Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

---

Title “sustainable society”, was first time propounded in the format of the conceptual framework of sustainable development as the final objective of social aspect of sustainable development. By now, many researches have studied this point that what specifications and characteristics a sustainable society should have and how urban planning can help creation of a sustainable society. However what have been ignored is local relation of these specifications in the shadow of the dominant ideology and the cultural bed of our society. It is clear that using each global pattern in local coordinates requires some changes proportioned to the cultural field of that place. According to this, using global pattern of “sustainable society” in the bed of Islamic culture requires redefining specifications of a sustainable society from the view of Islamic ideology. Therefore, the main problem of current writing is the way and how the indicators of sustainable society in Islamic ideology affect the urban planning tradition of Muslims. According to this, the main questions of this paper can be explained as: “what are the indicators of a sustainable society in the view of Islam”? and “what effects have had these indicators on urban planning tradition in the cities of Muslims”? The objective of this paper is to achieve a conceptual pattern from sustainable society in the bed of Islamic culture in a way that it can be used in promotion of urban plans and programs by the Islamic-Iranian approach. For this, while investigating the texts and documents in two fields of Islamic ideology and tradition of Muslims’ cities, the codes relating to social sustainability were extracted and categorized by help of “content analysis” method. Then the proportion of Islam’s social principles and its effects on urban planning tradition of Muslims was explained in a matrix. At the end, the conceptual framework of paper which responds to the primary questions and in which the process of design and planning of an urban planning place provided by emphasis on social principles in Islam’s ideology are compiled.

---

Nowadays Islamic countries more than ever concentrate on identity to revive their dignity at the age of globalization. Countries of west of Asia especially Persian Gulf countries enjoy a prosperous architectural era because of oil well revenues. Saudi Arabia from among them selected purposely to analyses to understand interaction of localization and globalization in contemporary architecture of developing countries. Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam with the growing economy in recent years, is a good context for massive constructions, which result in identity crisis in contemporary architecture. Economic growth during last 40 years in these countries has affected various aspects of their lives. Undoubtedly architecture and urbanism as one of the main substrates were affected by these developments. Limitation of construction technology and engineers’ abilities in these countries made the Arabs to assign the designing and construction phase of their huge projects to European and American architects and engineers with completely different background and cultural beliefs from Muslims’. Although some researches have focused on identity crisis in modern architecture, very few researches have noted the interaction and conflict between the Islamic identity and contemporary architecture. The main objective of this research is to identify and analyze the native and Islamic identity in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia. The main research questions are: 1- What are the main current trends in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia? And how they have noted the concept of identity in their works? What is the relationship between theory (what the architects have in their minds or the goal they are following to reach an ideal design) and practice (what is observed in final result or understood by people) in contemporary architecture of Saudi Arabia? According to the theoretical framework, current buildings in Saudi Arabia are analyzed based on five general parameters and factors: 1-Main idea forming the design (concept), 2-The Construction Technology, 3- The material in the unit, 4- The shape and form of the unit, 5- the relationship with the surrounding environment. This article analyzed the buildings of the past two decades impartially in terms of the referred parameters. This research consists of two main parts. In the first part the architect’s opinion about his/her design was discussed. In the second part researchers analyzed the mentioned works according to the theoretical framework. The comparative analysis of the architect's comments about his work and researchers’ inferences can determine the distance between theory and practice of contemporary architecture in Saudi Arabia, then the architect’s success in achieving his/her objectives will be determined. This comparison will indicate whether the architects have succeeded in conveying their ideas to people or not. To meet scheduled objectives, fifty artworks were selected randomly from among the buildings designed in the past two decades, and were analyzed according to the main parameters. Then the quantitative data were transferred to SPSS22 software to determine the correlation between these two groups. Studies conducted indicate that a considerable proportion of contemporary architecture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are design by foreign architects who are not familiar enough with Islam as the official religion of the country. We can see some puzzlement in contemporary architecture due to the diversity of forms and concepts. The architects’ description about their own works indicated that the main trends of contemporary architecture are in the use of postmodern forms, conceptualism, prevalent structures and modern materials. The findings indicate what architects statements and opinions expressed in the form of Islamic revival, is leading to imitate the famous forms of ancient architecture in practice. In fact, imitation of ancient forms and reconstruction of them by modern technologies means the expression of Islamic and native identity in contemporary architecture to most of the foreign architects. This leads to a contradiction between the theory and practice in contemporary works, although the construction quality of the analyzed samples is remarkable. To solve these problems it is essential to assign projects to vernacular architects and engineers where possible. Native architects with Islamic culture and beliefs will be more capable than foreign ones in expression and manifestation of Islamic identity in their works. On the other hand foreign architects should change their strategies in dealing with problems. Avoiding imitation of old patterns, getting more information about theories, Islamic culture, main needs and aspirations of Muslims are some of these strategies helping the architects to deal with the referred problems. These challenges make some serious threats and challenged contemporary architecture of developing countries. The results of the paper show that new architectural technologies and revivalist trends are the most important players in contemporary architecture of developing countries such as Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries because of their richness in cultural heritage, spiritual findings and local identity.

