Mohammad-Karim Pirnia, one of the most prominent scholars of the history of Iranian
architecture, has recorded two major achievements: the principles of Iranian architecture and
the stylistics of Iranian architecture. In this article we will discuss his suggested principles for
Iranian architecture. For this purpose, we will first show how his five principles have evolved and
completed through time. Then we will refer to his words about each of the principles we have
gathered from the original source but widely spread and will present them in an integrated and
coherent form.
In another section of the article, we will deliberate upon the entirety of these principles and
evaluate their worthiness in characterizing Iranian architecture. We will strive to study and review
Pirnia’s motivations for proposing them, their underlying assumptions, and their tacit implications.
In the end we will show that the current order and content of these principles have both internal
and external dimensions whose appearance was necessitated by his time. One may argue that
such principles are no longer suitable or credible for contemporary Iranian architecture. However
reviewing the internal dimension of these principles is a valuable element for identifying and
understanding the Iranian architecture in the context of the Iranian culture. In this case, we will be
able to reread Pirnia’s principles and use them to serve as vehicle for improvement of research on
the history of Iranian architecture and its development.
