Comparative Principles of Spatial Structure of Commercial Buildings in Arid Climate of Iran: an Iconic Architecture Case study in Yazd and Tabriz

Cities are prominent signs of civilization in every nation. The signs, old symbol of ideas, customs, relationships and interactions of people have played a role in the formation of cities and intertwined a set of environmental, geographic, climatic, traditional and religion combination. Historic cities in Iran are the most valuable cultural heritage that expresses the dynamism, vitality and symbol of urban life. Iconic  architecture  promotes the  identification  of  a  place,  city  or  area.  Structural, functional  and  artistic  aspects  of  architecture,  particularly  those  that  represent  unique features, attract tourists. Architectural and urbanity of ancient Iran have always attracted tourists throughout the world. These features include principles that have been manifested in the heart of the tradition. In recent decades, due to unbalanced expansion of cities and discontinuity of spatial organization, and arrival of new technologies, globalization and the space density, traditional city is far from its truth and it has created challenges for traditional urbanism and modern urbanism. Therefore, the main content of this paper includes and analyzes the commercial buildings in Tabriz bazaar and Khan Bazaar in Yazd and their effects on tourism and tourist attraction. Moreover, it represents the similarities and differences between these two places in Qajar era. Such a study appears to be essential as there is a lack of enough research in this ground. For this reason five commercial buildings in Tabriz and four others in Yazd were selected. Then an example of Tabriz and a similar sample were selected from the Yazd Bazar and similarities, differences in the tables were compared. Moreover, the mentioned places were considered from their touristy architecture perspective and their potentiality for attracting tourists The results showed that commercial building in Tabriz and Yazd did not have similar Plans. The studied places in Tabriz  have got more centralized plans and are octagonal, but in In Yazd bazaar the plans are more rectangular or roughly square. . The other difference is related to length and width proportion and there are such proportions like ( 3 to 1) and (3 to 2) and (3 to 5) for Tabriz commercial buildings and (1 to 1) and (4 to 1)  for Yazd commercial buildings. Also in aspect of their similarities, it is the ceiling structure in both vaults with brick façade. In terms of proportion, the filled  and empty spaces proportion is the same for both and they are (2 to 1), (3 to 2) and (5 to 2). From touristy architecture, the results showed that both Tabriz and Yazd enjoy various touristy architectures and have significant potentials for tourist attraction.