Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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One of the most important problems in mosques designing is the quality of geometries and spaces which are appropriate for using in these religious buildings. It is obvious that one of the best references for studying this issue is Islamic teachings which are derived from verses and hadith. So, for responding to this question that what are the geometries and spaces which are appropriate for using in contemporary Tehran mosques, all religious texts such as holy Quran and Shia Imams remarks have been investigated. To achieve to the purposes of this research, thematic analysis method has been used for religious texts analyzing. This method is a simple and efficient way to explain patterns in the qualitative data. Using this method, in the first stage, all hadiths and verses which there is the word of “Masjid” or “Masjids” in them - that were about 15,000 ones - were studied. Then those of them which didn’t have effective relation with mosque architecture were omitted and the others were analyzed. Based on analysis of these hadiths and verses three types of code were subsumed. In the first level, descriptive codes were inferred which are the codes that are obvious and unequivocal. In the second level, interpretative codes were inferred which are latent and non-transparent and finally in the third level, pervasive codes were inferred which are the codes that comparing to two other types, have the most comprehensiveness. In this research, after deduction and classification of triple types of codes, the network of themes has inferred this network includes all pervasive codes that have classified hierarchically. In fact, this network provides the conceptual framework for mosques designing. Moreover, according to the requirements of the various stages of this research, for gathering data, archival research method has been used mostly meanwhile the authors have used logical argumentation method in analysis step and judgment of data (For example, the network of pervasive themes has deducted by logical argumentation method). The following, regarding to the importance of pervasive themes network, manufacturer principles of this network are cited: - Balance in permeability in mosques - Use of abstract geometries and patterns (in association with natural shapes and icons) - Use of geometries with clear boundaries for spaces separating - Attending to human scale in mosques - Use of axial and polar geometries - Application of uniform and pure geometries in mosques - Attending to the spatial hierarchy - The necessity of observing the simplicity in mosque - Attending to the mosque legibility for pedestrians - Attending to multi functionalism - Attending to the traditions and methods of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Imams (AS) in the construction of mosques - The necessity of preserving Islamic identity and avoiding the imitation of other cultures in physical design of the mosques - Change in original physical patterns of mosques in certain circumstances - Use of convergent, balanced and introversive geometries and forms in mosques In the last part of this research, different contemporary mosques in Tehran were selected to be evaluated according to 14 above principles. The quality of selection was based on some valid researches that formerly have been done for Tehran mosques typology. According to these researches, totally six mosques were selected that three ones of them are designed in traditional style and the others are designed innovative. Based on the results of this research and regarding to 14 above principles, to establish the appropriateness of the appearance and conscience in contemporary Tehran mosques, use of converged, static, balanced and generally introverted geometries and spaces is necessary and contrary to what is seen in some contemporary Tehran mosques over recent years, diverging and extroverted geometries and spaces are not suitable for this problem. But unfortunately and according to findings of this research, these features are less respected in Tehran innovative contemporary mosques compared to Tehran traditional contemporary mosques.

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Despite rapid quantitative growth in recent years, little attention has been paid to the quality of learning environments in contemporary universities. With the rapid increase in the capacity of universities and establishing new academic units and courses, growth in physical spaces in universities and higher educational institutions has accelerated considerably in recent years. Quantitatively oriented perspective to the issue of education has led the learning to be limited to the classrooms learning environment merely and therefore growth and improvement in universities only be done in a course of study for students. Lack of attention to the psychological needs of human beings and one-sided approach to the issues of education (apart from nurturing) are weaknesses of the current educational program which have affected the contemporary collegiate architecture as well. Developing and shaping of contemporary environment of universities have been suddenly and quickly, that caused poor quality of the current spaces. These factors include: 1. Inappropriate sites outside the cities or vicinities to provide the basic needs which impose additional costs 2. Formation of more than 40 percent of universities without Primary comprehensive plan 3. Purely quantitative perspective to the development of educational spaces 4. Shortage of welfare as a result of unforeseen developments 5. The high level of occupation and appliance at universities the major cities 6. Lack of attention to campuses in many universities Based on the principles of environmental psychology, structure, shape, form, color and specification of the environment effect on behavior, learning, social interaction and communication. Accordingly, respecting the proposed theories about human psychological needs of physical needs to needs of growth and self-actualization, by studying the physical spaces of the traditional Islamic schools of architecture as fulfilling the psychological needs in all aspects, could be reach the principles and models of the design physical spaces in contemporary university education. This article is to scrutinize the physical characteristics of Iranian Islamic architecture and specifically the traditional schools architecture such as Chahar Bagh and Agha Bozorg, which their architectural formation were based on Islamic perspective, to detect principles and components that is confirmed by Islamic monotheistic viewpoints and the theories of environmental psychology as well. This paper benefited from logical conclusion by interpreting and analyzing the structure of individual spaces, their spatial hierarchy and ultimately analyzing the whole of architecture of these schools, to detect the ideas and strategies employed to meet the psychological needs of human, to be able to extract contemporary design strategies for the spaces of university campuses such as training classes, public places, privacy and relationship with nature. All these principles could be exploited to contribute towards improving the overall sense of place and achieve more concurrence in the education, training and nurturing of students. In traditional educational system unlike the current system, there was no separate between in education and other aspects of student life and what the student had been learning was following the same lifestyle. Framework of traditional schools had been providing space for this attitude. All of these schools, such as Chahar Bagh of Esfahan, Ghiyathiyeh Khar Gerd Khaf, Motahari School (Sepahsalar) and etc., had been included of rooms for all students. Student’s living spaces were located at all four sides of the courtyard. Identifying and analyzing the spaces composition, as well as tiny spaces of Islamic traditional schools could find the principles of wisdom. The results indicate that: 1. Composition and harmony between the life spaces, worship and education spaces had been for development and improvement in all aspects of life. 2. Being together living, educational and converge spaces, had been providing the need to housing and shelter and had been creating a peaceful and secure environment. This could not be seen in the current universities. 3. Existence of hierarchy of spatial 1) central courtyard 2) semiprivate porch and 3) private rooms, have created feature interactions at different levels and degrees. The central courtyard has been the common factor of linking. The common factor and spatial hierarchy in the current residents of universities are not seen as a particular form. 4. Form and layout of classroom rings while creating a strong relationship between teacher and students have been created the participation. While in existing classrooms is one-sided relationship. 5. Coordinating components of traditional schools have created sense of balance, continuities, purpose, legible and transparency. While in the majority of contemporary spaces of universities, distribution of forms and colors and etc. has created Illegible or even a stressful environment. 6. Inverted form of traditional schools operates in order to increase concentration of mind and separation of interests outside of school. 7. The strong geometric plan of central courtyard and green spaces, have been acting as the driver's mind to thinking. While in the contemporary college campus, green space, is filling the empty areas. 8. By giving rooms to students in the educational environment created a sense of competence, self-esteem, consequently the environment and responsibility for their learning environment. 9. Semiprivate porch space in traditional schools have played role of debate and free discussion space, which have caused the development and promotion of students ultimately. It is while in the current hostels there are no such spaces.