---

---

---

---

---

This article, in order to improve the quality of urban spaces, wants to explain how ritual ceremonies, particularly Moharam and Safar mourning as an identity and cultural factor, interact with physical structure of urban space. The discussed problem, in this article, is to describe the nature of this Interaction in the past times and comprise it with the urban development plans. In this regard, the research questions include the items such as relationship between ritual ceremonies and urban structure and urban space, influenced factors on selection of an urban space for doing this ceremony and importance of this factors and considering them in new development plans. The aim of the research is the retraining from the interaction between ritual ceremonies and urban structure for using in the new urban development plans. In this article, research framework is based on the descriptive method and used from case study and spatial analysis. The significant part of historic urban of Mashhad has been studied, in connection with research subject and during Moharam and Safar mourning, by using of documents, observations, interview and completion of questionnaire. The conclusion is based on data analysis and descriptive statistics. Studies shows that passing path of mourning groups, over the different years, was constantly conformed to the paths which are part of the main structure of this area and position of elements including structural, culture – religion and historical ones are important as factors which are making direction and being effective on passing path of mourning groups. The accordance of these factors with the approved urban plans of this area shows to give low attention to them. According to the comparison of the most crowded passing path of mourners with suggested items of new detailed plan of the area can understand that these old cultural – ritual paths is ignored in new plan and sometimes, their traces is completely eliminated, and if not ignored, their use is changed in the way that cannot be defined as a ritual path. Concepts which were considered as part of social geometry of religious context and placed within the physical geometry for years, because of traffic and physical attitudes lose their important. For providing of city development plans of historic urban quarters, giving attention to the research conclusion can cause to form more suitable urban spaces for development and improvement of ritual ceremonies.

---

Social interaction is one of the main human necessities, but regarding to today’s modern world it is simply in the path of naught and the social sustainability is an issue that is being introduced at the international level to strengthen these interactions. Now the question is that to what extent the international theories about social sustainability are responsive to this inherent need in Islamic Iran? Were the Iranian residential neighborhoods in the past sustainable, socially? How? To what extent social sustainability solutions (those are prescribed in the world) are compatible with the theorical foundation of Islam? In order to these questions with reference to Islamic ethics in the Qur'an and the Hadith, first principles for social sustainability in residential neighborhoods are codified in 8: social esteem, tolerance (forgiveness), Neighboring and hospitality, pudency (modesty) and zeal, Humility and lack of apparent pride, Respect and Solidarity. Then some manifestations of these features in traditional Iranian residential neighborhoods are noted. After surveying international social sustainability norms that are raised today the global social sustainability principles will be validated based on 8 mentioned principles to be a guide for architects and urban planners who are trying to achieve social sustainability, especially in residential neighborhoods in a way consistent with Islamic principles. This article is collected by using the comparative method: global social sustainability theories have been validated by underlying the Islamic ethics (in terms of social sustainability). The results of this study show that although the international theories about social sustainability have a lot in common with Islam in the field of social development issues such as community participation, accountability, social security and etc. But in the field of divine rights of individuals they have nothing to say and it is neglected. So international norms are incomplete for meeting the needs of residential neighborhoods of Iran (who have had pretty good experiences in the past), and even in some cases are in conflict with Islamic principles. In this article the commonalities and contradictions will be examined.

