Planting Design 2013 Working Group 30 - Case Study C

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Persian garden

Name	Persian garden
Location	Fin Garden, Kashan
Country	Iran
Authors	Azadeh Soltan Ahmadi

The inspiration of style and geometry can be seen in Persian garden design, which was influenced by water in different climate in Iran,the history and background of theses Gardens brought plenty of questions like:how people behaved in this landscape before and how it changed now, people interaction with the site ,water movement,circulation and vegetation structure along of the water all are interesting points.

Author's perspective

After getting my bachelor’s degree in architecture, I decided to study master of landscape architecture. Bagh-e-Fin is one of the beautiful, natural, historical and preserved Persian gardens in Iran. This garden is sophisticated by architecture and landscape architecture which attracts a lot of tourists. The character of water in a dessert city expresses different features of the garden such as planting and design, architecture, the Fin bath, cooling system, design elements and etc. It also supports a lot of different types of vegetation. Actually the row of Cypress trees defines the Fin garden character very well. Some years ago, we faced an extreme problem in the Fin garden. The problem was the death of Cypress trees which were four hundred years old. After a lot of research, we finally understood that the reason was gardening and garden management. It was fortunate that this garden went under cultural heritage and conservation of UNESCO in 2007.

Landscape and/or urban context of your case

• Biogeography, cultural features, overall character, history and dynamics
• Illustration: Map; sketches; short descriptive analyses

The Fin garden (Bagh-e-Fin) is located in a dessert city called Kashan. Historical documents show that the Fin garden was primarily founded in Buyid dynasty period in which an earthquake destroyed it in 1573 AC. The remains are still available and are known as the Old garden The garden was founded in the Fin village south of Kashan.They estimated the age of the garden from it’s surrounding settlements which were built in Abas Shah I period (1571-1629).Years later (1633-1666), the garden developed more. The plan of the garden is the Chahar Bagh with the grid of water channels and pathways.The water is supplied by a spring (the Qanat). The channels are tiled with green and blue tiles which present the character of water more strongly .Donald Newton Wilber wrote “Fin merits close attention because it is an admirable example of the monumental royal garden and because it is the very epitome of the Persian garden” (in Persian gardens and pavilions, 2nd edn 1979, p90). From the landscape architecture view, the garden creates strong contrast between green space and the landscape outside the walls where water is scarce and precious. The plan of the Fin garden sharply represents the Persian garden carpets with all the design elements like the row of cypress trees and different colorful flowers, orchards and multiple channels.

Analytical drawings

Please add four analytical sketches/drawings (or montages/schemes) of your case and take the following aspects into account:

• natural dynamic versus cultural framework - in how far do these two forces come together in your case?
• dynamic through the year (you may imagine how the site looks in spring and summer, maybe you also remember it)
• highlight potentials and problems

Analytical drawings clarify the geometry of the site and emphasized on water movement axis, vegetation, people movement and direction through site.

• Analytical Drawings
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  analytical drawing 1

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  analytical drawing 2

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  analytical drawing 3

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  analytical drawing 4

Projective drawings

• Please add four projective sketches/drawings (or montages/schemes) for your case and take the following aspects into account:
  • How would you like this case to change in the near future? (in 1-2 years)
  • And how could it look like in 10-15 years?

• Projective Drawings
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  projective drawing 1

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  projective drawing 2

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  projective drawing 3

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  projective drawing 4

Summary and conclusion

Please summarize your case and give arguments for your projective design (approx 150 words). The lack of planting management was caused a lot of problems for the trees in recent years, obviously what we can suggest for upcoming years is, preservation and new planting design. In 10 years there are many aspects that we can take under consideration for example the soil quality in some parts delivered dryness for the trees, what we can do is to improve the soil quality and ecological aspects. For the next years I hope they can use sufficient maintenance and cleaning method for the water channels purifying. Actually studies shows that gardener used plenty amount of lime for cleaning the water channels and theses lime hurt the tress through drainage system. Also The space that the gardener must give to trees are very important, there are many path and pavements in the site ,which are tightly involved with the trees space, therefor trees don’t have sufficient space to grow.

Image Gallery

You may add a series of images/photos in addition to the sketches/drawings

• Image Gallery
• Yourfilename1.jpg

  image 1

• Yourfilename2.jpg

  image 2

• Yourfilename3.jpg

  image 3

• Yourfilename4.jpg

  image 4

References

* Please make sure that you give proper references of all external resources used.

* Do not use images of which you do not hold the copyright.

* Please add internet links to other resources if necessary.

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