this expression resulted from the opinions of the primary researchers of this concept, the Islamic city has always been influenced by issues that have led to its becoming a stereotype from its very beginning in related studies. Based on this stereotype and the claimed concept the possibility of using it in the contemporary city has been doubted. This study is to Explaining the Characteristics and Components of Islamic City with Situational Analysis. Situational Analysis is an extension of grounded theory, transnationally the most popular form of qualitative analysis in the social sciences and humanities today. The situation of inquiry is to be empirically constructed through the making of three kinds of maps and following through with analytic work and memos of various kinds. situational maps lay out the major human, nonhuman, discursive, and other elements in the research situation of inquiry and provoke analysis of relations among them; social worlds/arenas maps lay out the collective actors and the arena(s) of commitment and discourse within which they are engaged in ongoing negotiations—meso level interpretations of the situation; and positional maps lay out the major positions taken, and not taken, in the data vis-à-vis particular axes of difference, concern, and controversy around issues in the situation of inquiry. All three kinds of maps are intended as analytic exercises, fresh ways into social science data that are especially well suited to contemporary studies from solely interview-based to multi-sited research projects. They are intended as supplemental to traditional grounded theory analyses that center on action. Instead, these maps center on elucidating the key elements, discourses, structures, and conditions of possibility that characterize the situation of inquiry. Thus, situational analysis can deeply situate research projects individually, collectively, social organizationally/ institutionally, temporally, geographically, materially, discursively, culturally, symbolically, visually, and historically. The results of the study demonstrate that as a situation have different actors’ actants and component including individual human actors, nonhuman actants, collective human actors, implicated actors/actants. Discursive constructions, political elements, symbolic elements, temporal elements, spatial elements, etc. On the other hand this situation have different social worlds and arenas. social worlds are groups with shared commitments to certain activities, sharing resources of many kinds to achieve their goals and building shared ideologies about how to go about their business. They are interactive units, worlds of discourse, bounded not by geography or formal membership but by the limits of effective communication. Social worlds are fundamental building blocks of collective action and the main units of analysis in such studies. In arenas, all the social worlds come together that focus on a given issue and are prepared to act in some way. Ignoring of this Social world and arenas leads to a rigid and limited understanding of Islamic city. Finally there is positional maps. Positional maps analyze the contested discourses in the situation, seeking especially to analyze silences. Positional maps assist analysts in seeing complexity, variation, and heterogeneity in situations where once only binaries and/or longstanding, oversimplified divisions may have appeared. This often enables analysts to see established lines of controversy and division in fresh ways. This positional maps demonstrate that there is different silent actors and untaken position about Islamic City. A comprehensive and inclusive explanation of Islamic City should figuring out this positions.

Finite and infinite of the spatial structure of Islamic architecture In the mosques of the Safavid era (Case study Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and Imam Isfahan)

Ali Dorri

Understanding Islamic architecture requires perception and receiving space, and the space of Islamic architecture contains meanings that can not be understood only by the senses. Space, as the most basic concept of architecture, is always conceived in a specific definite, which is received through sensory perception, so it has a certain limit, and finite. On the other hand, mosques are the most important building of the Islamic era, where Muslims gather together for prayer and contain symbols and meanings. Which must be discovered through rational perception and through revelation. In this way, the concept of space in Islamic architecture, especially the architecture of mosques, is a fundamental issue. understanding and obtaining the meaning of space is the result of the twofold confrontation between perception. In order to explain such a challenge, this article is devoted to explaining the finite and infinite of the spatial structure of Iranian mosques during the Safavid period. Therefore, this study uses a qualitative approach in the form of a case study with field observations and library documents to explain, analyze and obtain the structure of space in Safavid period mosques as one of the golden architectural periods of Iran. Imam Mosque of Isfahan, as an example of mosques with courtyard and porch, and Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, a case of mosques lacking these elements were selected from the Safavid era. The findings of this study indicate that space is received variously in Iran's architectures. So that, space, in terms of perceptual perception, is finite. This finite and the physicalization of space result from the perception of the bound via the five senses. In proportion to the small world, the object surround the space. From this perspective, in addition to focusing on dynamism, the bound contains centering, space breaks, plurality and multi-spacing. But beyond that, in Islamic architecture, there is a rational perception that leads to obtaining the meaning. In this perception, the bound does not constrain Iranian and Muslim people. The bound and space get together, space is unlimited and unlimited. The infinity of space in Islamic architecture is proportional to the great world. In this revelation, the Islamic space means the presence of one and the only divine. In fact, in the rational and intuitive perception, space is unit, discreet, eternal and infinite. But in sensory perception, space is finite, inward, small, and multiplicity.