---

In the Islamic architecture of Iran, meaning, aesthetics, shape and structure are four fundamental factors by an appropriate combination of them a traditional architect is able to manifest an image of metaphysical world on material world. A rational and integrated relation of these factors has put the Islamic architecture of Iran in an outstanding position. An important challenge of the modern architecture is the lack of an intergrated relation among its constituting factors. The main cause of this shortcoming is moving away from traditional roots and doctorines that has lead to the disintegration of defferent phases of design process and construction, changing architects education, and fast construction. In order to disclose the relation between metaphysical factors (meaning and aesthetics) and physical factors (function, form, geometry and structure) in architecture, it is first necessary to analyse cases that contain the relation in an outstanding way. For this reason, a number of majestic historical mosques, in which the manifestation of meaning in their form has been proved, have been studied. Literature on meaning, aesthetics, geometry and structure has been reviewed. Utilisation of the four factors in historical buildings of Iran has been explained. Relation among interfering factors in design process has been illustrated in the buildings. An algorithm for architectural design process in the modern world has been proposed in which the positions of the four factors have been defined.

---

---

This article seeks to compare the standards of urban life quality and extracted concepts of Islamic city based on four causes of architecture. The main reason of this research is comparing what researchers mentioned as urban life quality criteria and standards and features of an Islamic city drawn by the Islamic sources. All the schools of architecture and urban designing agree that the most important goal of designing is to meet the physical and psychological needs of mankind with the highest quality. Although there is not an exact definition of quality of life that all researchers agree on, but it is possible to achieve the main standards and features by reviewing the studies that have been done about this subject. To achieve to this goal, the criteria of urban life quality from the western point of view have been studied and classified while extracting, to make it possible evaluating the features quantitatively. Besides features of Islamic utopia are studied and extracted from both religious references and ancient Islamic cases. The main issue for comparing the results is the effect of architects and urban designers' points of view and believes on urban spaces. In fact subjective cause between four causes of architecture is the main source of architectural inspiration. Therefore, the extracted criteria of life quality have been studied based on this scale and results show that, only 1% of urban life quality features are driven from this point of view. In other words just 1% of these features have been considered for meeting clients’ spiritual needs, while this ratio in Islamic city features is much bigger and it means that the role of architects and designers believes is too important in Islamic view. Believing in God's wisdom and the ::::union:::: behind the diversity that could be seen in Islamic architecture, make Islamic architects’ view more comprehensive and wiser than other designers. To sum up, Islamic utopia tries to achieve a better human being life by meeting their physical, psychological and especially spiritual needs. Shortly, it illustrates the intention of “Remembrance” in architecture and urban designing.

