Sitting on the Ground as an Important Factor in Formation of Traditional Houses in Hot Arid Region of Iran

ABSTRACT: House as a shelter, has been a meaningful place owing to the fact that all cultures have developed beneath this shelter from the early days of humankind. House is one of the key subjects in Iranian Architecture. The oldest remained houses in Iran are related to the Safavid Period (1501 to 1722). The traditional way of designing the houses continued from that period until the middle of Qajar Period (1781-1858) when the relationships with European countries increased and its effects on Iranian culture, life styles, architecture and art began to be felt. These changes in life styles eventually changed the design of houses in several ways. In this respect entering of furniture to the Iranian residential spaces seems to have had the most radical impact. Until then people in Iran used to sit on the ground and the spaces were designed accordingly. Together with furnishing the spaces in western manners, the house environments began to change. There have been many researches about Iranian traditional house. These studies are generally descriptive works about organization of spaces, the climatic issues, role of privacy, etc. Although the habit of sitting on the ground has been one of the important features of Iranian traditional culture; there exist no specific discussion about its impact on the layout and organization of interior spaces in Iranian traditional houses. This study aims to investigate Iranian traditional architecture in general and continues with the primary features involved in design of Iranian traditional houses. This research also tries to trace the possible impacts of sitting on the ground on organization of spaces as well as the formation of elements within interior spaces in Iranian traditional houses. It is believed that the fact that Iranians used to sit on the ground has been the reason behind many principles applied in the design of these spaces. On the other hand, modularity appears to be a fundamental tool for order in organizing spaces in traditional architecture of Iran. Using this modular system in traditional houses, interior spaces were designed based on different patterns. As it is believed that this approach to design of residential spaces has a close relationship with the fact that Iranians did their daily activities on the ground, this subject has also been studied in detail in the context of this research. Keywords: Iranian Architecture, Iranian traditional Houses, Modular System, Sitting on the Ground, Interior Space Design, Space Organization. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………