Being farmers meant great calls, such as having hot summers, and cold winters.
Iran’s traditional architecture is designed in proportion to its climatic conditions. The continued design and existence of traditional homes amidst the preponderance of mid-rise apartments in Iran's ongoing modernisation projects is testament to a strong connection and identification with Persian architectural heritage.
Iran's old city fabric is composed of narrow winding streets called
koocheh with high walls of adobe and brick, often roofed at various intervals. This form of urban design, which used to be commonplace in Iran, is an optimal form of architecture that minimizes the expansion of arid regions and the effects of storms. It also maximizes daytime shades, and insulates the urban fabric from severe winter temperatures of the
Iranian Plateau. Religious beliefs coupled with the necessity to defend cities against frequent foreign invasions encouraged traditional Persian residential architects to create inward seeking designs amidst these narrow complicated koochehs, weaving tightly knit residential neighborhoods. Thus, the house becomes the container as opposed to the contained. These houses possess an innate system of protection: they all have enclosed gardens with maximum privacy, preventing any view into the house from the outside world. Hence, residential architecture in Persia was designed in a way to provide maximum protection to the inhabitants during times of tension and danger, while furnishing a microcosm of tranquillity that protected this inner Persian "
paradise garden". Neighborhoods in old Persian cities often formed around shrines of popular saints. All public facilities such as baths, houses of mourning (
takyehs), teahouses, administration offices, and schools were to be found within the neighborhood itself. In addition to the main bazaar of the city, each neighborhood often had its own bazaar-cheh as well (i.e. “little bazaar”), as well as its own ab anbar (or public water reservoir), which provided the neighborhood with clean water.
Qazvin, for example, had over 100 such reservoirs before being modernized with city plumbing in modern times. image:Architecture125.JPG|A roofscape of a traditional neighborhood in
Kashan. The roof in the foreground belongs to a
Qajar era bath-house. Image:Architecture121.JPG|
Stucco reliefs from
Borujerdi-ha House,
Kashan. image:Architecture58.JPG|
Koochehs provided relief from storms. This was an efficient and ancient form of urban design in Persia. Photograph is from
Nain. Image:Borujerdiha.jpg|
Borujerdi-ha House, 1857,
Kashan, a masterpiece of design. When visiting
Kashan in 1993, the chairman of UNESCO remarked: “Kashani architects are the greatest alchemists of history. They could make gold out of dust”. Indeed, almost all of Kashan's masterpieces, as in many other parts of Iran are made of humble, local, earth. Like many other cities throughout
Iran, stucco was the most widespread method of ornamentation in Persian houses. One reason was the relatively cheap price of the materials used (like gypsum for example) that don't require a high temperature to be transformed into plaster. This is an important consideration in places like central Iran where wood is relatively scarce. Another reason is that it is easily shaped, molded, or carved. Thanks to stucco, a wall of crudely fashioned stone blocks or raw brick, gives an impression of great luxury. Thus, stucco owes its luxurious appearance to the skill of the craftsman. And with a tradition of stucco technique going back to pre-Islamic Iran, this is an art fully mastered by Persian craftsmen, as seen here. Earthquakes in Iran leave massive destruction. Most of Iran's remaining traditional houses date from the post-quake eras during the Qajar period. Despite this, the efforts of Persiam architects to build resistance to earthquakes into their works let to many buildings remaining such as the spectacular Safavid Persian palaces as recounted by French and British explorers in many parts of Persia. ==Characteristics of traditional Persian residential architecture==