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Designing a muslim man’s house should be the outcome of Islamic values and beliefs of its inhabitants. Islam is a comprehensive religion that can provide a set of basic principles as a guide and framework for housing design. According to the country's macro policies on the revival of Islamic Iranian architecture, it seems necessary to pay attention to the housing design principles of Islam and realization of these principles in past and present time. Since Islam is not limited to a specific age and place and can meet the needs of human being in different periods, the compatibility of universal teachings with Islamic principles must be considered. According to the verses and narratives mentioned in the Islamic sources, housing and residential spaces should have two main types of characteristics. The first type is negative characteristics that need to be removed and second type is positive characteristics that are visible to recommended. Consideration of these principles can determine the design of a Muslim’s house. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the research, some of the most important principles of housing design were extracted from the religion references at first. Then the similar principles in other cultures of the world (such as theories of Alexander (1977), Scruton (1995), Pallasmaa (2006) and Marcus (2001)) were evaluated by using comparative-historical method. Finally observance or non-observance of these principles in the past and today houses is discussed in order to achieve alive and dynamic principles of house design in contemporary world. The purpose of the research is to present the basic principles and design suggestions in order to improve housing conditions by using the resources of religion (primarily the Holy Quran and the authentic narrations) and evaluate contemporary theories and residential buildings based on these principles. In the field of housing, Islam suggests residents’ privacy, limitation, hospitality, avoiding luxury, balance of home size, height and decorations. These principles were respected in most of iranian traditional homes and in few cases inconsistencies are observed. For example the principle of “balancing the height of interior spaces of the house” is not respected in some traditional houses such as “Zinat al-Molk house” or “Narenjestan-e Qavam”. Unfortunately, a lot of these principles are not respected in designing common types of modern apartment houses. For example, small size of the house and not separation of public and private space will cause family problems and destroy moral values of the family. On the other hand, in some residential complexes, some factors such as building height, and using extra decorations, as well as the use of luxury materials of façade induce show-off which is against Islamic rules. Many of the Islamic teachings have been emphasized in other cultures of the world and also the views of theorists however some cases can be seen different. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful in emulating the universal examples. The importance of this research is finding appropriate and inappropriate global patterns and theories based on Islamic principles So that a muslim could take advantage of the principles of Islam and its physical reflection in housing design. - In the principle of visual prohibition that most traditional houses regarded, the teachings of Alexander in the patterns 115, 140 and 164 differ with Islamic teachings. He recommends enclosed courtyards and terraces overlooking the street. - The principle of avoiding physical individuality of house that Pallasmaa and Scruton also have emphasized in the field of housing, is contravened by some architects like Eisenman and Gehry. These architects usually use unconventional forms and facades. - About balancing the height of interior spaces of the house, theorists haven’t particular opinion. However architects such as Le Corbusier pay attention to this in some of his designs. - In the field of home decoration, Islam recommends rules in two aspects: Recommend adornment and renounce luxury. Alexander (in the pattern 249) and Venturi confirmed these teachings. But some modern architects such as Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier offer contradictory ones and prohibit any decoration in designing. Balance in decoration is obvious in the designs of some architects such as Wright and Ando, however it is ignored in some houses such as Gaudi’s design which is full of additional elements. - The principle of privacy is confirmed by most of the world cultures and theorists such as Alexander (in the pattern 127, 130, 79, 136) although in some few cases such as Johnson Glass House ignored. - The principles of hospitality and size balance which are always emphasized by Islamic and Iranian traditions, are neglected in other cultures and universal teachings and also contemporary apartment houses. Results show that the principles of Islamic architecture such as privacy and limitation, hospitality, balance of home area and its decoration is mainly observed in traditional Iranian houses. Although many of these principles are approved by global theorists and architects in designing homes, in some contemporary cases, failure to comply with Islamic teachings is visible. So it is necessary for us to be cautious about simulation these samples.

