Studying the Natural Principles of Water and Plant in Persian Gardens with a Special View to Their Conceptual, Functional and Esthetic Aspects

Among different natural principles, water and plants are of a more importance. They usually influence the other natural factors. If they are carefully taken into consideration at the time of environmental design, we`ll have a more qualified sustainable living space which could as well result in economic saving. Meanwhile, it is important to be familiar with the different conceptual, functional and esthetic aspects of the mentioned principles to be able to organize them in a better way. Herein, the wise combination of water and plants in Persian gardens is a remarkable example of its kind which crystallizes a sustainable design with respect to the above aspects.
This paper investigates the importance of water, trees and flowers -as leading environmental factors- in Islamic documents in addition to some gnostics viewpoints. The position of these principles in Persian gardens is discussed afterwards.
The results show that the Persian garden has a wise, philosophical design concept in which the environmental factors as the water and the plants are arranged, not only to provide people with their phisical needs (Fuctional and Esthetic aspects), but also to prepare them with a metaphysical and intellectual space (Conceptual aspect). These qualities have made the Persian gardens survive over the centuries, while harnessing a great cooperative relationship with nature.