Learning Environment
H. Hayaty; M. Behdarvand
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The mosque schools were the social, political, and religious centers considered as a refuge for the turbulent urban life in the Islamic countries. To teach religious affairs in a religious environment, the theocratic regimes in Iran began to construct a new building called ...
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Background and Objectives: The mosque schools were the social, political, and religious centers considered as a refuge for the turbulent urban life in the Islamic countries. To teach religious affairs in a religious environment, the theocratic regimes in Iran began to construct a new building called the mosque-school while benefitting from the background provided by the mosque-shrines and the mosque- monastaries. Despite the available studies conducted on the formation of these buildings and their physical features; it seems that the appearance of these mosque-schools still has many lessons for the contemporary architecture of Iran. It is not clearly known how the two educational (school) and worshipping areas (mosque) have been linked with each other in the two eras of Timurid and Safavid and what features distinguish mosque-schools from other combined forms of buildings. This research identifies the relationship between the educational and worshipping centers, which are in fact the so-called mosque-schools. The purpose of this article is to find out the relationship between the two educational and worshipping areas in the Timurid and Safavid Eras and the distinctive features of mosque-schools, as compared to the other combined forms. Methods: The present study used interpretive-historical and case study research methodology; and the analyses of the buildings are done by the method of logical reasoning. In this case, first, the two educational and worshipping areas in each era were considered separetly. Then the influence of these areas on the general form of the aforementioned mosque-schools and also the way their different parts are related to each other were analyzed. Findings: To make a comparative study on the relationship between the mosque-schools of the Safavid and Timurid Eras, seven cases of mosque-schools from these two eras were selected, using a purposeful sampling method. Regarding the relationship between the educational and worshipping areas, two general categories were introduced for typology. In these typologies, the mosque-schools were divided in terms of hierarchy, location, and the combination of the educational and worshipping areas. Moreover, the criteria for the simultaneous development of education and training, focusing on education, promoting the social interactions of the students in the mosqus and so on were introduced and, finally, these criteria were compiled and explained in terms of design principles of educational-religious centers. Principles, such as comprehensive development in various aspects, the importance of discussion, the improvement of social interactions, mentioning spiritual issues and other policies show the importance of these matters in the mosque-schools. Conclusion: The major changes in the Safavid schools provided more suitable residential, educational and worshipping areas for students. Sometimes schools had two separate entrances to access educational and worshipping areas. During the Timurid Era, these two sections were completely close to each other. Ghiasieh and Do-dar schools from the Timurid Era and Chaharbagh and Hakim schools from the Safavid Era are the proofs of this fact. With respect to the principles ruling over the in mosque-schools, for instance, respecting the privacy of the students which, in turn, leads to creating spatial hierarchies and observing order in the mosque-schools can be pointed out. Moreover, the importance of discussion and paying attention to the central courtyard could also lead considering open and semi-open spaces like porticos and also paying attention to natural elements in order to focus the mind on thinking and educational development. These principles lead to the organization and helped to focus on education along with worshipping in the school mosques.
Learning Environment
H. Hayaty; F. Gholami
Abstract
Background and Objective:Education is one of the most important issues in any society and has a decisive role in promoting the level of knowledge of individuals and the growth of culture in that society. In the past, the duty and responsibility of schools was mostly religious education. Schools were ...
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Background and Objective:Education is one of the most important issues in any society and has a decisive role in promoting the level of knowledge of individuals and the growth of culture in that society. In the past, the duty and responsibility of schools was mostly religious education. Schools were built as one of the main pillars of urban organizations by various strata, such as scholars and teachers, kings and the rich, and in addition to their religious educational function, they often played a socio-political role. Took over. The school is a project to meet the needs of the Islamic community. The school was a custom building created to serve an institution that was itself an innovation in education. In addition, the school was the creation of a kind of entrenched civilization that brought new achievements to society. In the past, the core of the islamic education was in the mosques; because the first places which were used in the early islamic centuries for education were the mosques. Accordingly, the mosque have historically functioned as places of muslims gatherings and acquiring knowledge.The present study investigates development of the religion-educational centers, i.e. the school-mosques; and since majority of these centers were built in Qajars Era. Methods: the statistical population of the study consists of the school-mosques built in this period. The verify used in this research is historical commentary and the analysis of the buildings is done with the logical reasoning method. Historical documents and literature library resources have been used to collect information. In this paper, three of the school-mosques of Qajar Dynasty have been selected through purposeful samplivg in order to study the concept of education. Findings:The concept of education and educational methods have changed during Qajar Era; and these changes in the concept of education have led to diversity of forms and changes in architecture of the schools. These changes are evident in plan, internal functions of the building, including changes made to the entrance system, courtyard, and number and quality of the dorms. Conclusion: The concept of education in the Qajar period took a more general approach than in previous eras and was freed from the monopoly of the aristocracy and nobles. This not only led to the expansion and development of schools in terms of scale and number; but also caused the formation of living spaces and rooms with higher number and quality in Qajar schools. In the traditional period, schools have a completely traditional architecture. Sardar, Sepahsalar and Aghabzorg schools are examples of this period. The model of these schools includes a central courtyard with a number of rooms around it that has an educational-residential structure. The general approach in Qajar schools caused these schools to play an essential role in social activities, and even some religious ceremonies and prayers for the general public were formed there. This led to a change in the entry system and the creation of separate entrances for students and ordinary people. The courtyard is of special importance in the architecture of Qajar schools. The school yard provides a refreshing, eye-catching and relaxing space for students using plants, trees and a pool of water. These courtyards have sometimes even been the subject of debate and teaching.