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City is consisted of a range of specific activities which are responsive to human needs. It deals with human’s features, thoughts and approaches and struggles to achieve formation of the city depending on his world-view and insight. Degree of desirability and quality of the city relates to intellectual space that are prevailing on it. Islam as a human insight which is rooted from their worldview that have defunded the tenet for human life has defined principles for human’s lifestyles which consists of absolute attributes of God, human’s and intellectual origins. This subject directs human perfection to the attributes of God, because it is related to human nature and common property of humans. The organization of the Islamic city present components and indexes propound life and idealistic city components and index that is proportional to human nature differ with insight. Accordingly, the necessity of the research is achieving the principle of Islamic city and response to human needs for achieve perfection. This paper deals with attitudes, categories component and indicators Islamic city that is proportional to the common natural tendencies. On the one hand, the research is a cross-sectional one that processes with analysis and physical content and it is strategic nature of interpretive. On the other hand, by using (logical-analytical) reasoning, it begins description and presentation of instances Islamic city and index organization city. Based on the research data, principal of Islamic city is based on inherent characteristics of human and social body of city that describe five natural tendencies. The trends according to martyr Motahhari’s opinion in book of nature consists of truth and achieve perfection, goodness and virtue, beauty, creativity and innovation and tendency to worship. This results for principles recognition. Accordingly, what is the meaning and principles derived from five natural tendencies was argument base on the Islam. It comes from innate human that trends to truth and achieve to the knowledge of indigenous and monotheistic. Also, the piety, introspection and Unitarianism is influenced. The tendency to goodness and virtue, personal and social virtue and justice will prevail in the city. Beauty trends reinforce beautiful sense at the individual community and content physical level. Creativity is an innate human tendency to feel that the Islam city of guidance, correction and makes lessons. Pure nature human in premier authority show trending to love and worship the qualities such as meditation, thank and centralism at the Islamic city. Meanings, principle influence by trends indicate that most cases be explained by characteristics of man- made, belief, values, realms of human existence and in other word, it is his worldwide. The root of all bad ones originated from ignorance and irrationality and the city that as worldview based on the human form has higher status in comparison with what is free of thought and intellect. So what qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the human body define is the wisdom or knowledge of the truth. Wisdom is the branch of the divine inspiration of the hidden secret in nature and the human body that god has entrusted. Wisdom is divine messenger of God that is strong and rich source of Islam that has interactive relationship with nature and the law. The urban design based on intellectual foundations of Islam, the principles of Islamic life and its behavioral pattern. Human and rational behavior flows in any of its spaces. On the other hand, the fact-based wisdom know and must be guidance until it guides him, and guidance as to the person who created the universe and man and knows him, who his needs .he is aware of the higher interests. Establish his eternal life and gives him schedules. Meaning, principles influenced by trends indicate that most cases explained by man-made characteristics of Islam is based on understanding of man and his objectives do and do not and indexes in religious texts such as “ Quran “ which is at the top of them. Shariah principles based on reason and consequently natural human tendencies and trends in response to insight or knowledge and asks to come to the intellectual life of the human being is perfect. Criteria and indicators can be divided in five groups of orientation and mental demands of his innate tendency to reach the truth and perfection, goodness and virtue, beauty, creativity, innovation and love and worship and because it is a response to all his needs, these trends provide the background of his relaxation and confidence and since the nature is put in the man and we all accept the fact that God is the accepted wisdom of human thought. Each of the five branches of arguments based on the intended meaning is rooted in the principles, criteria and indicators proposed by the organization identifies the Islamic city. Because these components are rooted in the principles and concepts appropriate to the areas affected by natural and man shall enjoy the physical and social aspect. In this way the city is structured according to Islamic social and physical factors and indicators are formed, is the rational and intellectual city that as human nature which is divided in the form (appearance) and means (conscience) program of physical (body) and affers community. Accordingly, we can say that Islamic city gaits on the worldview, belief, and human existence realm and by recognizing the existence realm and by recognizing the existence of real human needs and it’s identification, it troop fields flourishing spiritual life and growth of human perfection. Based on this research, comm:::union::: city in the physical aspect is originated based on the spiritual and influenced by religious. The nature is inherent characteristics of human with knowledge-based thoughts that create form and comm:::union::: morality and comm:::union::: city is effective in its intensity and the effect.

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After the industrial revolution, men intended-more than ever-to use energy, specifically the fossil fuels. Moreover the quick growth of population have added considerably the speed of the critical status of environmental affairs. The side effect of industrialization result many problems such as the depletion of natural resources, the increase of polluting levels in surroundings, extinction of many species of animals and plants and the environmental crisis. Due to the above mentioned problems human approach toward nature has been changed. The approval of Stockholm Declaration in Environmental Conference of United Nations Organization is a turning point in formal human attitude during history towards natural resources and the utilization systems of ground. The mentioned declaration and 1974 Declaration of KOKOIK have confirmed the complexity and seriousness of social- environmental crises. Furthermore, they have emphasized upon the necessity of devising and demonstrating healthy environmental strategies in order to upgrade socio-economic and fair environmental developments. Also these affairs led to the "earth Commission" in 1992. During the mentioned commission, the 21 Declaration and Rio Declaration about environmental and development were approved. On the other hand religion have many instruction about protecting nature. In Abrahamic religions' view, the question about what has intrinsic value, is presented based on innate belief in God. That is, the intrinsic value in the universe belongs to God and value of other creatures is definable based on it. Therefore, all parts of the universe obtain value based on this relation and human being is responsible to provide proper care for them. It can be stated the criterion for an action in this view is consisted, which God is considered as human responsibilities (Abedi, Shahvali and Mohaghegh Damad 2007, 65). Islam as a universal and holistic religion claims is able to answer variable needs in every epoch and have deterministic laws for all relations and ranks of human. However, it does not mean that it is defined clear laws for every specific and contemporary subject. It contains very general laws, which specific laws can be deducted for each subject. One of the subjects is “environment”. By looking in Islamic texts and the Quran it can be understood that environment and caring about it is considered as important subject in Islam. Many of Quran's verses imply about it. In addition, many of Quran's chapters have name that is the name of natural phenomena and even many times swear an oath is on a natural phenomenon. Human begin is invited to think and contemplate about them. Editing environment's law is long history in Islam. A set of Muslim scholars' fatwas about environment preservation, ancient monuments, city interconnections, the quality of operation, architectural structures, using passageway, drainage bases, public places, installing windows, place of industrial buildings, cleaning the urban passageway, and behaving with animals are evidences of this claim (Pak 2008, 141). This paper presents a comparative study of Islamic approach with the contemporary approach in dealing with the environment. In this research, with comparing these two approaches, common aspects in contemporary conservationists’ statements based on Islamic visions, are revealed. The main question in this research is: why and how religious sources in various fields including environmental issues could be the solution? Do these instructions cover contemporary concerns in the field of environmental crises? After dealing with contemporary environmental crises, the need to change attitudes to the nature was realized by human. This is while the Islamic instructions have a lot of teachings in the case of conserving environment from 1,400 years ago. Therefore, the aim of this research is to expose the necessity of deeply studying the Islamic texts again and applying them in the related realm of natural environment such as architecture. A combinatorial research method is employed in this paper, which is based on the logical reasoning and quality approach. After studying the Islamic texts that is related to the natural environment and contemporary approach in this realm, the adaptive studying method of “Jorj F. Berdy” is employed for comparison of these two approaches. This method has four levels: description, interpretation, adjacency, and comparison. The items which is described and interpretation are environment, nature, balance of nature, development, avoiding damage of nature and components of nature. In addition, the defined criteria in this comparison are determined by documents studying and experts surveying of the “Delphi” approach. The final criteria is classified in three category: paradigm level, field level and component. After documents studying, adaptive studying, and analysis of these two methods in this research, the necessity of extracting the Islamic instructions and approaches for natural environment conserving is revealed. Besides this research shows that practice of Islamic instructions which are communicated to humans regardless of the particular time and place would have prevented the current environmental crisis and also shorten many ways that mankind had chosen according to his experience and avoid a lot of damages to the environment.The closer examination of these doctrines can open new horizons for the completion of these theories.

