Historic Roots of the Challenge of Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Architecture of Qajar Era

Iranian architecture was subjected to chaos and confusion from the late Qajar and early Pahlavi era. In this period we see the simultaneous construction of buildings, each representing one of the schools of a distinct period of history. The diverse and often conflicting tendencies in architecture of this period were mostly due to the differences between the political and ideological trends of this era of history, grounded in the political current of late Qajar and early Pahlavi. These different orientation have led to the institutionalization of a new style of architecture in the Qajar period that caused Iranian architecture to blend some specific factors of its form to those of far East, and put tradition and modernity face to face that is artistically pleasant. Combining tradition and modernity in architecture begins in Qajar. Numerous trips of kings and princes to Europe are the main cause of modernization arrival to Iran. This trend became faster in the period of Nasereddin Shah and Persian art took great strides during the Qajar king. Qajar is the period of conflicting architectural values and ideas, and diversity in urban architectural trends and styles. This diversity and contrast which is influenced by various factors of different approaches to modernity and tradition, can be mostly seen in the field of residential architecture, so that, the architecture of this period has been called, housing architecture or residential architecture. From the engravings of pillars and entrances to elements such as pediments and even windows forms and volumetric adaptation form the buildings only show a part of Qajar era architecture. This mixture occurred not only in architecture but also with changes in other organs and Iranian social phenomena, which, in its own time, was considered as modernism. In this paper, In addition to defining tradition and modernity, the following questions will be answered: (1) how is the confrontation of Iranian contemporary architecture (Qajar period) with East architecture? , (2) is it possible to see any relationship between architect’s designing of architectural elements and their time of formation? To find answers to these questions, arguing settlement method / technique of cross - sectional - interpretation is used. To collect opinions (informed people in the field of Architecture) questionnaire technique is used. The results show that, in recent one hundred and fifty years, modernity, has thrown light on many aspects of Iranian society, many theoretical and political conflicts of this period, from "Islamic solidarity" to "westernization", “Constitutionalism Movement "to" Islamic Revolution ", from "Marxism" to "Ziaeeian and Pahlavian modernity" and from "Alavi Shia" to "ideas of progress", were all part of efforts towards transforming, modifying, or enforcement and closing modernity. Changes in Iranian architecture during the Qajar and architectural trends towards West architecture, has not occurred uniformly and homogeneously and this is not encompasses all segments of the society; It was first emerged in the palaces of kings and then nobility. Emerging a gap between rich and poor classes and a heterogeneous picture in architecture of city was natural at this stage; riches’ houses became increasingly luxurious and those of poor were in traditional and old form. This resulted in the duality and conflict in the appearance of city. It means that the impact of European architecture was firstly revealed in royal buildings, then in public buildings and finally in residential architecture. These influences are mostly in the architectural forms and not in the methods or construction. In the late Qajar period, European architecture can be seen in all sectors and buildings. Complex decoration and tore the can be notably seen in Qajar architecture, these characteristics dates back to the introversion of Qajar architecture. Much attention has been paid to interior side and this part was separated from outside by complex decoration, but it gradually changed, since on the one hand, the materials used in construction were changed and new materials were used in construction, on the other hand, at late Qajar and early Pahlavi introversion changed to extraversion. The walls became short and exterior facades were noted, the spaces became more creative and diverse, and In a word, we can say that Naserrian fence was broken. In the meantime, many buildings, constructed in the Qajar period, were affected by Western architecture. In this study, we will examine more than fifty buildings of this historical period, recommended by the professors, but due to the limitation of this paper, only two outstanding works which were accomplished in the form of questionnaires, will be mentioned. After examining some architectural samples, we will find out more about the logical relationship between passage of time and West architecture and the historical importance of building. In term of historical period, a logical relationship is seen between the passage of time and West architecture. Based on the tests conducted, the correlation value is 48%, that with regard to 0.002 error, this is a substantial and highly significant number. In other words, the more we approach the end of the period, the more the building are under the influence of West architecture. This diversity and contrast which is influenced by various factors of different approaches to modernity and tradition, can be mostly seen in the field of residential architecture, so that, the architecture of this period has been called, housing architecture or residential architecture. In terms of historical importance of the building, the more we approach the end of the period, the relationship become more significant. Correlation value of 0.058 and the error rate of 0.017, show a relatively accurate and proper relation, so that we can expect that the building of the late Qajar have more historical significance than those of the early period. Likewise, in term of the significance of the contemporary building, there is also a significant relation. And again, the more we approach the end of the period, the relationship become more significant. This is quite evident according to Table 3 and 5.