Color palette in Houses of Qazvin during Qajar Epoch Case Study: House of Amini-ha

Qajar epoch, as an era; Qazvin, as a city; color as an architectural design element; and house as a type of architectural space, are brought together in this research, as an effort to recognize and constitute color palette of the houses built during Qajar dynasty in the city of Qazvin, where the focus is on one of the most suitably protected houses, i.e. House of Amini-ha built in 1850s. Iranian architecture lived its last period of traditional building culture during Qajar Dynasty, between 1725 to 1925 and the city of Qazvin was one of the gates of modern life to Iran, especially in Qajar era. Meanwhile, Iranian architecture is known to be one of the most colorful ones in the world. New colors and, therefore, color combinations were introduced to the architectural color palette of both urban and house architecture during Qajar era. And if we accept house as a direct reflection of life to the space, then this research aims to pave the way to create color palettes of historical houses of different eras. Color reconstruction is vital for reconstruction of historical spaces and specifically in interiors, and requires accurate recognition of existing color palette. Constituting the color palette of a historical period forms also a base-palette for modern interiors, and for architects who wish to use colors and color compositions of Iranian interiors and architecture in their designs. Yet the question is: If the colorful historical background of Iranian architecture can support its contemporary architecture and interiors? The text begins with the power of color in the built environment, continues with a review of literature and a short history of color reconstruction, for example Jean and Dominique Lenclos’s comprehensive works in France, and then Tom Porter’s in the United Kingdom and Norway. Color basics and systems are followed by the evidences of how colors in houses of Qazvin are described in historical texts and researches. Then, general and punctual color palettes of respectively open, semi-closed and closed spaces of the house are studied. General color palette contains colors of vast surfaces like walls, roofs or ceilings and floors, and punctual color palette includes the colors of smaller architectonic elements like windows, doors and shutters. Color palettes of open spaces like courtyard are mainly formed by natural colors of materials, except ceramic latticework of basement windows, with its cold blue-green turquoise among grays and oranges of tiles and stones. Semi-closed spaces’ colors are similar to both interior and exterior colors, yet it is the closed space which enjoys from most various numbers of colors. It’s a carnival of tiny tidy colored planes, either with additive or subtractive colors. Yet, the colors by themselves are not considered as colors of Iranian architecture, or Qazvin architecture, or even those of Qajar houses. Besides form, it is the combination of these colors with proportions among planes, or as in the words of Itten, “contrast of extension” which makes those colors, colors of Iranian houses during Qajar epoch. These palettes might be considered as a beginning to architects, who search for Iranian color combinations, yet it’s only the beginning and more houses, more color palettes and more color combinations must be studied in order to come to a comprehensive result.