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Morality is one of the valuable things which has been considered in Islamic society. All thinkers of morality notional scope have tried to invite people to a good life by preparing them with cases such as contentment, forgiveness, true worshiping, pure life and earning kosher money. Islamic morality is a set of all headings correlated to morality specially morality science which is related to Islamic world and culture. Morality has a good adjacent with values and is divided into adaptive morality. Notional morality and practical morality and these items can be the origin of issuance of bad or good actions. Islam always recommends Islamic society to learn and rely on new science and technologies albeit in foreign and non-Islamic countries, and takes this as a honorable and devotional act, so there is no difference between Islamic root and science and technological development, but beside recommending knowledge avocation, Islam stresses on this point that the purpose of science and technology should be in direction of serving Islam root, this issue causes technology to be consistent in a contriving way with, cultural elements such as beliefs and thoughts, social values, social norms and provisions, symbols and ideologies, so that the performance of this technology be a desirable one. Architecture is an era for out breaking individual, social life and normative aspects like morality. This issue causes affective factors in architecture with special features grow in its framework and meaning. Considering moral norms of society and the human is one of basic requirements in shaping human s work place and life. So the relation between architecture morality and social norms is satisfying the needs of the human, so that he can find comfort in the architecture space. During history architects have tried to match their architecture with moral norms with understanding these needs, but the arrival of new technological alongside identification issues and originality crisis, has affected on moral components in architecture and has created new challenges between morality architecture and technology. The problem of the present paper is that: what is the relation between morality and technology in architecture? And our purpose is finding moral concept and social norms of morality in technology transferring process in terms of today technology when technology and architecture be synchronized, the effect of this problem that is technological architecture, would be inappreciable with regarding moral and normative criteria, but if technology won't be synchronized with architecture then they would be against each other and it will transform to “architecture technology“ phenomenon in which technology will become all forms of architecture and then necessary condition for shaping architecture would be technology. So architecture is always affected by technology, whether to promote architecture of spatial and semantic features to weaken them and to show the dominance of technology on architecture and the human. The purpose of this paper is not the deny technology acquisition from non-Islamic societies because technology is important in any society and if this technology would not be with awareness, this technology can destroy the remained morality. Technology makes a society develop in different dimensions and morality which is intrinsic should grasp as important concept in this time and this development matches morality development but with converse face which in a short time it will be with disappearing morality. Technology and development especially constant and development is a complex process. The technology procedure type is related to collaboration and public trust of all people of a society regarding to moral balance and other social norms of that society. If people want to use and develop technology without destroying morality and its concepts in today society, they should bring human values such as trust, humanitarianism and love in their lives and works. The results of the research shows that for reaching a proper pattern of current architecture in an Islamic society, some criteria for using architectural technology should be considered which the most important of them is to consider morality component I terms of using technology in architecture. Morality components in architecture include: - Continuous afford to promote moral and noumenon dimension in architecture and inside an architect. - Self–knowing and the other knowing in response to people's needs. - Continuous afford in self –construction and adjustment of job affairs. Continuous afford for effective presence of Islamic religion and morality in all dimension of works and jobs. - Re-knowing, preservation and adjustment of norm manners and society in light of Islamic standard. - Re-knowing Islamic culture and civilization and growing it to create architectural space regarding to current and future needs of society. - Afford to promote common human Islamic -Iranian dimensions which identity category would be grown by it. Observance these elements by architect alongside harmonizing technology with these elements, would create a result proportional to social morality, culture and norms.so it can be said that architecture is as a result of Islamic moral elements and updated with modern technology.

