Historical Buildings of Iran: Their Architecture and Structure (Advances in Architecture Series)
by Mehrdad M. HejaziThe FIRST- ever structural and architectural account of historical buildings in Iran. Featuring a chronological description of architectural styles, information on traditional construction materials, as well as an analysis of numerous structures, this interest and informative text will be of importance to anyone with a technical interest in structural history.
Presents a general overview of the structural and architectural characteristics of Iranian historical structures. It is the first book in this field that investigates historical buildings ofIran through a structural engineering approach. The book includes a chronological description of architectural styles from the beginning to the present.
The book also contains chapters on traditional construction materials, arches, vaults, domes, minarets and water-works. Special parts of the book deal with structural analysis of historical domes, minarets and a wooden structure followed by maintenance comments. The last part of the book proposes several historical structures as research topics for future work.
The Persian Garden: Echoes of Paradise
by Mehdi Khansari, M. Reza Moghtader, Minouch Yavari For more than three thousand years, the Persian garden has been a focus of Iran's national imagination, influencing its art, literature, and even religion. The Persian garden's inspirational role has, however, extended far beyond the land of its origin; its precepts have exerted a profound influence on garden design around the world. ThePersian Garden: Echoes of Paradise chronicles the history of the Persian garden, from the magnificent sanctuaries and hunting parks of fifth-century b.c.Persepolis to the magical nightingale gardens of nineteenth-century Tehran. All were seen as a kind of earthly paradise (the English word paradise has its roots in the old Persian word pairi-daeza meaning a walled space). To an astonishing extent, that vision seems justified.
This book was meticulously researched and created over a period of six years in, Paris, Tehran and Washington by photographer, Mehdi Khansari and architect Minouch Yavari, together with the renowned Persian architect and architectural historian Reza Moghtader. It explains the philosophy behind Persian garden design and offers an authoritative account of its developmentintroducing new historical material in the process. This extraordinary story is enhanced by vivid descriptions of Persian gardens as seen through the eyes of travelers to Iran during the past five hundred years. Over 240 illustrations in full color, complement the text. They include magnificent color photographs, old plates and engravings, as well as exquisite architectural renderings and plans of the sites and the gardens. A selection of the finest Persian garden-carpets, textiles, miniature paintings, stone reliefs, painted tiles, pottery, and poetry, augment the reader's experience of an ancient art form that for centuries has sought to meld the physical and the spiritual.
About the Author
Mehdi Khansari was born inTehran and studied photography at theSchool of Visual Arts in New York. He has coauthored with his wife, Minouch Yavari, Espace Persan (Pierre Mardaga, 1986), a book on traditional architecture in Iran, and The Persian Bazaar: Veiled Space of Desire (Mage, 1994).
M. R. Moghtader was born inTehran in 1931 and received his architecture degree inParis in 1956. From 1958 to 1981 he practiced as an architect in Iran where his designs include the master plan for the city of Tabriz, the Shiraz University complex, and the Tehran University Faculties of Theology and Economic Science. Since 1981 he has been living inParis, where he researches and practices architecture.
Minouch Yavari was born inTehran and received her architecture degree inParis. She has worked since 1984 as an architect inTehran and in France. She has coauthored with her husband, Mehdi Khansari, Espace Persan (Pierre Mardaga, 1986), a book on traditional architecture in Iran, and The Persian Bazaar: Veiled Space of Desire (Mage, 1994).
Gardens of Persia
by Penelope Hobhouse, Erica Hunningher, Jerry HarpurA distinguished chronicle of the Persian garden that explores its profound spiritual, historical, and virtually unacknowledged influence on the development of Western garden design in the 21st century
Gardens of Persia demonstrates world-renowned author Penelope Hobhouse's rare ability to combine meticulous research and a practical knowledge of gardens and plants with a love of garden history and travel. By telling the story of the development of gardens throughout the Persian culture's 5,000-year-old history, she imparts a passionate view of the Persian paradise garden as a model for today's gardeners.
Buildings, water, and plants combine to give the gardens ofPersia a beautiful spiritual quality that has served to inspire garden design across time and diverse cultures. Indeed, Ms. Hobhouse begins with the oldest living garden, Pasargadae, created by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. It represented paradise on earth and spawned other gardens to be seen as settings for sacred contemplation and spiritual nourishment. In later centuries, these gardens evolved further around the world as representations for romance, power, prestige, and symbols of the afterlife.
Gardens of Persia is beautifully illustrated with Jerry Harpur's specially commissioned photographs of Persian gardens as well as with similarly inspired ones from around the world, and with lovely images of sumptuous carpets and Persian miniatures.