---

Regarding the key theme of the paper, visual privacy, it is first necessary to review the content of urban studies to find out why/how has privacy been discussed or ignored in urban studies to date. Instead of direct reference to the privacy, the urban studies literature mainly highlights the concepts of territoriality and personal space, two ways in which people create different types of boundaries to regulate their interaction with others in their environment. These two implicitly define the concept of privacy as both have acquired spatial and social dimensions. Alongside these two concepts which were mainly borrowed from behavioral studies, there are some references to the concepts of privacy and community together in urban studies as well. In line with these, privacy is more concerned with private domain or intimate sphere and community with public one. Thus, the way of their organization and relationship spatially can affect the level of privacy which is culturally specific. Within the urban studies reference books the privacy is still with the concept of territoriality and it has not been defined as a specific concept with separate explanation. Therefore, review of the urban and architectural studies shows that there is a lack of direct reference to the visual privacy. This is mainly due to the nature of built environment, especially the interface between the private and public sphere. In western culture, changes since the eighteenth century onwards has diminished private sphere as the institution of the family loses monopoly control over its privatized domain and ensured access to the public sphere, thus, the dichotomy of public and private space was mitigated. For this reason, direct reference to the concept of privacy which is more concerned with private domain has been ignored in urban and architectural studies in western culture. On the contrary, within the urban context of eastern culture especially those of the Muslim world the privacy is an utmost concern due to the nature of life was contextualized based on the Islamic law. Based on the holy Koran, as the main source of the Islamic law, the private domain has acquired prime importance because the family unit was recognized as the base of entire socio-cultural structure and a self-sustaining institution which ensures ideological and cultural stability over the entire spectrum of society. For this reason, there are many writings which directly deal with privacy and its effects on the urban form of the settlements within the scope of Islamic cities. The important of this concept was such that it was recognized as a fundamental formula controlling the physical organization of the Islamic city as it also led to the premises of development from interior to exterior. It is evident from this review that the concept of privacy is a ritualized and societal concept which has had a great influence on the urban form of the Islamic cities. Its diffusion throughout Islamic lands and its continuity from the pre-Islamic era made it a timeless and placeless concept transmittable to successive generations. Therefore, we can point out that, the core shaping forces underlying the Islamic cities are based upon the concept of privacy and its ground rules (internalized structure based on constraints and thresholds), which emanated from Islamic law. This defined a particular urban form in all Islamic lands which differs greatly from that referred to as the Western model. Therefore, in contrast to the thinking of some orientalist scholars, we can recognize that Islamic settlements are neither fortuitous nor amorphous in their organization, but they are expressions responding to patterns of social intercourse and allegiance particular to Islamic society and its natural context. The logical consequence of the concept of privacy and its relevance to the selected context concerns the way this concept and its relevant features determine the organization of space. It mostly contextualized a kind of layout to protect women from the eyes of strangers and to create clear distinctions and hierarchical spaces to highlight the role and the character of women in the building of the Islamic cities.

---

One of the issues in theory field of architecture especially in Islamic architecture which has been considered in academic assemblies in recent decades is the field of symbolism and its different approaches. Basically symbolism is one of the important features of Islamic architecture, to the extent that some scholars in Islamic architecture believe that symbolism is necessary to fulfill this kind of architecture. This article deals with the problem of what is symbol and generally sign in Islamic architecture and consequently, how the symbolism can be implemented in Islamic architecture. The purpose of this article is explaining different approaches that Muslim architects used for symbolism in their works meanwhile with explaining the nature and characteristics of each of these approaches, lessons would be learned for future symbolism in Islamic architecture. To illustrate the problem of this article, a hybrid method consisting of logical-argumentation research and qualitative content analysis research is used meanwhile the method for gathering data in this research is documents studies. The theoretical foundation of this research is based on Islamic wisdom so the research results have enough competence for the application in Islamic architecture. According to these results, in addition to credit architectural landmarks, there are genetic signs which can be manifested in various architectural components such as geometry and form and symbolism in Islamic architecture requires attention to both these two types of signs. Using these two types of signs, two main approaches are available for symbolism in Islamic architecture which is inductive and deductive symbolism. The first approach is based on sensory tools while the second one is often based on rational and intuitive tools. In this paper, meanwhile these approaches are explained, several examples will be presented for each of them.

---

This paper attempts to identify the thoughts and the infrastructure of the thinking of architects of Islamic-Iranian mosques to study the role of Qebla in the architecture of mosques in city of Ilam. Aim of the research is discovering the hidden aspects of Qebla and the importance of traditional architecture in attention to "the qebla direction" in design of Islamic-Iranian mosques. So it is a lesson for contemporary architects of Ilam to correct the current process in design and not to forget the attention to Qebla in the architecture of mosques. Hypothesis of this research is the difference between the contemporary and traditional mosques in Qebla. This is a historic research. In this research, 21 mosques of this city are studied and analyzed in positioning, geometry, the arrangement of interior spaces and the direction of entrance to Qebla. Analysis of the history of traditional mosques and recognition of Qebla in successful examples of these mosques is an introduction to analyze the theoretic differences of Ilam architects. The study shows not enough attention to Qebla in the design of Ilam mosques. So the sanctity, spirituality and basic identity of these mosques are missed.