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Covering one of the most important spaces, domes have a magnificent role in Persian mosques. During continuous eras of Islamic architecture masons could promote this techno-spiritual heritage and developed its spatial value. This process reached its apogee in Safavid era. Overshadowing Shia conceptual system carved the cultural context of Safavid society and consequently changed its architectural features. In this context, Safavid illustrious domes acquired modern roles and were dressed differently. In previous studies symbolic meanings of domes have been analyzed mostly in two major groups of “positivist-narrative” and “mystical-hermeneutic” approaches. The followers of traditionalism school by applying mystical-hermeneutic approach have suggested some general meanings for most of dome cases in the entire Islamic world. Manifestation of symbolic meanings such as heaven, paradise, sky and unity is proposed by these scholars. On the other hand, positivist art and architectural historians by utilizing a narrative approach has criticized the traditionalism school. They believe tying any meaning to a traditional architectural element requires achieving clear historical evidences that could be gathered through field studies. Meanwhile there are limited group of scholars that benefit from both hermeneutic and narrative methods. Although they accept the central concept of embodiment of Islamic meanings in the buildings, they provide historical subjective evidences for their arguments. This paper aims to investigate the meaning of Safavid domes by using “Narrative - Hermeneutic” approach. Appropriately, the hypothesis of embodiment of the meaning of a holy tree, called Tuba in Safavid illustrious domes is examined by means of two questions. The first question looks for the original meaning of Tuba in Safavid cultural context which has been studied in a separate paper. That paper indicates that the term Tuba is only mentioned once in the Quran, However its attributes can be ascertained from various hadiths and other relevant references. Additionally, in his The Red Intellect, Sohrevardi describes this tree. Accordingly, Tuba is a divine, tall, with a long shadow tree that is one of the blessings in heaven. The second question is concerned about Tuba’s probable relationships to illustrious Safavid domes. Consequently, to find out the answer characteristics of the two main domes in Madrese Chāhār-bāgh (Soltānī school) and Masjid-i Jamī Abbāsī (Shāh mosque) at Isfahan are analyzed in three spatial scales including the city, the building and the dome chamber. Accordingly, images of the domes in city sky line, dome’s silhouette and shape, outer and inner ornaments as well as the content of dome’s inscriptions are studied. In the urban scale, western traveler’s description as well as studying the city sky line represents a modern picture that forms in the Safavid capital. The picture that displays raised huge domes in the verdure background of the Isfahan as a garden city. In an architectural scale, the projected shape of the dome constructed on a tall drum represents the form of an abstract tree that dominates the mosque and the school and their surrounding area. This image can be better realized by looking to the decorative layer of two domes. Both cases are covered by lavish vegetal decorative patterns drawn on a turquoise background that encompasses the outer and inner shell of the dome. This layer dresses the abstract shape of domes and illustrates an objective tree free standing beyond the city skyline. Moreover, studying the buildings inscriptions may reflect the indicated concepts and intention of their builders and providers. Acordingly inscriptions of main spaces including the entrance (pishtaq), the foyer (hashti), Qibla ivan and minarets were survived. Almost all the inscriptions in both monuments reflect the three main concepts. Inscriptions in both monuments reflect the scientific superiority and spiritual grandeur of Imam Ali. Simultaneously in Madrese Chāhār-bāgh the value of knowledge and in Masjid-i Jamī Abbāsī the importance of congregational mosque are mentioned in different ways. More precisely investigation of dome chamber inscriptions reflects some indicated concepts. Unlikely to the most of dome chambers the applied inscriptions in both cases hardly contain Quranic verses. They mostly include those hadiths and quotes that clarify the role of Imam Ali as the first Imam and also successor and brother of the prophet. More importantly, the mihrab inscription at Madrese Chāhār-bāgh, as the focal element for meaning manifestation in dome chamber, represents the night journey and the ascension of Prophet Muhammad and describes his meeting with the holy tree of Tuba. Finally, qualitative analysis (comparing and content analysis) of the findings evaluated the paper’s hypothesis in three criteria of “logical consistency”, “truthfulness probability” and “completeness”. In the first criterion, the paper indicates on the logical consistency of this hypothesis. Paper findings in the second criterion demonstrate the truthfulness probability for embodiment of the meaning of Tuba. Eventually the last criterion suggests that provided evidences cannot support the completeness of the hypothesis. All in all, this paper suggests that core concept of Tuba tree as the most truthful explanation for the meaning of studies domes.

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The present paper is extracted from a purposeful research aiming at pondering on the recondite meaning of persistence in Iranian architecture during Islamic era and comparing it to the concept of sustainability and contemporary sustainable architecture. It seems that the literature is poor in terms of causes and factors of persistence in Iranian architecture. The limited literature in this area mostly includes descriptions of buildings and monuments of various periods of Iranian architecture. Due to closeness of the meanings of persistence and sustainability, no clear-cut border has been drawn between the two terms up to now. The present research aims at not only depicting the essential difference between the two terms of persistence and sustainability in Iranian Architecture, but also finding specifications and principles of persistent architecture and the factors affecting it. Therefore, this research is after finding the source and cause of persistence and perpetuity of Iranian architectural monuments inherited from old times. Iranian architecture has witness use of persistent patters that are being forgotten due to negligence on the part of contemporary Iranian architects as this valuable treasure and their passive acceptance of imported modern architecture. Nowadays, one of the most important issues attracting Iranian architects is the necessity of persistence in contemporary architecture and revival of Iranian architecture. The authors of this paper hold that analysis of persistent and timeless architectural works and monuments for finding their common geometric patterns can help achieving a solution for grafting persistence on to architectural works. These phenomena play a significant role in the society from both cultural-structural and pragmatic aspects. It is noteworthy to say that finding patterns in common in persistent works doesn’t mean merely copying them, but, giving them rebirth in the modern world with due regard to the needs of modern people as many of Iranian architectural works have structural-physical elements that were persistent at their own time but have lost their use today and they are only inheritance for the coming generations and they are no longer live in their use. What needed most in the present era is not blind copying of the features of Iranian architecture, but is pondering on Iranian architecture and attempting to modernize its features. In the present paper, first, the meanings of persistence and sustainability are presented and compared with each other and the viewpoints of scholars on persistence and sustainability are covered. The results of this research shows that living architecture is the cause of persistence and perpetuity of architecture in modern architecture as the case studies ChoghaZanbil Ziggurats, Naqsh -e- Jahan touristic - religious square, Tabriz Bazzar and Azadi Square can be mantioned. In terms of nature, this research is logical inference. Data was collected using library method and questionnaire techniques. The research questions included: What is the principal difference between persistence and sustainability? What is the most important factor in persistence? What are the effective features and factors in persistence architecture? The results of this research suggest that the most important difference between persistence architecture and sustainable architecture is the factor of meaning and spirituality. Furthermore, regarding to culture, and use of persistent archetypes and ability to absorb addressees are among other differences between persistent architecture and sustainable architecture. It is noteworthy that meaning in this research is a factor that inspires value in the setting, engraves memories in addressee’s minds, creates an identity in the space and place and the addressee understands that the interconnectedness of elements and formation of space are incarnations of the values and concepts of a community expressed in an architectural form. Persistence in architecture is a form of timeless state of living and dynamism that is persistent and lasting. Living means physique and sprit together, not only the physique should be live, but also it should be associated with soul. Persistence is held a kind of historical and cultural continuation in a living body. Living body means a connection between past, present and future that forms identity. What making Iranian architecture persistent is regard to spirituality and expression of the people’s beliefs and culture in architecture that develops in the addressee and becomes perpetual. Nowadays, meaning is lost in architecture, as architect instead of paying attention to God, the origin of eternity, and the original needs of human being, as the caliph of God on earth, and cultural patterns that can be expressed in today’s forms with a little modification, views man connected with technology, tools and facilities which are all transient and consumptive in other words, tools have replaced targets. Based on the results of this research, the major difference between persistent architecture and sustainable architecture is disregard to meaning and emergence of spirituality that maintains culture, identity and cultural capital in any community. The things that can be admitted as a base to rely and creat a new architecture.

