Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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Many scholars believe that social modernity in Iran has been started far earlier than era of Reza Shah Pahlavi with its up-down modernization project and it is argued that there has been an innate social process of modernity gradually developed since Qajar period. So it can be questioned that which one of the two cultural models of Modernity and Tradition has been dominating Qajar artifacts and if there were any clear footsteps of cultural patterns of modernity in spaces of everyday life of ordinary people of that time. Here, this question is inquired from the viewpoint of guest’s spatiality of home. Beginning from this question then domestic examples from first period of introducing of modernity to Iran (since Qajar to starting years of Pahlavi Dynasty) with emphasize on cases of city of Tabriz are studied concentrating on effects of the two cultures of Tradition and Modernity on spatial patterns of hospitality within these houses. The hypothesis of productive effect of dialectic of “self-other” on domestic spaces of modern era is put into critical debate. Three basic patterns of domestic spaces (minimal house, maximal one and collective house) are analyzed from viewpoint of spatial-cultural relations. Each of these three patterns has its special theoretical debate in western discourse of early modernity. For each pattern two example of Qajar houses of Tabriz are selected for analyzing of guest space: Amir-Nezam house and Behnam House are considered as maximalist type, Alavi House and Sehhati house as minimal examples and Rastgar house as semi-community house. So the research method is historical-interpretive based on historical texts, assessments and pictures as well as buildings. The maximal pattern is bourgeois’ that is manifested in Victorian examples. In this pattern all spaces are arranged upon a theatrical scene in which actors are homeowners and audiences are guests. This theatrical model as Goffman argued has been extended to contemporary western house. Introduction of large variety of rooms for various presences of guests can be interpreted as a byproduct of this culture. In comparison, in its Iranian counterpart there is no considerable social distance between the host and the guest in spatial order of a conventional party. Such a view has resulted in unifying of guest receiving space and living space which is placed at the central axis of house. This axial position is a socio-cultural characteristic of guest’s spatiality which is not restricted to maximalist ones. Any separation among people during guest presence would be upon vast family divisions which has no relation to guests. Heavy interior decoration of bourgeois’ internal design is eliminated in many houses of rich men of Qajar as our study shows. Two minimalist patterns of early modernity are arguable: dirty houses of Industrial revolution and what has been called “the minimum dwelling” by modernists. The latter is a product of modernists’ social project which was based on reducing home-living in the favor of social presence. It was an essential step to deny private sphere. The guest’s spatiality here was seen as being with others in out-of-home places. So restaurant and saloons occupied the place of parlors. Searching for Iranian transformation like that model has reverse result. We have shown here that in Qajar small houses of Tabriz, there were no conceptual difference in comparison with maximalist houses while historical documents show no sign of development of out-of-home places for guests. The third pattern is the community houses that were seen as utopias of the project of modernity. From the view point of guests’ spatiality, this pattern is movement towards denying any distance between self and other so the stranger becomes host as well as guest. In utopist text of William Morris (News from Nowhere) such a position is articulated. It has been argued by many writers of western culture that it has been common pattern of medieval society that has been destroyed by bourgeois’ culture. If the utopia were to be realized then strangers should be accepted in common spaces without any exception and if the socialist utopia was going on then maximizing use of common facilities would be seen as an instrument to saving the community so any private guest should make use of common ones instead of host’s ones (the example of socialist Russia housing projects). Khanghah of Daravish in the Islamic word pursues such a pattern with the exception of absence of family i.e. these places where completely masculine spaces. So these could not be extended to dwelling patterns of traditional Iran. In Tabriz of Qajar there were no similar examples to multifamily apartments of socialists’ utopias of early 20th century as well as utopian community ones. The only close examples to utopian patterns of modern guests’ spatiality in Tabriz are rare hotels of late Qajar and a house (Rastgar) with a linear and multi-unit plan that cannot be undoubtedly a Qajar house. It is could be said that social analysis of guests’ spatiality of modernity is heavily based on resolving of dialectic of otherness in western society of 19 century. This study shows that real patterns of modernity for guest’s spatiality at home differs greatly from its counterparts of Qajar Iran and those of Qajar could be interpreted far more persuasively with traditional patterns than those of modernity. So now it is possible to put some query on the hypothesis that tells if there was not obligatory modernization project of Rezashah then there would be an innate Iranian Modernity. Full openness toward strangers embedded at the center of utopian views of intellectuals of modernity and has been at the focal point of modern utopias has no essential meaning in domestic culture of Qajar era of Iran because acceptance of guest as a member of family was so deep in cultural-spatial patterns of those people that modern utopian perspective of fading “otherness” in spatial arrangement of hospitality of home has no new message for that people. So it is conceivable that the theory of innate cultural permutation of Islamic and traditional lifestyle of Iranians without Rezashah’s projects cannot be easily confirmed for social history of Iran.

