<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>From the viewpoint of preserving the values of sustainable architecture, daylight in the interiors of mosques in hot and dry climates has always faced limitations. The need to use daylight to provide the required lighting and, in contrast, to prevent the scorching desert sun from entering the spaces led to innovative techniques in Iranian architecture. These techniques have gradually evolved along with the development of semantic concepts of space in different periods of Islamic architecture, which has resulted in slight differences in their application in mosque buildings. In this article, while analysing the place of light in mosque architecture, the standard techniques in lighting mosques located in Iran’s hot and dry climate are studied. The employed research method is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. As the current historic-architectural research cannot be based solely on perception-based definitions, authors had to convert the conceptual features into a measurable index. To achieve this, a numerical index with the scale from 0 to 3 has been defined. The scoring was based on documents such as plans, images, etc. Although most case study objects were built over the centuries, they have general characteristics that distinguish them from a specific historical era. The authors studied the application of these techniques in some examples of selected mosques from four periods of Islamic architecture and present the results in the form of trend charts. Furthermore, they observed the principle of continuity in Iranian architecture from the historical period from the beginning of the Islamic period to the Qajar period, and, in accordance with the theoretical foundations of research, analysed the reasons for the ups and downs of each of the techniques.</p>
</abstract>

From the viewpoint of preserving the values of sustainable architecture, daylight in the interiors of mosques in hot and dry climates has always faced limitations. The need to use daylight to provide the required lighting and, in contrast, to prevent the scorching desert sun from entering the spaces led to innovative techniques in Iranian architecture. These techniques have gradually evolved along with the development of semantic concepts of space in different periods of Islamic architecture, which has resulted in slight differences in their application in mosque buildings. In this article, while analysing the place of light in mosque architecture, the standard techniques in lighting mosques located in Iran’s hot and dry climate are studied. The employed research method is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. As the current historic-architectural research cannot be based solely on perception-based definitions, authors had to convert the conceptual features into a measurable index. To achieve this, a numerical index with the scale from 0 to 3 has been defined. The scoring was based on documents such as plans, images, etc. Although most case study objects were built over the centuries, they have general characteristics that distinguish them from a specific historical era. The authors studied the application of these techniques in some examples of selected mosques from four periods of Islamic architecture and present the results in the form of trend charts. Furthermore, they observed the principle of continuity in Iranian architecture from the historical period from the beginning of the Islamic period to the Qajar period, and, in accordance with the theoretical foundations of research, analysed the reasons for the ups and downs of each of the techniques.

Iranian innovations in mosque lighting techniques: A historical survey

Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture and Design STU

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Iranian innovations in mosque lighting techniques: A historical survey"}

From the viewpoint of preserving the values of sustainable architecture, daylight in the interiors of mosques in hot and dry climates has always faced...

Iranian innovations in mosque lighting techniques: A historical survey

Published Online: Dec 17, 2021

Page range: 18 - 26

Received: Sep 28, 2021

Accepted: Nov 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/alfa-2021-0021

Keywords
mosque, Iranian architecture, lighting, hot and dry climate, Islam

© 2021 Ahmad Moghaddasi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Iranian innovations in mosque lighting techniques: A historical survey

Published Online: Dec 17, 2021

Page range: 18 - 26

Received: Sep 28, 2021

Accepted: Nov 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/alfa-2021-0021

Keywordsmosque, Iranian architecture, lighting, hot and dry climate, Islam

© 2021 Ahmad Moghaddasi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
mosque, Iranian architecture, lighting, hot and dry climate, Islam