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Background: Abundant studies have shown that, spending and attending long-hours in health centers is regarded as a stressful experience for patients, visitors, and staffs. Therefore, many researchers have considered and noticed using the nature in health centers as an approach to decrease environmental stresses and improving the environment quality. Their findings denote the issue that using landscape and creating the possibility to access the nature for users of health centers can provide a calming environment and also would be effective in patient’s improvement process. Objectives: Now in the present study, in order to emphasize the use of nature in the country's health centers and to have a more profound look to the issue, role of the nature in human's healing and its reason, have been investigated using Islamic resources and by applying a descriptive-analytic method. Then, to provide a practical approach the possibility of implementing Persian garden pattern, as a healing garden in hospitals, has been evaluated. Methods: At first, comprehensive characteristics of a healing garden in hospitals were explained and then by reviewing and analyzing the related scientific literatures, conformity of these characteristics to a Persian garden pattern were investigated through two approaches. 1- Description and analysis of the existing library documents 2- investigation of the experts’ attitude through a questionnaire. Results: In the research findings, the effect of nature on human’s health according to the Islamic sources was described and the causes of these effects were also mentioned. In the Islamic sources, abundant literature emphasizes and focuses on the positive effect of nature on human’s health and use of it for human’s healing is theoretically a proper issue. Thus, relationship with nature can play a positive role by guiding the internal sources of treatment in human, along with the medicine (external treatment sources). Findings of the present study indicate that this effect may be due to some reasons such as a common origin and existential domains and also stimulation of human’s powers and senses. Therefore, if human’s five senses emphasized in designing, effect of the nature on human’s health would be more effective. Healing gardens are those gardens which do not only have aesthetic function, but also due to the association they make with users, they lead in healing of physical and especially mental patients and at a higher level, they prevent from illness in the human. According to article reviews, the following nine features can be mentioned as the characteristics of a healing garden in hospitals: 1. Providing access to the nature and interaction with it 2. Creating an opportunity for selection, privacy and experience in having control over affairs 3. Creating an environment for getting together and social interaction 4. Creating a space for physical activity (walking) 5. Meeting others 6. Silence and being away from mechanical and machine noises 7. Peace and security 8. Readability 9. Creating positive and clear features Comparative study of the pattern of Iranian gardens with the above-mentioned features was performed based on the evaluation of the existing documents, Iranian garden is an appropriate pattern to be applied in design ideas of healing gardens in hospitals. Subsequently, experts’ views in this regard were investigated. According to the experts’ view, the most important result of this section of the study is the high level conformity (90/13%) of the Iranian gardens to the characteristics of a healing garden. The highest percentage of conformity related to the readability feature (98/2%) that distinguishes Iranian gardens from other patterns such as Japanese gardens. According to the experts, after readability, “providing the accessibility to the nature and interacting with it” is the most important feature of the Iranian gardens in the present study. The reason for this may be the profound association of the Iranian gardens with plans and water, stimulation of all human’s senses by environmental factors, thoughtful selection and planting of flora. In this study, two features of “creating an opportunity for selection, privacy and experience of having control over affairs” and “peace and security in Iranian gardens” had the lowest percentage of conformity (78/2 and 77/4%) based on the experts’ view. Of course, in general, higher than 75 percent of conformity indicates a high capability in providing the intended feature but the percentages of these two features being lower than other features can be attributed to the orthogonal geometry, symmetry and high readability of Iranian gardens. In a regular geometric pattern, there is a lower spatial diversity compared to what is observed in non-artificial nature or Japanese gardens. With respect to the high readability and clarity of the Iranian gardens, fewer cozy and far from public sight spaces have been formed and generally speaking, there are fewer private areas to be chosen by users. Discussion: Now, if it is decided to apply the pattern of Iranian gardens with a healing function in medical centers, in order to enhance the efficacy and efficiency of a garden, the designers are required to improve private areas and provide users with more spatial diversity for selection with committed innovation and adoption of thoughtful solutions. Moreover, the interested people and researchers can investigate reinforcement and improvement of the two features of “private areas” and “spatial diversity” in Iranian gardens as a useful research issue.