---

Traditional societies and religious and public buildings and cities will always have a special role in the expression of the sacred, mostly common values that exalted the purpose according to God and the truths of existence were in charge of With the advent of modernism and changing human relationship with the divine, while changing values and reduced it to a purely experimental purposes a substantial part of this important mission, the Museum was transferred to the emerging phenomenon. Contemporary Museum, an institution that has the object and effect of its connection with the universe, the data are incomplete understanding where another place to supply the above mentioned do not have. Phenomenological approach to the study of the logic of the museum features a variety of word origins and roots of garlic Genesis and evolution of the tradition of the modern concept of the museum deals. The results show that although the museum by providing a platform for the generation and transfer of knowledge is undeniable values, But the kind of understanding that comes from looking at the human-centered detail oriented and modern, as notable flaw is in need of revision. So in order to get closer to a true understanding of the concepts mentioned in Islamic culture and focus on its proper relationship to the human - nature of the museum and defined. Museums look at a system that is as special institution of the universe, In connection with its defined, is trying to link a range of natural history and natural places, with a verse approach towards spiritual and cultural - culture, memory and the representation In order to understand the growth and development of human life and reasonable relation to the actual creation step.

---

Performing diverse activities in urban spaces were assumed a part of the past culture. Moreover, now urban spaces do not have a specific definition in terms of quality. It seems that today’s materialist world is more seeking to increase return in investment and economic quantities and this quantity-oriented state have kept it behind the qualitative issues. For this, faded presence of people in spaces, makes performing this research essential. The effort of this study is to evaluate and have an adjustment comparison between components making urban spaces from the view of western theoreticians and Iranian-Islamic scientists. It seems that remarkable presence of social relations is among the most effective components in increase of urban space’s quality. The data of this study were evaluated in two qualitative and quantitative sections. In qualitative section by help of content analysis method the viewpoints were compared. The quantitative section was conducted by use of analytical description method and a questionnaire was prepared and it was studied in three neighborhoods of Tehran. The data extracted from this questionnaire was inferentially analyzed via SPSS software and they were analyzed beside the other findings gained from literature of the subject. The three neighborhoods of Hafthoz Square, 2nd Sqaure of Niroohavaee and 15 Khordad Street were selected in terms of morphology. The findings of this research indicate that highlighted presence of activities for communication and recreation is highly effective in improving the urban space’s quality. The need for comfort, removal of the need for food and eating is among other components which were effective in the view of people that all of these components in Quran are mentioned as specifications of the space around human being. As a result, the main components of urban space’s quality questioned in this study were convergent to the components introduced by Islamic resources which are neglected in contemporary urban planning despite the emphasis of western resources and scientists.

---

Mosque tells the religious mission of the society and its social mission. Actually, the mosque is like a mirror that shows your community's religious situation. The mosque's architecture is an interpretation of elite perceptions and the essence of subjectivity and the Muslim faith. From this respect the building of the mosque can tell the extent and nature of any Era. Furthermore, the architecture of the mosque has implications for the knowledge bases of Islam. And, therefore,Mosque Architect Understanding Dimension and Mental degrees of his time. This research has been done with The purpose of structural elements used in traditional and modern mosque and relationship with the child's mind. And argues this entry: Is will affect Structural elements of the mosque on the child's mind And how is it different from the traditional and modern mosques. In this study, The methods of research utilized is descriptive – analytical and the Methods of data collection are field investigation and library. Also, the statistical community has 96 children. In order to depict the children's perceptions of traditional and modern mosques, after their visit mosques have been applied to the analysis of the painting, pulp and toys. The finding of this research suggests that the elements of the traditional mosque and the child's mind, there is a very close relationship and deep. This result is very weak, about modern mosques that There are not traditional symbols in their mosque the mosque is recommended that the principles of the Prophet in the mosques.

