Abstract:
Kandovan or in local terms kandojan, is one of
the most outstanding samples of rock villages
in the world, that has been located in north of
the most valleys ending up to mount Sahand
in Iran.
Stone houses of kandovan, with a history
dating back to 800 years ago, has been built
from the volcanic rocks that are called (Karan)
which are called Qaya (meaning rock) in
native language, read as a rock with a conical
form and shape.
From the mouth of the volcano Sahand and
other nearby volcanic mountains of Sahand,
molten material is poured out during
thousands of years. The lavas during the
centuries and gradually accumulated on their
crustal rock tuff (tuff) with different
resistances established, the masses of molten
volcanic and lavas has been formed by natural
factors during thousands of years and has
long cone-shaped form. Gradually loss parts
of the cones have been fall down and hard
parts of cones remain, and have been created
the current situation that more resembles a
natural miracle.
Spatial shapes of inside the Karan, contrast to
that of humans with hard rock; to form large
residential holes in the heart of stone that
have been answers to human settlement and
livelihoods needs over the years. These
internal spaces which due to climatic factors
and the hardness of volcanic tuffs have small
dimensions in human scale, and perform as
multifunctional spaces and represent special
applications such as mosque, school and
public bath.
Having analyzed and examined the functions
of dwelling spaces in Karan, based on field
and library method, we are presenting
approaches to establish changes in the
structure of Karan in order to preserve them
based on spatial qualities of sustainability and
change ability which are the features of a
place in changing usability. Finally, some
measures have been suggested to combine
old structure of Karan with new functions at
the same proportion with life of village and
rural sustainability principles.
