Privacy in Architecture of Dezful Houses (Case Study: Qajar Era)

Abstract

Architecture is designed to answer people's cultural and environmental needs. every part of society affects this architectural design. Islam's emphasis on privacy and veil causes has led to domination and great effect of these two factors on all social and cultural dimensions - architecture being one of its manifestations. Privacy not only exerts other criteria to traditional housing, but is also considered as the most important factor of housing construction. The main objective of present study is to understand the level and importance of privacy in the Qajar period housing architecture and traditional houses of Dezful city were chosen as a case study. Dezful is known as an era with religious people and very bonded to Islamic principles from the very past. Privacy is one of the main features in traditional houses of this city, the issue examined in this article. The main research question is: "what are the essential factors and elements of forming privacy in traditional houses of Dezful city in Qajar era? The research method is descriptive-analytical which applied was delivered based on library studies in the field and regard to privacy, urban architecture of Dezful and Qajar era and accompanied by field studies with direct observation of traditional houses of Dezful. Eight indexed traditional houses – which were chosen by Non Probability Sampling method - were studied and analyzed in this study. The results indicate that space is divided and separated in two “indoor and “outdoor” spaces in traditional houses of Dezful; and the division of private and public spaces of the hos, using loggia, central and connecting and interface corridors, room portals and waiting rooms, controlled openings and low height thresholds and similar solutions have led to forming and creating privacy in Dezful traditional houses. What’s more, architects have formed and created the private territory by creating various movement levels to circulate in spaces, creating interface spaces to prevent any direct access to the household’s environment and various architectural solutions and arrangements.

Keywords

• culture
• privacy
• dezful architecture
• dezful traditional houses
• qajar