---

Researchers and experts have employed various approaches in dealing with Islamic Architecture. Architects, scholars, designers, mystics and philosophers have interpreted this phenomenon in their particular ways over time. Some merely have considered historical descriptive methods as an outward expression. Sometimes these descriptions and analysis aim at definition of spaces and architectural elements and at times an architectural description of different eras of governments from a historical point of view has been carried out such as Pope, Groop, and Herzfeld. Using historical analysis architectural works are examined unfortunately some of these analyses have digressed from the truth of the subject for not being familiar enough with the principles, values, and percepts of Islam and its relation to architecture. Pope, Papadopoulos and others have analyzed Islamic Architectural works over history belong to this group. Few of these historians such as Papadopoulos in his book titled The Islamic Architecture has concluded that there is no such a thing as Islamic Architecture it is in fact a combination of Greek and Byzantine architecture. He introduces the Damascus mosque as an example that is take from the Byzantine architecture such analysis as Papadopoulos are to a great extend simple and shallow since they lack any scientific value and credibility. Some others have utilized a philosophical view or in other words have examined the subject with an ontological or epistemological perspective. Philosophy means knowledge of the facts of beings to the point of one’s capability and its applicability. Other characteristics of philosophy is generalization. Various references can be made to generalization. It is the opposite of details for instance the concept of architecture, square, and garden can be referred. However, general has only one place and it is in man’s mind and wisdom. Nevertheless, general is external and objective. Others have used logic which is the tools of orthodoxy of man in relation to subjects. The logical approach of using the mind is to gain knowledge. Logic includes analogy, induction, and world of ideas. They have attended the Islamic Architecture using these logics. It should be noted that Islamic Architecture has mostly benefited from world of ideas or in other from form and concept. Form signifies the appearance of an artistic and architectural work that can be heard (music) or read (writing). Concept is meaning, logic, purpose, objective, reference, interpretation, and what form or word signifies. Form and concept in architecture is concerned with tangibility and rationality (oversensivity) and architectural form signifies that meaning and concept conveying the architect’s meaning. Some researchers have also found the roots of valuable works of Islamic Architecture in the past teachings. With training the architect (student-teacher based), they have dealt with the formation of Islamic Architecture that is how students are trained and disciplined and how their teachings has led to unparalleled works. Letters in magnanimity are the foundations of such discussion. The basis of this approach, in addition to interest and talent of the student, are refinement, construction of the soul and from world loss and the manifestation of God’s spirit is in them and in turn learning its terms. Thus, primarily, the student should be committed that is he/she should be well-mannered, have high understanding and be physically able. Scholars have also benefited from generalization in their studying the Islamic Architecture. Each group consists of objective, basis, and factors. In this study, the objective of Islamic Architecture is elevation and ascent in the living spaces. Basis is the cause of the research therefore, its principles should be looked at in religious, philosophical, and scientific outlooks. Its factors should be found in more general categories of the Islamic Architecture. With the three mentioned outlooks as the basis of subjects in the Islamic Architecture, and examination of the factors, objectives, and domain of the subject a comprehensive perspective is formed according to the capacity of a designer. Religious point of view studies the religious insight, moral ethics, and religious percepts, embracing all the ontological subjects in regard to common concepts and domain of the knowledge. The philosophical point of view questions why, what, and how to achieve a logical word from the external world. Knowledge about the subject is formed logically in the world of mind. The scientific point of view employs the experiences gained from a specialized subject in Islamic Architecture over the time. In this phase, the subject is divided into internal and external strategy where each should be taken into consideration but they cannot be discussed here. The aim of this article is to brows different approaches toward Islamic Architecture with their analysis. Undoubtedly, each approach pays attention to limited boundary of knowledge in a way that Islamic Architecture which will be useful in their realm. Certainly researchers in Islamic Architecture are knowledgeable in their choice of approach in analysis and research. Here, the important point is that to what extent does the researcher and scholar in Islamic Architecture aims to gain knowledge over the subject? Relying on the mentioned methods we can gain dominance over its perspectives, zone, and development. The questions of the present research are as follow: Are there different methods to understand Islamic Architecture? What are different approaches towards Islamic Architecture? To what extend does knowledge of Islamic Architecture take place? The method of research in Islamic Architecture is first through brief descriptions of these outlooks followed by an analytical, comparative, and synthesis, using proofs and documents. Finally the argument is examined and concluded with a systematic method.

