Tuesday, March 29 Eastern Tradition• Shima Safarnezhad Persian Gardens and Parks

Readings:• Phililp Pregill and Nancy Volkman, "Asian Landscapes: India, China, and the Southeast Region," History Design and

Planning in the Eastern and Western Traditions (New York: Wiley, 1999): 287-339.

Thursday, March 31 Lab: Snow 119: Contours for your site. You will work individually (9 AM lab has 32 students and 31 computers so a couple working on the same project will work

together.

IRAN

The Iranian plateau lies between two mountain ranges, the Elborz in the north and the Zagros in the west. The altitude of these mountain chains prevents cloud systems from flowing down to the plateau and make a diverse weather climates.

History of Iran

History

After the unification of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus (558-528 B.C.E.), “Persia” was taken to indicate, the entire Iranian Plateau.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/ancient-persian-art-and-architecture-history-style.html

Iran’s architecture

Iran’s architecture after Islam

Persian is a mixture of Persian architecture before Islam and after the

attack of Arabs. The essence of Persian garden were preserved after

Islam and been expanded through different nations like India and Spain

Paradise (After Islam)

A “garden” is a gift from the gods symbolizing the fertile earth, the additional idea of an original home to which both Christianity and Islam will be constantly inciting believers to return. In the majority of Eastern myth and religions, the very notion of paradise was firstly linked to water and fertility, guarantees of eternal sustenance in the “dowelling place of the god”.

In Achaemenid period paradise was a magnificent ensembles with parks in the midst of well-watered forests teeming with animals; enclosed behind walls, they are studded with towers in which hunters can retire. In Zoroastrian (Sixth century C.E.) it can be seen paradise as primarily conjoined up as a particularly luminous and perfumed place; it is populated with angelical and beautiful creatures, in the true idealization of good deeds.

Persian poet have often sought to compare nature at springtime to a rug strewn with flowers. Particularly from the Safavid period, include example known as “garden carpet” depicting a network of channels across the rug that create a flowerbeds where peonies and iris bloom in the shade of majestic cypresses.

The word “garden” the Persian Baghcan be designate an ornamental natural space, an orchard, or even a kitchen garden, all three elements being unified in one and the same place.

Iranian architecture is based on several fundamental characteristics. These are:• Introversion• structure• homogeneous proportions• anthropomorphism• symmetry and anti-symmetry• Minimalism

Two main source of gardens in the world: Iranian GardenJapanizes and Chines Gardens

Shirin’s Palace: a crossroads of Civilizations

Paradise = gardens around the houses in Iran

The story of Shirin and Khosrow is one of the most popular ancient stories in the middle east and the Islamic world, and a source of a great amount of folk art such as poetry, songs and paintings. The story was based on the real life of the Persian prince Khosrow and the Armenian princess Shirin, who lived in the 6th century AD.

History of gardens in Iran

At Kasr-i-Shirin, on the western slopes of Zagros, the Imarat-I Khusru, or “Palace of Kusru”, is set in a park 65000 SF in circumference, of which the walls, rising in palaces to 200 feet, can still be traced. Only the roots of date palms and the pomegranates are now visible in this vast pleasaunce; but the Arab writers have detailed the beauty of the gardens and the number of rare animals which wandered about the park in perfect freedom. The magnificent palace, in front of which glittered an artificial of water, lay east and west; its length was 1122 feet and its greatest width 613 feet. To the east there was a double ramp rising to a terrace 324 feet in width, supported by vaulted chambers, thee of which many rooms opened. The main entrance was by the ramp and across the terrace to the second incline adorned by twenty four columns, which led to the apartment of the Great King. The first great hall was divided into three aisles and led to a square chamber. Then other chambers were entered, and a colonnade looked on to a central court. The royal chambers (as at Persepolis) had wooden roofs, and the other rooms were generally vaulted. The material employed is much inferior to the dressed limestone of the Achaemenian architects and consisted of bricks cut the shape and plastered.

Some of the main characteristics of Iranian

Gardens:

Often on sloped lands

Gardens Surrounded with walls

The area of garden is divided in four parts

Using straight lines in designing the garden

A building that is located in the middle or highest point of the garden

A permanent water stream

A sound of water stream

Using carved stones below the stream to create waves in the stream

A close relationship with nature, no distance between the construction and garden

A pool in front of the building in front of the mansion

Using great number of trees that provide shading with narrow walkways

Planting lots of fruit trees

Planting decorative and pharmaceutical flowers and plants

Planting Rose

Self-sufficient- Human Scale- Beauty

Two Types: • Container• Contained

Types of Iranian Garden in Terms of Topography

• Leveled Ground• Sloped ground• Water garden• House garden• Garden next to the river