The Typology of Plant Compositions in the Stucco Decorations from the Islamic Period of Iran to the Fourteenth Century

Introduction: The plant decorations are considered as the most obvious designs that are used elaborately in different works of art. They are also used frequently in architectural decoration, particularly the ones made of stucco. The way these plant ornaments are composed characterizes the period in which they were created though many of these compositions have been repeated frequently over centuries. The goal of this research is to study the typology and classify the significant plant compositions in the stucco decorations from the Islamic period to the fourteenth century. In order to achieve this goal, the following questions should be answered:

What are the most popular plant compositions in the stucco decorations from the Islamic period to the fourteenth century?
Which compositions can be considered as the significant features of plant ornaments in a certain period?

Conclusion: The data was collected based upon written sources and field research (photography, linear print of the images) and analyzed through comparative-historical method. The results of this study suggest that the compositions existing in the samples can be classified into 9 groups some of which have been repeated in all historical periods, like the two and three-arabesque compositions in the margins and delicate joint/ stems with snail-shaped arches. But some of these compositions, including multi-layered plant compositions, delicate plant stems in the backgrounds, snail-shaped arches, etc., were evolved in some centuries, i.e. 13th and 14th centuries, or used more frequently.

Explaining relationship between the compatibility of mosque's later uses with religious function, with their location relative to the main spaces of worship

Abdolhamid Noqrekar

The first step to the architectural design of each building, is physical extraction program. There are various functions in mosques capability with a larger scale. Selecting these functins and location of deployment of them are the most challenging parts of the mosque's design. Functions choice in the mosques of Islamic Iranian cities should be based on the priority that is consistent with Sharia done. In the fatwas of the sources of imitation, compatibility of any uses with worship, is the basis for choosing that function in the mosques. But is the location of the deployment of each functions's space in architectural design related to its compatibility? In connection with this question, this hypothesis is presented: The more the lateral functions compatibility is, the more should be in a place closer to the worship space.
The main objectives of this article are determining compatibility criteria for lateral uses with religios function, Prioritization of lateral uses based on the degree of compatibility, determining the position of lateral users to the worship spaces and finally the relationship between the level of compatibility and the position of the deployment of mosque lateral uses to the use of worship.
In order to achieve this goals, after the functions in the mosque at the regional scale identification, closed questionnaire responses was designed. By giving a questionnaire to 25 Experts of mosque architectural design and analyzing it with the Chi-squared test, which is a nonparametric and statistical test. Thus, the user's location with a significant level of 0.05 was determined by the use of worship. The results show that in the level of 95% confidence, according to the experts of the mosque architecture, there is a consensus about the location of 20 functions. In the case of the remaining 5 functions, with the addition of the first three options for user deployment, four things can be agreed upon, and there was no consensus on a single user. Thus the status of functions was determined.
then by referring verdicts religious scholars, consistency criteria of each function with religious function was determined, and Closed questionnaire responses was designed and were given to statistical society including two groups of religious and architectural experts. To summarize and analyze the questionnaires, an analytical approach to decision making model and Topsis degree of congruity of applications were assessed and prioritized. After that considering the degree of compatibility, the position of lateral functins of mousques Relative to Main spaces of worship in regional mosques was identified.
Based on this, consistent criteria of each function with religious function, are failure to conflict with the mosque and not to disturb the worshipers. According To these criteria, lateral functions of mosques were classified to four categories include very consistent, consistent, slightly consistent and inconsistent with religious function.
Finally, in order to measure the research hypothesis, it was found that the research hypothesis is true at high levels of adaptability or incompatibility. That is, in the case of some highly adaptable lateral applications, it is recommended that they should be inside the mosque and for inconsistent uses, it is recommended that they should be outside the mosque. But for applications with medium and low degree of compatibility, this is not the case, and more consideration should be given to architectural design.

