Urban Design
Mahya Ghouchani; Mohammad Taji
Abstract
The husseiniye is a religious place in Shia Islam, where the mourning ceremony of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and the martyrs of the Battle of Karbala is mainly held. Apparently, the husseiniye has come into existence as an extension of the structures of the mosque and religious places such as the zaviye and ...
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The husseiniye is a religious place in Shia Islam, where the mourning ceremony of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and the martyrs of the Battle of Karbala is mainly held. Apparently, the husseiniye has come into existence as an extension of the structures of the mosque and religious places such as the zaviye and the tekiye and as a result of integration and reproduction of parts of their structures and functions. Many concepts have been lost in the design of the contemporary husseiniye as a single building, which is open to the public only in the months of Muharram and Safar. The husseiniye and the tekiye are among the entities that are responsible for the important celebration of the Battle of Karbala. Sanctuaries have always had a particular status as internal organs of any city or village, and religious buildings have always been regarded as one of the most fundamental components of the fabric, structure, and shape of a city. Therefore, the mosques, religious buildings, worship centers, and social and cultural centers in a city constitute a long-standing identity that can never be separated from its social and urban structure. Moreover, man is a social being, and needs social interactions and communication with others. Urban spaces play a significant role in the realization of this characteristic, and the courtyards of mosques and religious places such as the husseiniye are among these spaces. The Iranian husseiniye or tekiye is a symbol of the link between time, place, and people, with an identity distinct from that of public places with the same function in other countries due to its quality as an urban space. It is also unique as the only open urban space with a religious function in the Islamic urban development culture. Given the cultural characteristics of our country, particularly the role of Islam and religious beliefs in Iranians’ national and social identity, the necessity of investigating the physical qualities of the husseiniye seems obvious. The purpose of this research was to recognize the effect of the Ashura rituals on the configuration of the city of Na'in, Iran based on the pathway pattern. On that basis, it can be stated as the research hypothesis that the pathway pattern of the groups of Ashura mourning, routinely held in the city, has such a significant effect on the formation and spatial organization of the city and locations of the husseiniye buildings that it cannot be disregarded in their analysis. According to what was stated, the research question concerns the aspects of the social and religious identification by the rituals in Na'in. Therefore, we conducted a structured study of seven husseiniye buildings in Na'in to examine the physical indicators of the husseiniye and their adaptation to the factors influencing the formation of buildings as open urban spaces and to analyze human pathay in the husseiniye using the pathway pattern. The research results indicate that the factors effective on consideration of open religious places like the husseiniye as open urban spaces include the general quality of convenience and communication with the surrounding passages, multiple entrances, the interaction established between the people, and urban life spirit. Thus, Nowgabad Mosque has the greatest number of alternative pathway patterns with six entrances, and the Husseiniye of Gowdalu has the lowest with two entrances. Better recognition and employment of the principles for design of such spaces, including location, flexibility in form and function, and rich symbolic concepts, can greatly contribute to persistence of the physical expression of a culture in the environment and identification of the Iranian city.
