Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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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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Monuments and historical fabrics of each country are like a comprehensive mirror of all the principles and values of the community to showcase its ruling. One of most important principle in traditional architecture of Iran, especially after entrance of Islam, is privacy that has been deep impact on the formation of historical urban and rural spaces. Therefore the recognition of this principle in the formation of neighborhoods and homes and spaces associated with them are particular importance as the territory of residence. The entrance which is located on the border between inside and outside of the House measures has the most important privacy impact on the shaping of residential space that it’s neglecting under the influence of developments in urban and rural area of the country, leads to several problems in residential space. To the best of our knowledge, there are a lot of studies in the context of entrance space in hierarchical fabric. The most of these studies have reviewed the visual and functional features, but none of these studies have considered the interaction of entrance space with the most important adjacent public space, i.e. passages and their function in the hierarchical access network. The study of this issue is important in two ways first, this study considers the impact of different levels of generality of passages on the formation of entrance space according to protecting interior space privacy second, this study mentions the impact of this space and its location on protecting adjacent space privacy and surveillance of the public realm. The aim of this paper is to identify and introduce the homes entrance space of the Laft harbor as an example of a village with historical fabrics of country, which is including two feathers of compression and restriction as its characteristics for investigating of position and the role of entry spaces in articulating of the privacy principle. In this regard, in addition to pondering of written resources, discovery and field studies in order to take samples and determine the species has been used. Based on these findings, there are three general types of entrance space under, the entrance space formed in the main passage, the entrance space formed in the narrow area of main passage and main entrance located at the side and dead-end street was identified. Pir-Neshin pattern is the first and the most complete entrance type in wide area of main passage with the width of 4-7 meters. This pattern prevails in the historical fabric of Laft. The second type of entrance space that includes a variety of patterns without Pir-Neshin is observable in the narrow area of main passage with the width of 2.80-4 meters. The third type is the simple entrance which is observable in the side and dead-end streets with the width of 1-3 meters. In this paper, privacy is studied from physical viewpoint in three forms first, entrance space location in public passages second, physical component and its proportion and their impact on visibility control from adjacent passage third, the role of entrance as a community entrance placed on the joint point of side passages and public space. Then with preparing of privacy principle and control the vision, principles of positioning, performance and proportions of each species were investigated and consequently principles and innovations in this space were defined. Following as a result of this research was presented: Check the physical developments in relation to the width of the input space and place it against the password field in the access network hierarchy, indicating that whatever adjacent space width and general ferryboat is decreased, the components and key dimensions of input space are also reduced. With exploring the physical effect of written forms in the realm of General ferryboat, the ability and any particular role of component to control in the sight of the entrance door of the House was exhibited as a starting point of private realm. The deep impact of some simple forms on increasing of homes realm as one of the unique inventions of ancient architecture of loft was revealed to overcome the limitations of network communication and the creation of the related input space. With clever positioning of public inputs in the public realm, in addition to preserving the privacy and strong ties to the neighborhood, the entrance of certain area can be defined as well as public realm.

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Introduction

Privacy is known as one of the most basic features of Islamic architecture. Home is the most private places for the person so it is essential to provide confidentiality and privacy in it. Islam, Quran Verses and Hadiths of Prophet Mohammad and imams have focused on creating privacy in the houses. In this way, the privacy has been the basic principle on traditional architectures of Iran especially in housing.

Literature Review

Creating privacy is necessary point for people and providing this principle in the home is more important than the other places. Privacy In traditional architecture of Iran has created in both audio and visual kind. This principle has been used in traditional architecture of Iran before Islam but in Islamic architecture has been emphasized it more than before. Quran verses and Hadiths of imams and Prophet Mohammad are the most important references of Islam. So this article has reviewed these references to find the ways of creating privacy in the house.

Methodology

This article is tried to define and understand these objects: the meaning of privacy, reviewing the factors that create privacy in Zinatol Mulk historical house as a distinguished building in Shiraz city, recognizing the confidentiality principle in organizing spaces of this house and introduce the special strategies that used in making privacy. So the privacy principle, Quran verse and Islamic hadiths are reviewed at the first part of the article. This part is used by library resources, articles and internet sites. After that, checking the case study is done with using interview and direct observation from the Zinatol Mulk building. So at first part of article a brief introduction of Zinatol Mulk house has been said then the elements that create privacy in Zinatol Mulk house are reviewed in both audio and visual type.

