Identifying Types of Open Space in Historicalal Gardens of Birjand Rahim Abad, Amir Abad, Shokat Abad, Bahalgard, and Akbariyyeh Gardens

The garden is essentially an extensive open space that can include various types of closed spaces within. However, in some cases, there are various types of open space combined in the garden according to defined arrangements. This poses a new form and a variation in the structure of the classical Persian Garden, which is the subject of the present investigation. The general scheme of a Persian Garden is a wide and open space, and in the case of gardens of Birjand, garden space that is integrated with other types of smaller scale open spaces to create new combinations. These gardens are similar in structure, composed in an orderly yet simple layout and integrated with smaller open spaces. These auxiliary spaces range in scale from a small yard to an extensive area like a garden itself. They can even be the size of a bay of a mahtabi in front of the main building which overlooks the whole garden or can be the size of a stone-paved roof that looks out on its surrounding plains. These open spaces attach to the garden space in a number of ways, each with a distinct function. They include the andaruni courtyard, open courtyard, loading area, entrance yard, mahtabi, roof, soffeh, sharemi, meydancheh, jelo-khan, and orchard. The main function of these spaces relates to the residential aspect of a garden, i.e., they either form a private andarun area, or grow larger to house different activities pertaining to residential life in a garden, and important enough to be landscaped. Moreover, other types of these spaces provide special views to the garden, contributing to the recreational aspect of a garden. In addition, there are other spaces that create hierarchy and provide the possibility of extension of the garden space, or define a zone around which buildings can be arranged, all of which relate to the geometric structure of a garden. These spaces denote a special way of life which is investigated and categorized in this paper. Examination of gardens of Birjand is the clue to further research on Persian Gardens, and essential to determining whether other not-yet-studied gardens of Iran pose the same spatial combinations.