Supplementary Architectural Elements in Safavid Architecture: Reinterpreting Their Role in the Formation of Privacy Based on Persian Paintings and Travel Accounts

Abstract

Privacy is one of the fundamental concepts in traditional Iranian architecture, playing a significant role in organizing spatial relationships and regulating interactions between people, space, and the built environment. Although previous studies have examined the architectural features contributing to the formation of privacy, the role of supplementary architectural elements in this process has received limited attention. This study aims to identify and analyze the role of supplementary architectural elements in shaping privacy within the architecture depicted in Safavid paintings.

The research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach based on library resources, content analysis of selected Safavid paintings, and the use of Safavid travel accounts as complementary historical sources for interpreting and validating the findings. The results indicate that elements such as curtains, window shutters, lattice screens, tents, pavilions, and canopies played an important role in spatial organization beyond their functional and decorative purposes. These elements contributed to the formation of different dimensions of privacy, including visual privacy, access privacy, and spatial privacy, by controlling visual connections, regulating access, and defining spatial territories. Furthermore, comparison of the evidence derived from the paintings with descriptions found in Safavid travel accounts demonstrates a high degree of correspondence between the visual representations and historical records. Accordingly, Safavid paintings, together with contemporary travel accounts, provide valuable sources for identifying supplementary architectural elements and for reinterpreting the mechanisms through which privacy was achieved in traditional Iranian architecture.