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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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Searching for the criteria of Islamic settlement in current situation of Iran is seen as an important issue in Iranian urban planning. One of them that is rarely taken into account by designers and housing planners is the Islamic house as a productive unit. The mission of this research is to find suitable kinds of production from Islamic point of view for conducting at home via searching Islamic basics and instructions. Then by referring to modernism as a key factor that has shaped the social context of contemporary Islamic world, situation of domestic production in it is reviewed and its undesired effects on home culture and design of Islamic world is considered. So the essential question of this study is the status of production and productive activities in traditional Islamic houses, the nature of modernistic view of the subject and contemporary condition of Iran and Islamic world. Here after general study of the matter in both traditional and modern era, an inquiry is conducted among house-wives of the city of Qom. The samples were selected intentionally upon their religious life-style to study that how Islamic view of home-based production is pursued in contemporary religious society. A composed questionnaire of closed and open questions was prepared and distributed among 35 families who partially known by research group. Some analyzes were about productive activities advised by Islamic holy texts such as weaving and keeping productive animals at home or those that could be seen in direct line with them such as home-based foods. One important analyze was due to meaningful differences between productive life-style of dwellers of apartment houses and those who lived in row houses with front-yards. This showed a considerable difference among them as front-yard houses showed much more potential for productive activities. Another main difference was seen between age-groups of 20-40 years old and 40-60 ones that the recent one were more active in home-based production. Some main analyzes were concentrated on kitchen space as modern center of production at home. The main phenomenon is that there is huge concentration of works in space in modern houses. The transformation from traditional wood hearth kitchens to modern open kitchen, although is viewed by some as a progressive process towards elimination of placing women as second gender, but could be interpreted more reasonably as a restrictive change in woman territorial claim on home area; this means that her mere functional presence at home was only limited to have lunch cooked and other jobs of her at home were conducted in lively spaces of home even with neighbor women; and this cannot be seen as servant-type works but as lively jobs of everyday; there, her freedom to choose jobs places around the house made her territorial claim on home very stronger. It is also true about working times of the kitchen while it was active one time a day for pre-modern wife, now it should be active almost all day long. Changing temporal division into spatial one that restricts women’s claim to kitchen, is main cultural result of modern housing in this respect, but even in this circumstances, the above mentioned religious force has yet strong effects. Sacredness of productive space of kitchen was asked through some different questions. A sign of sacredness in perception of kitchen for Iranian housewives has been old custom to separate food disposals from other debris especially in terms of using independent swage system (even specified swage well) for dishwashing which might consist of some remainders of food (specially bread and rice). It was asked in the questionnaire to make comparative statements about certain topics and this separation of swages was one of them. Only in two cases, it was seen unimportant. If we add to this the fact that 13 of 15 emphasized on necessity of not turning back to Holy Direction of Mecca (Qiblah- although it is not regarded in new house designs), it can be concluded that even now kitchen has some strong aspects of sacredness in imagination of these Muslim housewives. In summary, findings of the research show that domestic production is of great value in Islamic thought and this role has been manifested in the form of specialized home spaces (from temporal and spatial configurations made by productive activities) and modernity has confronted with this subject via two contradictive approaches (optimization of domestic work or omitting any productive work from home space). Since the second approach was the one preferred by modernists, results of modern culture for Islamic society brought about non-productive domesticity. But this does not mean that now there is no home-based production in contemporary Islamic societies. It is an important reality as well as an idealistic goal that should be considered in architectural design of future which could be realized by identifying of all required or desired home-based productive activities, appropriation of house designs for incorporation of them and making architects, designers and housing planners aware of their role and responsibility in materializing this idea to fulfill this need of dwellers.