Discussion

By studying the Quran verses and hadiths can be said that Islam insists on creating privacy especially at home into both audio and visual kind. So providing the privacy is necessary in Islamic architecture. Although this principle was used in Iranian buildings about 6000 years ago in the courtyard houses but the most use is in Islamic architecture. Therefore the successful case study in traditional architecture of Iran has been reviewed to understand the privacy principle. Zinatol Mulk house in Shiraz city was selected for evaluation. Zinatol Mulk house was chosen because of two reasons, first because Shiraz residential architecture is unique and it has productive and rich houses in its traditional architecture and second because this house is one of the most distinguished historical houses in Shiraz. The results also show the special features of confidentiality in this house. The factors that make visual and audio privacy in this house are divided into 4 main methods. These methods are location, proportions, introversion and the hierarchy. Each of these methods have special role in creating privacy in this house.

Results

Audio and visual privacy will be appeared as the introversion, hierarchy, location and proportions principles in the framework of the building. Each of this principles use special ways to provide the confidentiality. The privacy has important role in in Zinatol Mulk house design. So the architecture has emphasized on making privacy in this house. Therefore the hierarchy is much stronger and has more steps than the other houses.

Conclusion

By Checking the Quran Verses and Islamic hadiths that related to privacy and Compliance them with the architectural of Zinatol Mulk house (a distinguished case study in Shiraz city), it obtain that creating confidentiality in the main spaces of this building are as below:

Entry spaces in this House:

The privacy in the entry space has been created by these factors: existence of high walls around the buildings, losing the height of the corridor than the vestibule, the lack of windows in the exterior elevation, retreat the entrance to the alley, increasing the thickness of the around walls and entrance space.

Yard of house:

Privacy in the yard has been provided by these elements: using high walls around the building and in second floor to block the neighbor’s view on the yard, separation of two inside and outside yards and communicate them through an underground connection between Narangestan Qavam and Zinatol Mulk buildings, creating a separate yard for the toilet.

The rooms of house:

The factors that make privacy in the rooms are: locating the entrance perpendicular to the main axis of the yard, using larger and more windows in the gusts room (Shah Neshin) and smaller windows in living room (3 doors room and 5 doors room), recessing the windows of 3 doors room and 5 doors room, locating the 3 doors rooms apart from the public spaces of Home, providing the entrance spaces and patio in front of the rooms, communication between the rooms by the doors, increasing the thickness of walls in more private rooms, lack of openness in the closet room, creating the space hierarchy in the entrance of all the rooms.

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Privacy as a human need, is the result of adjustment of the interaction between human environment, which under the influence of current patterns of activity and cultural background, leads to a favorable atmosphere. Adjusting the privacy in Iranian homes is one of the fundamental features of Iranian architecture, which has had a profound effect on the formation of the spatial organization and the physical elements of traditional houses. However, the climatic and cultural diversity of the Iranian geographic region has caused different types of Iranian homes. The similar situation in the marginal cities of the Caspian Sea has caused the development of extroverted architecture. The extraterrestrial architecture of the rural homes of Gilan has provided a distinctly desirable privacy setting, in accordance with the requirements of Islamic belief and indigenous culture. In other words, the privacy setting in these homes is unique in terms of spatial structure and architectural elements and is different from introverted houses in the central regions of Iran. Architectural solutions to these types of homes in the provision of privacy have not yet been studied by researchers. For this reason, this paper outlines and describes the setting of privacy and its mechanisms, and looks at how to realize the desirable privacy in the works of the outsourcing architectural index in the rural homes of Gilan. The study first identified the spatial structure and architectural features of the selected buildings using library resources and field observations. Then, the researchers, through presence in the field of research, have focused on the evidence behind the behavior and reactions of the inhabitants, and tried to reveal the profound meanings of empirical data obtained from interviews and observations.
The findings of this research show that adjusting the privacy plays an important role in the formation of spatial structure and architectural elements of extroverted houses. The presence of trees and hedge around the yard somewhat prevents the view of the interior and causes the enclosure of the space and determines the boundaries of the house, farm, and rice fields. Rotating inputs break the view into the building, and as a result, the visual connection to the building is lost. Bөltө prevents others from entering the house. Also, the stairs in the minor axis cause fractures and reduced visibility when entering the room. Ivan and Kotum and Esbo in the front of the room, causing plenty of space and staging the presence of people at home. Basically, Tallar and Tallar room, which are the guest›s place of stay, are in the seconf floor. Yelka and Jirben, the place of kitchen and the living room are placed in the ground floor or the first half floor. In addition to their core functions, these elements lead to a communication sequence, lack of visual aristocracy, and space contention, and thus the private sphere of the family is preserved.
 

