natural light and spiritual space in sheikh-lofollah mosque-lsfahan

beyond its quantity, natural light has unique properties used intelligently in iranian historical architecture in order to transfer spiritual concepts. religious buildings are a good context for re-reading of light concept. due to its valuable place in iranian-islamic belief as well as its direct relationship with wisdom and philosophy, the qualitative presence of light in architecture, aimed at creating a spiritual space, is apparent in historical works of iran especially works of safavid era. to this end, this paper studies a prominent sample of mosque architecture in safavid era i.e. sheikh-lotfollah mosque in isfahan. this paper follows the following objectives: investigating light quality required for creating spiritual space in mosques, studying the relationship between day light quality and quantity and its role in creating spiritual spaces and investigating the relationship between light entrance openings and light quality in historical mosques. to know the qualitative and quantitative presence of light in mosque, light measurement tools including lux meter and luminance meter were used in filed sampling process. however, related special software was used to obtain light distribution pattern over a whole year. data was collected by observation, interview and desk sources. when data were derived from measuring tools, they were studied using redince software as well as interview data by context analysis method. coordination and adoption of eye and mosque hall, the consistent of individual activities in mosque with light, relationship between altar and natural light and generalization of natural light control approaches to other applications are among the results of this study.