---

Indigenous architectural masterpieces have broad dimensions that can be studied in different areas of focus and identified with their original patterns to transfer a new framework based on fundamental principles concerning the particular time and place. Architecture of each territory is the outcome of the beliefs, culture, climate, industry and the ways in which the land is built. Therefore, architecture is considered as the mirror to represent the interests, resources, knowledge and ability of its creators. An architectural work consists of forms and shapes in spatial framework the open and closed spaces and openings Shows, empty and full volumes and physical characteristics, hierarchies and measures. The color due to the extent of its role with psychological effects in social beliefs holds a special place playing an important role in the projection of an architectural expression. In the analysis of the different layers of the architectural works and the style of each architect, color has an important stance .The factor that relates architects` thoughts and emotions, on one hand and themes, theoretical principles and the cultural and social structures of the building, on the other hand. Therefore, investigating the type of color and its application in traditional architecture opens a window to recognize some of the features of this unique style of architecture and the artistic and architectural ideas, attitudes and abilities represented in the context. Although many articles and books have been edited and compiled on architectural history, building analysis, and stylistics amidst which there is a minor issue considering the color, in general, or the colors of the buildings, there is felt to be a great need to specialized researchers about painting and architecture in ecological aspects and its cultural roots in the historical civilizations. Color in architectural studies of West has been focused from psychological dimension since Bauhaus period, but in the social and ecological aspects, the most recent researches have been done on archetypes and indigenous and religious attitudes mixed with architecture. This research aims to identify and review the physical and emotional aspects of applying blue color in architectural practices of Uraman. Architecture in Kurdish territory has remained mysterious and full of legends so far in many ways, although its physical structure, more or less, has been paid attention to by many researchers but it cannot be said that researchers have been able to analyze its origin, particularly in semantic dimensions that require in-depth review. According to Uraman area, the research population is geographically widespread but considered proportional to the number of numbers required to include all aspects in order to achieve the validity. Therefore, five regions of Kamaleh, Uraman takht, palangan, naravi and hiravi were selected with suitable scattering. Among 40 aged people residing in these areas (55 to 90 years), questionnaires were filled in the form of interview. In addition in the initial evaluation and field studies, the presence of blue in the arrays, the window and Folk Literature endorses the need for research in this field. Although the present research is an effort to explore the beauty formation in the architecture based on the local culture and try to represent it in contemporary architecture, also to a large extent, it is located in the field of the fundamental studies. In this study, the influence of beliefs, geography, climate, literature and aesthetics as the independent variables on how and why to apply the paint and color in a traditional residential architecture, as the dependent variable is the focus of this paper. This research is descriptive and analytical. Part of the data has been collected through library research methods. Analysis and discussion have been on the psychology of color and hidden identity, the impact of lifestyle, climate and geography of the aesthetic and consequently, the selection of a specific color, covered in native tissue architecture and window applications. The other part of the data were collected through the field studies with architectural texture of the substrate, the distribution of questionnaires and interviews with older people of Uraman so that the obvious evidence of blue color application for residential windows becomes clear. Perhaps, what comes to mind in the first confrontation with mountain architecture is the minimal space of construction for a simple life. But in the deep investigations and comprehensive surveys, we find a collective power which analyzes the application of color in the windows from different angles and chooses the best one. Regarding the specific representation of color in architectural quality and anatomical texture, some researchers have had brief hints to color without any specific and coherent view to the issue in Uraman architecture. These points are one-dimensional and generalized. Ignoring the psychological, and belief effects and the fashion have not been mentioned with aesthetic or natural philosophy tendency. In the initial surveys and library studies, with the quality nature of the issue, there can be different views which are based on the hypotheses each research considers. But in this study, in order to obtain conclusive results and minimize the effect of researcher, by completing the questionnaire through interview and discussion with the audience of this architecture (target population), we tried to make research results clear free from vision of researchers based the current situation .Finally, according to field studies and interviews with older residents in Uraman (from the master carpenter, builders and ordinary people), opinions of scientists and psychologists and researchers in the field of architecture of Uraman, we can get the reason for the widespread application of blue in native architecture of Uraman homes to be expressed in this way that by accepting the dramatic role of geography, natural, climate and people in the unconscious memory formation followed by an indirect effect on aesthetics, it is the most important role in the widespread application of the blue traditional residential buildings of Uraman. Since each color finds value and the effect on the proximity of other colors combination of sharp blue in low area with great surface of light brown of walls brings about a beautiful color contrast. In addition, these colors also add to the comfort. Finally, the sacred hypothesis or removal of an eye sore has no originality in research findings and this view is no longer valuable in this field.