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The issue of non-observance of privacy in contemporary Iranian clothes and buildings is one of the most important cultural issues in the country due to its lack of proportion to the Islamic culture of Iran, it has brought various cultural and social consequences in contemporary Iranian society; in particular, there are some verses in the holly Qur'an referring to the issue of veiling for women, Like these verses: “O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters and the believing women to draw their veils close to them, so it is likelier they will be known, and not hurt. Allah is the Forgiver, the Most Merciful” (Ahzab/59). “And say to the believing women, that they lower their gaze cast down their eyes and guard their chastity, and do not reveal their adornment except that which is outward (face and hands); and let them draw their veils over their neck, and not reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or what their right hands own, or such male attendants having no sexual desire, or children who have not yet attained knowledge of women's private parts; nor let them stamp their feet, so that their hidden ornament is known. And, O believers turn to Allah all together, in order that you prosper” (Noor/31).
This research using the historical interpretation method and with reference to documentary sources deals with this question that historically, in the recent centuries of Iran, is there a meaningful relationship between veil abandonment in clothing (especially women's clothing) and privacy abandonment in building (especially residential buildings)?
According to the findings of this research and in response to the above question, it is concluded that in the contemporary history of Iran, veil abandonment and privacy abandonment actions in clothes and buildings are rooted in a common vision which the intellectual school of liberalism, as one of the most important aspects of modernization and modernity, emphasizing the absolute freedom of the individual is the indicator of this insight. In the Pahlavi era, the manifestation of this liberalism in clothing has been interpreted as the discovery of the veil and the absolute freedom of women in dress and veil, as its expression in architecture has been interpreted as extravagance and privacy abandonment of buildings (spatial liberation). In addition to the common insight, the most important aspects of veil abandonment and privacy abandonment in Iranian clothing and buildings is eternality and extension of the government to the people during the Pahlavi era which the evidence of this claim is presented in this study.

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The period spanning middle of Qajar era to the first decade of Pahlavi is a part of Iran contemporary architecture which is influenced by inevitable alterations caused by modernity. Modern forms and figures have gradually changed spatial hierarchy of houses and their structure and consequently have led to a combinational style. A brief survey of spaces and chief elements of traditional houses of Sanandaj demonstrates these changes quite well. This paper tries to shed light on the prevalent style of spatial hierarchy of house entrances in transitional time period from tradition to modernity in Sanandaj. This research has been conducted using a theoretical approach and by a historical-interpretational method. In theoretical part, a qualitative approach is adopted and considering the literature history, effective factors on spatial quality evaluations are analyzed. The practical part of the research is carried out in two phases and by taking case studies under account. In this viewpoint, the theoretical part is firstly a brief appraisal of the architecture of the historical eras of Qajar and Pahlavi, evolution criteria and social revolutions of those periods as well. Moreover, assessment of houses based on historical periods has been done utilizing field studies, local survey, photography, house plan depicting and existing documents and plots. Secondly, based on acquired field and librarian information, all qualified houses for this research are compared and analyzed to attain a comprehensive understanding of their entrance spatial hierarchy. Findings of the research indicate that there has been a hierarchy in entrance of houses with traditional architecture pertinent to the needs of residents which is neglected to some extent by the designers in Pahlavi period. In conclusion it is admitted that by intermediate spaces, alongside the provision of confidentiality, it would be possible to achieve a proper definition of private and semi-private spaces in houses. Furthermore, disruption in functions and entities of other spaces could be avoided, which in turn leads to introducing a pattern for obtaining confidentiality; an inseparable principle of entity in Iranian architecture and culture.

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The principle of "privacy" is one of the principles of Islamic worldview and culture, which is considered as one of the important moral and cultural values ​​in the social life of Muslims. Throughout the history of urbanization in Iran, the concept of privacy and respect for privacy has been influential from the formation of architectural space to the spatial organization of cities and Locating urban functions side by side. On the other hand, Iranian-Islamic urban planning should be such that in addition to supplythe needs of the material realm of human life, it can also meet the needs of other realms of human life (psychological and spiritual realms of life) and in the meantime Observance of the principle of privacy plays an important role in meeting such needs. In the contemporary urban planning of the iran, by applying Western ideas and theories and imitating modernist models, the principle of privacy, like many other valuable concepts, has been forgotten, so that now Less attention is paid to this concept in urban development programs and plans. The purpose of this study is to develop criteria and indicators for the emergence and manifestation of the concept of privacy in Iranian-Islamic urban planning. Research method in this research is based on systematic review of texts, studies and research related to the subject and content analysis of information collected. In conclusion, the present article presents the indicators related to the principle of privacy in various components of the urban environment, including physical-functional and socio-cultural components, and Recommends their application in urban development programs and plans to improve the quality of urban environments.

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