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Qualitative aspects of housing always considered as the most critical planning tools and have gained great interest in recent housing research. Housing areas in order to provide social development, involved the environment around in addition to residential units. This paper tries to assess the quality of traditional houses, describe and analyze them to achieve the criteria to devise guidelines in the next step which are effective for increasing the quality of contemporary housing. Iranian traditional houses have a kind of internal spaces structure on the basis of religious and traditional ideas of Iranian families.These houses have manifested native-traditional models of the past history of Iran which have originated from individual and collective cultures of the people, who have been formed, have grown, have been manifested and have reached perfection. Study of Iranian contemporary architecture indicates that it has been changed with regard to its rich and meaningful history during the time. Roots of the principles governing the traditional houses can be found in Iranian thoughts and culture. Any building which is constructed aims at fulfillment of some living needs. Traditional houses are not only a shelter. Residence indicates meaningful link with the place which can include all of the different levels of private and general life environment. This link is an effort to find identity and to have attachment feeling toward a place while our modern houses couldn’t have fulfilled the most primary needs of residence i.e. tranquility and physical relaxation and generally inspired quality expectations. In this regard, to reach the aim through qualitative approach and case study strategy, this value of the Iranian traditional housing was investigated.
This study was carried out by qualitative method and in order to final assess of the data, AHP method was used. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a structural technique to organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology. Rather than prescribing a «correct» decision, the AHP helps decision makers find one that best suits their goal and their understanding of the problem. It provides a comprehensive and rational framework for structuring a decision problem, for representing and quantifying its elements, for relating those elements to overall goals, and for evaluating alternative solutions. Therefore the method of collecting data was based on lists for interview techniques, observation, investigate the features of place and space, measuring attitudes and by searching the literature and documents and maps about the subject. So at first multiple systems of residential environment quality assessment were studied and then a model to assess the quality of housing for this paper was developed. In the second step through the main factors of the model, 5 criteria have been determined to assess the quality of housing.In the next stage parameters derived from the lists in relation to each criterion were analyzed compared to the data of other criteria and the overall impact of research factors in reciprocating reviews and alternatives obtained in relation to the main criteria have been introduced in traditional houses. Then by analyzing and interpreting of these alternatives and considering the effects of lifestyle, human needs and conditions of contemporary society strategies to improve the quality aspects of contemporary housing have been proposed. The term lifestyle can denote the interests, opinions and behavioral orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term refers to a combination of determining intangible or tangible factors. Tangible factors relate specifically to demographic variables, i.e. an individual›s demographic profile, whereas intangible factors concern the psychological aspects of an individual such as personal values, preferences, and outlooks. Therefore, a lifestyle is a means of forming a sense of self and to create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity. Not all aspects of a lifestyle are voluntary. Surrounding social and technical systems can constrain the lifestyle choices available to the individual and the symbols she/he is able to project to others and the self.According to the results of the research there is a significant relation between the quality of traditional houses, human, the architecture and the past lifestyle that emanates from traditions and original values. The evaluation showed that in order of importance the criteria of human needs, environmental, physical, functional and structural qualities have contributed in this meaningful relation and among them the first three criteria are more effective. Although in general comparison the coordinated presence of all proposed criteria resulted in lasting quality. Recognizing the traditional strategies and perception the Persian culture and life style can help modern architects to design suitable contemporary house design. People really need a house that response all its duties, not only merely be a shelter.Hence the main orientations for the development of housing in the qualitative aspects should be provided with development of long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. Providing desirable housing according to the physical and spiritual needs of Iranian families is one of long-term goals that must be met in the future.

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Man has always been from the beginning of creation, with the Elimination of the name of the shelter challenge was to hand. Humans have always had a place and environment need to protect themselves from the invaders and the conditions in the harbor. Early human, from the beginning, a kind of natural caves that meet this need, were chosen. With the passage of time and the more familiar with different aspects of the human surroundings and his innate needs, sought to find the answer to this need. After the historical epochs, one of the tools and features found in natural, long step in to resolve their needs. He was able to remove this human place, making renewable way. In order to solve this crisis, due to being interdisciplinary research, beginning with the heuristic method and citation study, understanding the factors influencing the culture as well as religious influences on space›s body home. Then with the examination and investigation of a few examples of the Qajar era homes in the city of Ardabil, the understanding of the cultural values of the Islamic world view that the architectural pattern (figure House) leads.
Continue to mention the cultural values of the Islamic world view of influencing the housing and manifestation of these values in the space of a home had reviewed in this research were discussed, which is as follows: Veil-cooperation-cleanliness-contentment-pivot and obey God-humility. Veil, had split the housing in the form of directions (vestibule), the definition of communication spaces, using distinct entrance door, observe the hierarchy of public space and access to a private, defined and limited communication with the external environment as well as easy access to spaces at will. Cooperation, in a book review about homes had space devoted to communicating with neighbors and devote the best space (from the King) has been flashed to the guests.
The purity of the two means physical and mental form, with the placement service is out of the House, the embedded space for shoes, Ken (entrance porch), the presence of flowers and plants and the proper utilization of light and air as well as the presence of water in the chart space dock. Contentment with regard to the dimensions of the external body proportions (thumb), pay attention to the dimensions of the Interior proportions, simplicity of form and the correct investment of mass to reduce energy consumption in buildings is reviewed on the form. Pivot and obey God in the House had reviewed, with addressing abstract decorations (induce spiritual sense) in the atmosphere inside the building, and pay attention to the apparent manifestation of worship, space allocation. Humility also according to abstain from panache and align with the environment by machines (abstain from physical personhood) appeared. Finally, with the cultural values of the referenced in the measurement of the House in the town of Ardabil, Qajari results showing acceptable adherence to these principles and values of homes of Islamic culture. In the end, with the understanding of these factors and values can be used to regenerate the rich architecture and culture from the past of this land.
 