Concept and Evaluation of Porosity in Façades of Tabriz Historical Houses

Massud Wahdattalab

Façades are one of the architectural physical elements that play a significant role in the aesthetic preferences on their observer. The façade creates the first and perhaps the most important impact. Aesthetic is identifying and understanding factors that contribute to perception of an object or beautiful/pleasant process. In order to assess the beauty of a phenomenon, its factors and visual qualities should be studied, so finding a measure or a way to evaluate them are one of aesthetics’ priorities. Therefore, not only recognition of visual qualities, but also their quantitative evaluation is also important in aesthetics. Different visual qualities participate in the formation of façades, one of which is porosity. If these visual qualities studied, interpreted and measured, their factors, rules, and attributes can be extracted and using them as variables, the aesthetics of façades can be evaluated. This research is based on the question of how porosity can be measured and evaluated as one of the visual quality of façade and what is the relation between the quantitative measures of these buildings' façade's porosity?
The purpose of this research is to investigate the concept of porosity as a visual quality and to decode the art of designing and constructing façades in Iranian-Islamic architecture by quantitatively measuring the porosity. The study in theoretical part, using the analytical-descriptive method, has presented a theoretical framework. In the first stage a comparative method will be used. Collecting information in this research, in addition to documentary and library studies, will also include field studies that are used to compile the subject literature review to find the thematic framework. At this stage, by expressing the perceptual concept, the architectural porosity elements as well as the study of its theories, criteria, rules and components are explained. In the second stage, a quantitative method for measuring porosity will be presented using the criteria and components obtained in the previous stage, the classification of porosity elements, factors and effective variables of façade's porosity. Structured questionnaires will be used to find the relationship between these variables and their impact on each other and facade's porosity. In the third stage which is the case study section, the theoretical framework and the porosity quantitative measuring method are carried out in 30 main facades of historical houses of Tabriz city and gathered data are analyzed with descriptive statistics.
Based on the findings of the research, façades have a special feature called porosity number that is unique to them. The structure of the forming elements and the porosity changes of the façades also follow a particular pattern. The research also shows that the main trait of porosity is openness. Air circulation, light and the connection of internal and external spaces are major physical achievements of porosity and its spiritual achievement is space and raised meaning in architecture. Empty, despite the lack of material has an equal value, and sometimes more, than full, and how it is created and placed not only increases the physical and spatial quality but also can have an impact in facades’ evaluations. Porosity is one of the basic visual qualities, which over time has found a more significant role in façade. Porosity has a hidden and mysterious pattern that can be the result of aesthetic feedback from architects, observers/residents, and environmental conditions of the region. A certain evident percentage of porosity and a specific pattern and alignment of porous space arrangement found in this study indicate that, at least in Tabriz environmental conditions, a specific pattern of porosity is a part of the aesthetic preferences of the architects and the residential-historical architectural users of Tabriz city. This optimal and aesthetic level of porosity in the historical houses of Tabriz façades is close to 0.4 (40%).This pattern and alignment can be considered by contemporary architects in this cultural-climatic area as an aesthetic factor. Of course, the generalization of these features to other cities in Iran and beyond requires more and wider researches. This study showed that porosity as a visual quality and its quantitative measurement method can also be used as criteria of aesthetic evaluation of architectural façades.