Vernacular Structures in Guilan Rural Architecture

Like most rural regions in Iran, skeleton of villages in Guilan areaffected by surroundings and also retrieved from homeland. In ruralregions, indigenous housing manifests most of local constructionmaterials and features. Since the native rural architecture is mostlyformed by the structure’s owner, the native rural architecture is ininterconnection with the local knowledge and the needs of users of thestructure. Therefore, the main subject of this research is to explore thenative rural structures of Guilan and to enumerate the major types ofstructural technologies and local construction materials in this region.This research which is typically developmental and applicatory, in astructure-oriented and qualitative paradigm and with descriptiveresearch strategy, has been made for the case study of the areas inGuilan.The data in this article has been collected by non-participativeobservational method and by using written sources and documentarystudies. Data are independent of the numerical documentation and hasbeen analyzed with normative approach and inductive process.The results of this research indicate that in Guilan following theclimatic conditions, the building materials used based on the priorityorder are wood, stone and soil and methods of implementation of nativestructures mostly emphasize on the use of regional wood and vegetativematerials. In every climatic zone of Guilan a different executivetechnology is used for foundation, wall and roof and this variety mostlyfollows the choosing and the preference of the indigenous people rather than the geographical characteristics which in turn has caused the use ofmultiple methods of implementation with different building materials inevery village. Nevertheless, construction limitations and materialsavailable have affected this selection. In this article, different nativemethods of implementation of foundation, wall and roof have beenenumerated.

Keywords:

rural structures , vernacular architecture , wooden materials , Guilan climate