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Islam has perfectly organized all notions involved in human excellence through its material and spiritual guidance; settlement and housing are no exception. Therefore, real Islamic housing can be of concern to architecture researchers in Islamic Republic of Iran. On the other hand, the severe shortage of residential units, low quality of construction, short life span of buildings and low financial ability of home buyers are other challenges facing architects in Iran. According to the experts, industrial construction is an appropriate solution for these challenges. In this paper, the uncertainty and dissatisfaction with industrialized construction are discussed in terms of identity issues such as Islamic housing. Since the Iranian society theoretically seeks Islamic architecture for its houses and on the other hand, construction necessitates the application of industrialized building methods, the relationship between these two realms must be investigated and their facts should be analyzed to achieve a reasonable approach to the problem. Hence the research questions are about how these architectural realms interact with each other and which requirements of industrialization divert the residential architecture from its Islamic aspects. These questions seem novel because they have not been addressed in any research. It appears that many industrialization parameters are not opposed to Islamic features of residential architecture, but totally coincident with them. In this study, the data is collected through library research and some indexes are derived by reasoning and represented in corresponding tables to be surveyed by the experts of both realms. It is an applied research based on a descriptive-analytical methodology. The data collection is accomplished through field research using interviews and questionnaires. The data is analyzed using an inferential analysis which has the most coordination with the descriptive-analytical methodology. The analysis is performed through a parametric paired samples t-test using an AHP model. Statistical data is analyzed in Excel, the information obtained in the discussion and conclusion section is conceptually analyzed and the final results are presented. The results of research show that the set of industrialization components agrees with jurisprudential and physical principles of Islamic housing by 63%, which indicates an acceptable consistency. The set is compatible with semantic principles of Islamic housing by 17%, which indicates a contradiction between industrialization and semantic principles of Islamic housing. Thus it can be concluded that the relationship between industrialization and Islamic housing is a consistent and positive relation with contradictions just in ​​“design constraints”. Therefore, industrialized construction can be an optimal solution to the current and future problems of housing in Iran, after elimination of its slight contradictions.

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A rising demand for housing has persuaded governments to provide more housing units, significantly for the less privileged classes of the society, and several methods have been tried. Mehr Housing Program is the latest effort in the recent years for mass housing production in Iran. The immense impacts of implementation of this program has had wide spread effects on the cities of the country. Studying this wide-spread project requires proper mechanism and measures. And without a doubt referring to the endemic architectural and urban planning methods would provide the proper basis, on which one can make valid criticism. Accordingly, the present study is an effort to explain and classify these methods and values, which have been neglected throughout Mehr Housing Program.
The research method in this study is based on comparison. In this paper, the authors have first reviewed the publication by the experts in this area to extract these endemic measures, and based on this theoretical framework the endemic and organically grown urban fabric of the seaport of Khameer is studies and compared with the Mehr Housing project implemented in its vicinity.
The findings of this research show that the implemented housing project can be criticized by the measures of Locality, urban planning process, the meaningful relationship that it has with the context, economical equilibrium, development competitiveness, urban identity, architectural and urban landscape aspects and the social coherence. For these shortcomings in the project there are certain solution in the endemic urban logic, and the negligence of these solutions have contributed to the current state.