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Despite the existence of rich cultural, historical and technological foundations in the architecture and urbanism of Iran, current condition depicts weaknesses, inadequacy, deficiency, alienation and identity crisis. The lack of a systematic approach toward Islamic urbanism for implementing sympathetic demands is one of the most important contemporary issues. This subject is particularly obvious in regeneration of historical urban textures, while Islamic cities are physical masses that can convey the past traditions of a society to the new generations in the modern world. The absence of a systematic approach for explaining the characteristics of Islamic urbanism deteriorates the conditions. In fact, historical textures are parts of the modern cities which could be realized as the signs of Islamic models with a little attention to their half-dead bodies. Each historic fact in order to play aprominent role in its current environment and to be further than an antique object must locate in a dynamic space. That is because the continuity of the life and dynamism of a city in contemporary world demand adaptingand responding to cultural, economic and other needs of modern citizens. Iranian-Islamic cities have been facing explicit morphological changes since early 1900s. Hence, studying thesecities, concepts related with urban restoration and associated literature in the context of urban morphology, thisresearch tries to develop Islamic models which have compatible and responsive Islamic atmosphere, and linkIranian-Islamic values to the physical body of the cities. It is expected that old textures of temporary cities, which are splendid heritages of Iranian-Islamic cities and are found everywhere, can be centers for thinking, performing and modeling in local architecture and urbanism, but it rarely occurs. The mentioned problem is more observable especially with regard to morphological aspects. In other words, regarding related environmental qualities, the contrasts between former and contemporary forms of historicaltextures in Iranian-Islamic cities is the pivot of designing challenges that should be considered. This paper, aims to identify morphological norms from an Islamic architectural point of view, while defining Islamiccities and their components and criteria, besides comparing the historical districts of Gorgan city with ancient Iranian-Islamiccities. Following these aims, case study strategy is chosen, and the historic texture of Gorgan city, which had agreat effect on the evolution of this historic city and has been especially important in the period of Qhjardynasty, is selected as case study. The reason for this choice is that there are important signs of this period in thementioned case study, and they are the architectural and urbanism heritage of recent centuries.With regard to the necessity of implementation of Islamic urbanism heritage in contemporary cities, the goal ofthis research is not to reach a monotonous prototype for all urban areas. Instead, its aim is to utilize the criteriain each city in accordance with proper type of values and chronological aspects. So that, the questions of this study are: Which factors can be used to evaluate the historical texture of Sarcheshmeh neighborhood in Gorgan city in order to reach an Iranian-Islamic prototype? And how can the mentioned factors be used? And finally, Does the morphological structure of thisneighborhood follow the systematic arrangement of Islamic cities? Having a comparative approach, this research is the result of frequent observations and surveys of Sarcheshmeh historic district and the analysis ofcollected data, as well as the comparison of the experts’ views. To use the rules, principles and reflected paradigms in such contexts, qualitative method and case study strategyapplied to do this research. Firstly, by using documentary studies, theoretical basics of morphology, Iranian-Islamic urbanism and urban restoration were explained. Then, by utilizing archival studies the viewpoints ofdifferent persons including Tavasoli, Naghizade and Noghrekar about morphology were perused. As a result, thenorms such as associativity, permeability, diversity and unity for evaluation of selected districts were defined.Afterward, referring to the comments of the mentioned theorists, the selected neighborhood has beencomparatively studied. After extraction of the relevant criteria, identification of morphological qualities weredone by the mean of surveys and site photos to refine the variables. As mentioned above, the analysis of thecontents is one of the techniques of this research and its type is developing– practical.The consequences of the study show that the morphological norms derived from the opinions of differenttheorists such as Naghizade, Tavassoli and Noghrekar are obviously reflected in Sarcheshmeh district, and themorphology of old parts of Gorgan city pursue Islamic prototype this Iranian-Islamic city. Gorgan city can beconsidered among prominent cities in Iran that are established based on the principles and morphology system of Iranian-Islamic urbanism. Nonetheless, since the rise of Pahlavi dynasty and Reza khan’s modernism, theseprinciples have been gradually vanishing, and this manner resulted in vast changes of many historicneighborhoods of the city in recent years. Hence, there has been no vast change in the structure of Iranian-Islamic structure of this city. However, the vast physical interferences in recent decades lead to the collapse ofmorphological structure.

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Mankind is always interacting with an environment that contains various meanings and layers with each of which the environment behaves differently, and on the other hand, this behavior is effectively reflected back to the environment. In recent decades, experimental environmental psychology has sought to help solve the issues posed to human societies by pursuing two objectives of theoretical understanding of human interactions with the environment and applying this understanding in practice. In pursuit of these objectives, the area of knowledge has succeeded to build theories and achieve practical findings. Nevertheless, applying these achievements in an Islamic society faces theoretical and practical challenges in both "description" and "prescription", which in turn necessitates further investigations about "Islamic Environmental Psychology". The present study aims to present an applied paradigm of environmental psychology in interaction with Islamic thoughts, which can be used to organize "location-behaviors" of contemporary living in order to facilitate the realization of an Islamic lifestyle. In regards, the present study began with the three constituents of "location-behavior" that is, humans, the environment and the mechanisms needed for the human-environmental interaction, and posed three questions: what social, psychological and cultural characteristics of humans, from the Islamic perspective, affect the environment? What are layers of the environment that affect humans under certain circumstances? And finally, what mechanisms are required for a human-environment interaction in Islamic viewpoint? To answer these questions, two frameworks were proposed: The first relies on environmental psychology by accepting the assumption about different layers of the environment (from the objective to the subjective environment) and assesses the effect of sociocultural environment in a comparative study. The second framework relies on the Islamic doctrines and develops a reference framework consisting of both Islamic views and environmental psychology views. Following a survey of the two proposed frameworks, the second one was taken as the reference comprehensive framework in this article. To develop this comprehensive framework, the relation between religious epistemology and experimental science was first discussed. Unlike the modern perspective that sets the religion-science-art trinity against the emotion-intellect-sense one, in respective order, or at most assumes a unity between religion and art by mixing emotion with sense, the Islamic perspective holds that religion rules these three areas, and only one aspect of religion is strongly associated with emotions,which is "faith". In the second step, the Islamic version of environmental psychology debate was analyzed in three areas of the individual-entity system within the framework of the anthropology of religion, the collective-social system within the framework of religion’s attitude toward society, and the body-space system within the framework of religion’s attitude toward the body, not as separate distinctive areas, but as three spatial human-environment experiences. That is to say, the fundamental difference of environmental psychology from an Islamic viewpoint is so vast that it expands