Shape grammar, culture, and generation of vernacular houses (a practice on the villages adjacent to rice fields of Mazandaran, in the north of Iran)

Abstract

This article is about an investigation exploring the vernacular environment of the villages adjacent to the rice fields of Mazandaran in order to identify the configuration and characteristic of its vernacular dwellings, and applied grammatical rules. In this regard, based on case study research, 4 villages and 44 houses within them have been investigated employing different methods including measurement, mapping, visual recording, one on one, and focus group interviews. Houses have been analysed based on the framework that shape grammars provided towards identification of compositional rules. Criteria and influential factors for creation of rules have been achieved through cultural and climatic studies that justify their appropriateness. This process has been successfully examined through plan creation of four different types of vernacular houses. The result shows that the set of rules contributed by this research can be efficient for generation of vernacular houses within the region of this study.