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Statement of Problem: To improve the identity of residential architecture, it is required to enhance the semantic dimensions in the design. To do this, the principles of traditional residential architecture in hot-dry climates, as one of the richest physical-spatial models for Iranian houses, must be applied. On the other hand, one of the best strategies for giving meaning to works is to use signs by examining users' mental image. However, nowadays, semantic concepts such as users' perception or mental image are less considered or ignored in the residential architecture due to factors such as economy or superficiality in design. This is due to the ignorance of the user-environment relationship at the educational and executive levels of design. Therefore, there is a need for finding a practical approach to semantics by extracting the signs existing in traditional houses. To meet this need, the present study seeks to answer the question "What is the role of signs in the semantic aspects of traditional Persian houses in hot-dry climate?" Since the use of successful traditional architectural models is another way for enhancing the identity of residential architecture, it seems necessary to find and use them in contemporary housing in accordance with the current situation. The research background mainly focuses on finding physical patterns or semantic principles in Iranian houses from non-semiotic perspectives, so obviously, there is a need for research on the extraction of patterns using semiotics to match the design with the users' reading.
Research aim: The design performed "only to satisfy the building function", cannot meet such affairs as identity. So, it must meet the perceptual needs to manifest identity in architecture, and this will be possibly achieved if the design is performed through a semantic process. To this end, the present research seeks to find out how the categories of signs match with the components affecting mental image in traditional houses in the hot-dry climate. Since the present study looks for the effect of signs on meaning in traditional housing design, "sign" is an independent variable, and "meaning in housing design" is a dependent variable. Accordingly, the research hypothesis is as follows: "Using the categories of signs has played a role in the meaning of traditional residential architecture in the hot-dry climate". The present study aims to extract the principles of semantics from the semiotic perspective to use in contemporary residential architecture to pay more attention to the identity and semantic dimensions of today's living environments.
Research Method: the present research is a qualitative study in which applied examples of traditional residential architecture in the hot-dry climate are studied using "document mining" and "qualitative content analysis". In the "data analysis" section, the matching of the components affecting the mental image with the categories of signs is evaluated by examining the examples of traditional Persian houses in the hot-dry climate. Accordingly, the relationships between the categories of signs, including "index", "symbol", and "icon", and the "spatial", "human" and "temporal" components affecting mental image are analyzed. It should be noted that the case studies are selected based on two criteria: 1. having spatial and physical richness, and 2. having a design in which one can observe the matching of the categories of signs with the components affecting perception. The authors attempt to select those cases having the features observed in most of the traditional Persian houses in the hot-arid climate. In the selected samples of traditional Persian houses in the hot-dry climate, any analyzable relationship between the categories of signs and factors affecting mental image is analyzed. It should be noted that it was attempted to select those components common to most traditional houses in the hot-dry climate.
 
Conclusion: The results indicate that in traditional houses in the hot-dry climate, "icon", "index", and "symbol" have been used as a means to express meanings by being matched with human, environmental and temporal components affecting users' mental image in accordance with their cultural context. Moreover, the results show the matching of the environmental components with the categories of "icon", "index" and "symbol". The temporal components affecting the users' reading show their highest degree of matching with the category of "icon". The "icon" and "symbol" categories also have the highest degree of matching with the human components affecting the users' reading. Therefore, one of the effective strategies for providing a semantic-oriented residential design is to use the components of "function", "body", "scale", "historical background", "individual experience", "social event", "physiological and psychological factors", "individual and social behaviors" of users and also attention to "components affecting the sense of belonging to place and community" in the form of different categories of signs in the design. Therefore, using different categories of signs, which match with the factors affecting the users' mental image, considering the temporal, spatial and human context of the design can be a way to consider meaning and identity in today's housing designs.

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One of the most important issues and human needs in the field of architectural design is "housing". From the past to the present, there have always been different principles for housing design that have been used due to the user’s needs. The set of needs and lifestyles of humans has shown that some characteristics are the same in all designed houses. These important features had been collected in many scholarly and professional architectural references that had been addressed as principles, criteria and indicators of housing design and had been used by designers and researchers who works in this field. Therefore, various references can be found that, each had studied hosing topic from a specific point of view. Some of these sources list the general characteristics of an appropriate and desirable house, and others introduce specific principles for its design. In this article, while reviewing those references, we would rank those principles on the basis of importance. The main question is how these principles can be ranked and consider in design in base on their importance. Therefore, our goal is surveying the scholarly and professional architectural references about housing to analyze and evaluate the principles of residential architecture. Results of this research collected from data analyses and data description, which obtain from the references and based on logical reasoning. Therefore, the main method is determining quantitative valuation for qualitative data, and housing design criteria in scholarly and professional architectural references had been ranked in such a way that their importance is defined. so, the general approach of the research was selected as a quantitative comparison and then data collection, classification and analysis were performed based on first step. Finally, the research results represent and rank housing design criteria based on the priority of their importance in form of tables and charts.

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