The Typology of Chohar-Sofeh Houses of Dosiran Village

Rural architecture reflects the integration of architecture with the environment and culture. This kind of relation has been considered as the main factor which brings about diversity in the form of residential architecture in different rural areas. In cold and mountainous climates of Iran, factors such as climate, land type, livelihoods have made differences in architectures. But this fact is forgottern that the quality of rural architecture is the most effective tool which create the image of a rural areas. It is evident that surrounding architectures have had direct impact on both investment decisions and inhabitants as it is clearly obvious that even best promotion will not be efficient if spatial reality discourages inhabitants. Rural architecture brings about the functions of identification and promotion and it is consideres as the appealing sign whose functions can be compared to a product brand. The article presents the results of the research survey of the rural constructions in the Dosiran village near Kazrun in Fars province of Iran in three parts. The first part of the paper deals with investigating Chohar-Sofeh houses. Construction form of the architecture along with environment and spaces are discussed in the second part and ultimately the third part deals with the impact of culture, history, climate and other factors on the building shapes and typology, both at settlement level and unit level. The research method in this article is based on a survey and case study. The data were collected through personal observations, field surveys, and review of documents and information on village history and architecture. Primitive studies were done to investigate the causal factors which have affacted Chohar-Sofeh houses. The authors attempt to answer the following questions by comparing the spatial arrangement of Chohar-Sofeh houses and their structural details: How Chohar-Sofeh houses have been constructed? What are the different types of residential architectures in Dosiran village? What kinds of characteristics of Chohar-Sofeh houses reflect a type of architecture of rural residential building?  Initial research demonstrated this fact that due to climate and security issues,  Chohar-Sofeh houses have no windows. The orientation of them is based on the prevailing winter wind direction. The entrances are built to a height of 140 cm, shorter than usual in the Iranian rural architecture based on safety, climatic and cultural components. The houses are double walled and ventilated in both direct and indirect ways.  Direct ventilation through openings in the outer walls leading to the outdoor walls; and indirect ventilation through the openings in the inner walls leading to the centeral space of the covered roof which has an outdoor hole. Due to the snowy countryside and to avoid blocking the ventilation hole, an outlet was created instead of a roof in the façade. The prevailing wind of the Dosiran village blows from the west and the approximate -45 Degree of the four axes of the two axes towards their main axes and ultimately their north-west orientation to the southeast allows the entrance to be located on any front, without direct exposure to the prevailing wind. This will reduce the amount of cold winds entering the building during the cold season. The pattern of spatial organization in Dosiran houses has been achieved through the history of the village, the climate, the context of construction, and some forms of spatial constructions.