---

Natural light has been an important element in Iranian architecture and shaping the interior spaces of monuments. During different historical periods, the presence of light in various Architectural works, In addition to the functional aspect, has always been under focus from spiritual religious aspects. The incentive to turn to the light during worshiping God has existed in different religions and still exists. Daylight had have a special place and value in Islam and the Islamic worldview. With the emerge of Islam, usage and application of light in architecture increased especially in mosques as the most important monuments of Islamic architecture In mosques, daylight in addition to functional aspect is considered as a mystical symbol and a sign of God's presence that raises the human sense of reverence and humility in front of God. To this end, for centuries, Iranian architectures have been trying to use traditional architectural elements and daylighting solutions to better deploy the natural light in their designs. This study attempts to investigate and evaluate the application of light-catching elements in Iranian mosques, particularly in mosques and mosque–schools from Qajar period. We use a descriptive and analytical research method and our study is mainly on the basis of resources and the literature available in Iranian libraries. After describing the theoretical foundations of our research, we analyze a number of common light-catching elements in selected mosques. Although a multitude number of studies have been done on the concepts of light and its role and function in the traditional architectural monuments, particularly mosques and homes, little study has been done on light-catching elements in mosques of a specific period as done in this research. Structural elements which have been used in Iranian traditional architecture for utilizing daylight are studied from two directions. In the first direction, light-catching elements often have the task of transmitting light into the interior space. In the second direction, light controlling elements adjust the entered light into the building (similar to canopies). The subject of this research is in line with the first direction. We only study light-catching elements and we chose among them common elements such as door and window, Shabak, Horno, Rozan and Roshandan. Although these elements are different in term of material, type and location of application in the building, all of them are used for light-catching even though some of them have also ventilation application. We chose 10 mosques and mosque-schools of Qajar period in Tehran. The examined mosques and mosque-schools in this research were selected based on the following criteria: first, all the selected mosques and mosque-schools are located in old and valuable region of the city and they are tourists attraction. They have architectural values and are well-known among people and experts. Secondly, the building of selected samples reflect prominent features of Qajar’s architecture. Also the sufficient information (including maps and images) are available for these monuments. We chose 5 mosques and 5 mosque-schools among Qajar’s architectural works. Then, the usage and the application rate of light-catching elements in these buildings are evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively by the use of maps and the available visual data. Quantitative analysis is based on the approximate numbers of elements used in these mosques which have been extracted from the available images and maps. To qualitatively evaluate the application rate of various methods of light-catching in these mosques, we specify four levels of usage: "insignificant","low","medium" and "high". We provide the results of quantitative as well as qualitative analysis in this paper. Our analytical studies indicate that although door and window, Shabak, Horno, Rozan and Roshandan had been considered as innovative lighting elements inside mosques of Qajar period, architectures of this period still mainly utilized door and windows as the main lighting elements. Next to doors and windows, Rozan stands at the second place, Horno in the third place, and then Shabak and Roshandan. The utilization rate of doors and windows among considered mosques and mosque–schools has been similar. Nevertheless, the usage of Horno as a lighting element in mosques has been more than mosque–schools, Rozan and Shabak have been used more in mosque –schools rather than mosques. Roshandan has been barely used in the mosque-schools, and only few samples could be found within some mosques of this period.