An Inquiry into Cultural Continuity and Change in Housing: An Iranian Perspective

Abstract

The arrival of modernization has had an adverse effect on current Iranian housing architecture; as such, that it is now finds itself in a difficult predicament. Therefore, various national architectural conferences, in addition to individual investigations, have been focused on the renewal of Iranian housing architecture over recent decades. Whilst these examples have not culminated or resulted in defining a clear Iranian trend and style in housing with recognizable characteristics, it would be useful to explore some of the more successful examples in order to obtain an overview of what has been done in Iran in this respect during recent years. Accordingly, the study has focused on identifying the architectural characteristics of Iranian houses, which have been modified and used in the present designs. In this study, through a com parative typological analysis of the different traditional Iranian housing types, their main characteristics have been categorized. The categorization later applied for the analysis of the contemporary houses de signs. The results of this investigation have shown that, in contemporary samples, although the idea of Iranian traditional houses has remained; the concept of traditional houses has been altered and changed.