The Role of Ornamentations in Retrieving Iranian-Islamic Identity of Urban Façades; Case Study: Mashhad’s Bala and Paein Khiaban Historical Axes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Instructor of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr Branch, Golestan, Iran

Abstract

Due to the contradiction emerged between Iranian traditions, Islamic culture and modernization in recent decays, the following questions have been raised; where is the position of our indigenous culture and religious values? And how should architecture and urbanism, which are the explicit expression of such values behave? Meanwhile, urban facades, as part of the cityscape, which convey the cultural concepts and stabilize the urban identity, as well as Islamic ornamentations, which were inseparable parts of the architecture and city in past, play a key role in this regard. The present study is descriptive-analytical research which is carried out using field studies in form of direct observation, as well as library studies. This research evaluates the position of Islamic ornaments of the urban façade using an adaptive-comparative method and scrutinizes their roles in stabilizing the Iranian-Islamic identity. Hence, the historical facades of Bala and Paein Khiaban alleys are studied in terms of colour, material, types of ornamentation, and the location on the façade. Then, the role of these façades in stabilizing Iranian-Islamic identityis evaluated based on the Indicators of Islamic Culture including beliefs, social life, and indigenous values. The results show that the ornaments of the mentioned facades, which are all two-story with the flat skyline, are mainly geometrical ones. The applied materials are brick as well as Moaghelli and Moarragh tiling mostly used in the upper part of the building facade. These ornaments play a noticeable role in retrieving various aspects of Islamic values in urban facades and cityscape.

Keywords


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