Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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Islamic arts are often identified by their abstract compositions based on geometric principles and spiritual concepts. Using artworks from different eras, this paper highlights the presence of a particular model of thought in Islamic arts in which the hierarchy of perspectival vision is abolished. The main argument is based on the ability of some artworks to be looked at from any angle while maintaining a unified meaning and value. This work proposes that such arts possess the principle of horizontality, which can be evaluated much like other more familiar principles of Islamic arts.

Through different examples and via simulative research methodology, this paper elaborates how the principle of horizontality is the resultant of an abstract view from above in which the limits of perspectival vision are surpassed in order to communicate meanings of higher order. It is through this distant, parallel vision from above that the artist and his audience re-experience the divine act of creation and their interpretations become components of a sophisticated world of symbols.

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The traditional Iranian bazaar is considered as a great example of Iranian art and architecture with a rich cultural heritage. This phenomenon of outstanding architecture, self-sustaining and coherent with the surrounding urban landscape, like other urban texture, has not been immune from the consequences of the transformation of modern life in its internal and peripheral arena. On the other hand, the transformation and creation of new structures for the survival of life of historical textures is essential. The concept of contextualism and its purpose in the historical context, based on the qualitative concepts of the creation of a living, coherent and dynamic, is based on the need to recognize and emphasize the extraction of the texture pattern language for structural and functional cohesion in peripheral development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the degree of coherence of new structures on the continuation of the traditional texture life of the traditional bazaar in order to analyze the heterogeneity of infill buildings in the historical context of the Iranian-Islamic city and criticize the existing context, first, with a descriptive-analytical method, on traditional Ardabil bazaar as a case study. Then, in order to answer the question of the extent of the infill coherence effect as a context-oriented parameter on the continuity of the pattern language as a characteristic of context survival, field survey, as well as the questionnaire as a tool for collecting information and SPSS software as an analysis tool, and data evaluation were used. By developing the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between the amount of context-oriented contemporary infills and the survival of the traditional bazaar context, the research begins qualitatively and to test, the continuation of the traditional bazaar is dependent variable and the degree of contextualism between the infills is the independent variable. First, qualitative studies are conducted based on deductive reasoning and field studies, and then the results are quantified by presenting a questionnaire and examining the views of the resident business people who have at least two generations of bazaar presence, as well as those of contemporary merchants and experts.
The findings in the first section show that the powerful functional-physical centersare of scale that create the pattern of the life of different structures. In the case of the traditional Ardebil bazaar,it is in accordance with the three macro, middle and macro scales, indicate the highest quality of life and it brings forth the semantic coherence of the unified and dynamic Islamic worldview in the structure of the traditional bazaar. The findings in the second part indicate a general lack of coherence between contemporary infills in the 2 nd grade zone of the traditional Ardebil bazaar. Also,it shows that   structural integrity, visual coherence and spatial integrity variables have a direct and significant effect on the dependent variable of the physical life of the traditional bazaar ,and  the activity coherence variable and the cognitive integration of the new building as a predictor variable on the functional life of the traditional bazaart. Therefore, dealing with concepts such as scaling and scale distribution, necessity to go beyond the strictly limited use of the brick and the limited height of the building and the window frame in the traditional bazaar becomes vital to consider, so that deep concepts of the language of the texture pattern can be continued and the new recommendations for design identity in the historical context can be created for designers to emphasize "modeling" rather than "formalism".