The Impact of Russian Wooden House Architecture on Gomishan’s Wooden Houses

The present study attempts to examine the effect of Russian wooden house architecture on Gomishan’s wooden houses. To this end, the forms of wooden houses of Turkmens in Gomishan and their Russian counterparts were examined from different perspectives such as materials, building style, physical features, aesthetic elements, and visual elements.

The significance of this study lies in defining the relationship between the cultural characteristics of Turkmen tribes and those of Russian Tribes with whom they used to interact. The main question of this research is what relationship exists between wooden houses in Russia and those in Gomishan. Theoretical findings of the current study highlight the interdependency of tribes’ architecture and the role of culture and cultural interactions in the formation of houses and their various parts in different tribes in the past.

This study adopted a descriptive-analytical method based on a comparative research approach. Data were collected through the library method and field observations. The social and cultural principles of Turkmen tribes were compared with Russian traditional tribes. Then, similar elements and attributes between them were identified. Moreover, the effects of the extracted attributes on Gomishan’s Turkmen houses were investigated. The architectural culture of Russian wooden is considered the independent variable of the study while the architecture of Gomishan’s wooden homes is regarded as a dependent variable.

The results of this study indicate that Russian wooden houses have influenced the architecture of Gomishan’s wooden houses, spatial allocations, façade, and aesthetic elements as well as building tools and methods. This effect is rooted in the interactions between their cultural and social thoughts and beliefs. It is concluded that the cultural, local, and climatic elements of Turkmen tribes have been merged with the cultural and local attributes of Russia. This has resulted in a special type of architecture that is compatible with their cultural characteristics from many aspects.