Investigating privacy principles’ formation in vernacular architecture of arid and semi-arid parts of Iran

Traditional Iranian architecture principles have deep roots in this region’s culture, thoughts, and climatic conditions. Privacy, as one of these principles, which has ever regulated all aspects of life, has been beautifully embodied in the vernacular residential architecture of Iran. It proved to have profound effects which resulted in a specific spatial organization of the house and the placement of various functions, either private or semi-private. Many research studies have claimed that privacy was an attribute of Islamic rules in Iranian architecture. Based on historical and phenomenological analyses of vernacular Iranian architecture this paper strives to confront the privacy principle also according to Iranian (or former Persian) culture, climate, and security conditions. Changed geopolitical and cultural conditions in the 20th century raised new forms of architectural residential morphology almost completely negating the principle of privacy. The question is whether the vernacular principle of privacy should be embodied in the new design of Iranian residential houses or be preserved merely as an expression of former culture increasing the quality of the image of the city and its attractiveness. The research completed by qualitative morphological and analytical methods clarifies the mentioned principles and identifies the definition of privacy, the factors affecting it, the roots of its formation, its influence on the physical-spatial organization of traditional residential architecture in Iran, and its continuation in modern residential architecture in Iran.