Buildings around the garden

A garden was made near the village of Fin by Shah Abbas 1. Most of the present garden, which is in good condition, dates from the nineteenth century. Approx 1.5 ha is enclosed by a high curtain wall with circular towers. Water is supplied by a spring and a qanat. The plan is a sophisticated charhar bagh with grids of canals and paths. The canals are lined with blue-green tiles, a colour which contrasts wonderfully with the desert outside the garden walls. In her book on Gardens of Persia (2003, p 94), Penelope Hobhouse comments that the Fin garden can hold its own 'with the great gardens of the world'. But the Lonely Planet guide to Iran (2001, p 279) reports that some visitors are disappointed. The garden needs a restoration plan and could become a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Donald Newton Wilber wrote (in Persian gardens and pavilions, 2nd edn 1979, p90): 'Fin merits close attention because it is an admirable example of the monumental royal garden, and because it is the very epitome of the Persian garden - this single example displaying all the most desired features and elements... The garden expresses a series of accentuared contrasts between the arid, inhospitable landscape outside the walls and the lush foliage within. Outside, water is scarce and precious; here it flows with superabundance to produce a dense jubgle of growth. The monotone of the landscape is replaced by the colors of foliage, of flowers, of blue tiles, of fountains, and of painted plaster and woodwork, Axial symmetry contrasts with areas of almost impenetrable growth. The plan of Fin calls sharply to mind the Persian garden carpet, for all elements of multiple channels, orchards, flowers, and pavilions are present in similar relationship. At Fin, all the channels are lined, sides and bottom, with blue faience tiles so that the very water seems bright and gay until it flows into one of the larger pools, lined with great trees. The largest pool mirrors the remains of the central pavilion, ascribed to Fath Ali Shah' The garden was repaired in 1935 and Wilber called for restoration of the central pavilion, which has seen been effected.

Self-sufficient- Human Scale- Beauty

Two Types: • Container• Contained

Types of Iranian Garden in Terms of Topography

• Leveled Ground• Sloped ground• Water garden• House garden• Garden next to the river

The scenery to Iranian garden from the entrance is a straight linear view with tall trees in both sides and the koshk (Palace) at the end of the view. Koshks are located in a higher elevation.

The orientation of Iranian garden is north to South (rarely East to West, just in North of Iran). So I the summer the main walkways are in Shadow.

Isfahan: The “Design of the World”

Naghsh’e Jahan Square is situated at the center of the city of Isfahan. It is an important historical site and one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

The square is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era (1501-1722). The entrance to the Grand Bazaar and the Imam Mosque are opposite

one another on the short ends while the Ali Qapu Palace and the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque (1602) face one another on the longer sides.

The Safavid King Shah Abbas selected an open area of ground between the older Seljuk city and the Zayandeh River. This market place was taken

as the centerpiece of the new city and Shah Abbas laid out an immense square, the Naqsh’e Jahan Square, nearly 1700 feet long -- twice the size

of Red Square in Moscow, seven times the size of St. Mark’s Square in Venice. Naghsh’e Jahan Square is the second-largest square in the world. It is

completely surrounded by decorated arcades and a bazaar, with the center of each side marked by a monumental building.

Naqsh’e Jahan Square he pointed out that Isfahan is one of most ancient cities of the world and Naqsh’e Jahan Square had been the first field of

polo.

TreesSymbol of wisdom; roots in meditation; bears fruit of spirit.“Tree of life” is seen as the connecting link between the three world levels of the ancient Orient: Paradise (sky), World of humans (Earth), and the World below.Fruit trees: apple, pomegranate (symbol of fertility – land, nature, humans); fig (also symbol of fertility)Cyprus (sacred to Apollo as god of light in the Classical world; used to represent light on graves, mausoleums)

Flowers and ShrubsRoses, Tulips, Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Lilies; used for color and had own symbolism. Some plants were chosen for their fragrance. White plants and night-blooming plants were used in gardens to be seen at night.

BirdsTheir language is the symbolic language of self. This language of birds in the human world is rhythmic language, and the science of rhythm was thought to be the means for reaching a higher state of being.Hoopoe – symbol of inspirationNightingale – self caught up in the exterior form of things

WaterCooled the environmentFlowing water gardens were idealized forms of irrigation whose geometry was used to design water pathways—an exercise in patternmakingCascading water was made possible as different levels were built.Natural springs, if found on site, could be used with hydraulic pressure to channel water through fountainsStill water was used as a metaphor and to reflect buildings, trees, plants, shrubs for added splendor.

Pathways and DivisionsThe Persian word Pairi-daeza means walled space or enclosed area. It is standard to have four quadrants or Chahar bagh to compose the proper garden with pathways and, if possible, waterways that divide up the space and lead one to a central area. This area may hold a courtyard, a pavilion, or a fountain.

Hasht-behesht

Built under Shah Soleyman (1667-94), the pavilion of Hasht-behesht, or “Eight Paradises”. Around the pavilion erected over a central plan (a square with lopped-off corners, forming an irregular octagon) there stood a rectangular garden that extended well beyond the current enclosure. The pavilion lay out about two-thirds of the way down the oblong garden; this in turn was divided into two by a long rectangular channel, each half being subdivided into quadripartite parterres. The cypresses, planes, pines, and fruit trees provided ample shade fir beds of roses, tulips, and clover.

Shiraz: “Culture, Power and Poetry”

that the garden is now like an exhibition of several kinds of plants and flowers.

Kerman

Golestan Palace

The Royal Court and Residence occupied more than one third of Arg, like traditional Iranian houses, had two interior and exterior quarters. The exterior quarters consisted of the administrative section of the royal court and a square shaped garden known as Golestan (rose garden).These two parts were separated by several buildings

Tehran

Charbagh (Four Baghs) is a Persian-style garden layout. The design and style of the Persian gardens can be seen in countries which have been occupied by Muslims-India in the east and Spain in the west.

The Chahrbagh-e Abbasi in Isfahan, built by Shah Abbas the Great in 1596, and the garden of the Taj Mahal in India are the most famous examples of this style. The Taj Mahal is one of the largest Persian Garden interpretations in the world, from theera of the Mughal Empire in India.

The garden at Taj Mahal is inspired by the Persian-style layout.