from the "bodily area" to the "spiritual aspect" in the individual-entity line, from the "corporeal world" to "incorporeal world (the invisible)" in the body-space line, and from "routine patterns of life" to the debate on the "united ummah as a timeless entity" in the collective-social line. In the final step, a three-layer system was devised to discuss the intended paradigm, which includes collective references to the current state of the society and Islamic texts. The first layer includes identifying "local phenomena" as clear points in Islamic jurisprudence and ethics, whose "position" in religious sources is identifiable in behaviors, rituals, sensory perceptions and spiritual perceptions. In fact, theidentified "local phenomena" have not yet really emerged in environmental psychology within an Islamic framework, and if this layer is the only one concerned, this phenomena can be more or less studied in experimental environmental psychology. For practical purposes, the phenomena can be classified in two areas –"general local behavioral-psychological phenomena", indicating phenomena with no direct relationships with the environment,and may only be affected by it, and "specific local behavioral-psychological phenomena", indicating phenomena with an established bodily-environmental aspect. The second layer, which is the first real step toward an "environmental psychology" within the framework of Islam, seeks to identify the (correlative or causal) "relationship mechanisms" between "general” and “specific” local phenomena in religion that have been identified in the previous layer. Finally, the third layer emerges from linking and creating connected loops of general and specific mechanisms of the second layer and through creating a sub-system, and may have certain concepts and components in common with experimental psychology. According to the results, two approaches are applicable in the development of an Islamic environmental psychology paradigm: a conscious approach and a meta-conscious one. The first approach is informed and based on the rules and regulations of jurisprudence and Islamic orders. In this approach, attempt is made to extract the basic concepts by reference to the original Islamic sources and to understand the Islamic position on man-made environment irrespective of the external determination of the past centuries. The second approach is meta-conscious and normative (relying on values and knowledge), is based on the recommended or prohibited behavioral patterns, provides a system for the regulation of behavior-body relationships, and takes priority over mentalities and even time and place values. Although an axiom of all religious doctrines, this approach has been less emphasized in theorizing, compared to symbolic concepts. Compared to the mainstream "behavioral sciences" as "subjective" perspective on the role of social behavior, this approach proposes a middle perspective in forming architecture and an "objective" perspective, based on the role of the subject and object and the third factor, culture, in relation to the role of architecture in society. The final outcome of the present study, that is the Islamic environmental psychology paradigm, aims at producing theoretical and practical knowledge and addresses four conditions: past conditions, i.e., the quality of life before modernism (the popular culture), present conditions, i.e., the current quality of life, desirable conditions, i.e., the quality of life deserved by humans from the viewpoint of Islam, and possible conditions, i.e., the quality of life that can be handled by humans, in order to create behavioral benchmarks in accordance with Islamic view point. The authors recommend that both conscious and meta-conscious approaches can be used, since the conscious approach is based on jurisprudence and orders and thus acts as a framing shell, prevents distortions to some extent, and is also the doorway to theoretical knowledge and implications. also, the second approach as the meta-conscious one, should ideally create environments that are affected by the recommended behavioral patterns of Islam.

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Seljuk period is one of the important periods of Islamic Art in Iran architecture. The Seljuk brickworks represent Iran architectural perfection in aspects of techniques and variety. The magnificence of Seljuk brickworks is not found in other later periods. Therefore, further investigation is needed due to the importance of this issue. In this research, literature reviews, field studies and survey is done by analytical- descriptive method. The aims of research are as followed introducing the important motifs of brickworks identify, variety of layout types, and the sustain modality of brickworks during the historical periods. According to the aims, all of Seljuk monuments in Iran which have brickwork decoration were detected and their brickwork decorations identified. The decorations which were unique at that time and were repeated, has been determined as index motifs. Afterward, these motifs and the techniques were found in Khwarezmid and Ilkhanid monuments and their changes or conversions to other decorations have been identified. Most of the architectural exterior surfaces are decorated by the brickwork in Seljuk period funerary monuments with polygonal plan have the most decorative surfaces such as Kharaghan tombs and minarets. In this period, the simplicity of minarets was changed to richest drawing and decorative forms such as Menar-e Ziar and Cheheldokhtaran. It is noteworthy that in addition to this, the monuments including the Robatsharaf Inn and Jame mosque of Golpayegan are decorated with verity brick motifs which combine with stucco reliefs. In general, decorative designs and prolific body of brickwork is one of the special features of Seljuk architecture. Various brick rows are used in the Seljuk monuments and they are categorized to Golchin, Jenaghi, Hasiri, Doraj, Kofi Magheli and Bannaie inscriptions. Golchin’s motifs have some “mother” patterns which are combined tomake various designs. Golchin motifs perform in tow groups “simple” and “compound”. Jenaghi brickwork, perhaps because of its easy performance,has usually been used in corner of the dome and arches. Also some different technique of brickworks such as “Khofteraste” (relieve motifs), Moshabak, Gerehbannaie perform in outer surfaces of Seljuk monuments. Khofteraste brickwork technique was used in high altitudesin order to relieve its motifs. Moshabak technique was used in doorway to pass light through andGerehbannaie generally was used for minaret decorations Selengeh, Chaharlengeh, Sheshvahasht are the prevalent motifs of Ghereh in Seljuk period. An innovative technique: combination of brick with different materials used in Seljuk period that followed in later periods. Hence, Seljuk monuments are decorated by different brickwork in motifs and techniques including the Golchin and Gereh. In addition, initiative techniques such as the incorporation of brick with tile (glazed brick) or stucco were created by artists as well as Kofie-bannaie. Accordingly, it is obvious that Seljuk brickwork decoration is the rising point of Persian brickworks. In Khwarezmid and Ilkhanid periods, brickwork decorations were not used as extent as before. In these periods, brickwork was replaced with stucco and tile. However, some of brickwork decorations such as Golchin, Doraj, Magheli and Bannaie inscriptions were followed by the next periods. Also, the Gereh motifs of Seljuk period became the source of compound decoration for the next time. In Khwarezmid period, molded bricks with relief motifs were developed. This kind of molded bricks in combination with glazed molded brick or the tile, which were pre-cut or insitu-cut, became very common throughout, Khwarezmid and Ilkhanid periods. In such way that incorporation of brick with tile included the hole of decorations during the following periods. Pre-cut brick and pre-cut tile techniques at the end of Seljuk period were used in GonbadKabud in Maragheh and it became the beginning point of this type of decorations in the following periods. The techniques of brick and tile combination so called-Moarraq (mosaic) exists in Khwarezmid monuments such as ForoumadJame mosque and Malekzozan. Also, some skillfully combination of brick and tile were used in two important Ilkhanid monuments including Gonbad-e Soltaniye and Bayazid-e Bastami treasury. It could be argued that combined decorations (combining brick with tile) belongs to the culmination of Ilkhanid decorations. Hence, variety of techniques and innovations that happened in the brickworks of Seljuk periods caused some changes in the decorations of the following periods. Gradually, new types of architectural decoration over the motif, function, and accomplishment were developed based on changes done during Seljuk period.