Architectural Typology of Qashqai Black Tent

Abstract  Traditionally, Iranian nomads in terms of their lives and livelihoods, the animated livestock or migration, have made their houses portable, durable, lightweight and quickly detachable and attachable. Nomadic black tent, made of canvas material with light and resistant structures in the different weather conditions and continuous transport, as self-sufficient is prepared by nomads, and black tents components are easily loadable on livestock. Other features of the structure are it being changeable in terms of its form at different time and in different seasons with specific and permanent elements, that are registered in four shapes of summer, winter, migration and rapid changes in unpredicted rainfall. Simplicity, flexibility, quickly assembled, and being affordable economically are the other advantages of black tents of the tribes. Due to the nature of the study and the need to understand the architectural and housing features, this research was carried out under a “descriptive research method” to illustrate the nature and status of the Qashqai tribe’s black tent. The sub-branches of descriptive research method, “survey” type and “cross-sectional method” were used. In order to collect the data based on the characteristics of migration architecture, “targeted theoretical sampling” was used over a period of one year. In order to conduct this investigation, in addition to library research, field research was done on the form, construction method, and the elements of the black tents of the Qashqai tribe in which their territory was from the South of the province of Isfahan to Fars, Booshehr, and Khoozestan provinces. The importance of this typology is that black tent of Qashqai tribe, is the only cube-shaped species of black tents in the world in the summer format. In addition to recording part of Iran’s cultural and architectural heritage, which is fading and dissolving, the findings of this study could inspire new ideas for designing new cable and tent structures in any cultural context. Due to the changes in recent decades in the lifestyle and livelihood of the Qashqai tribe, black tents have gradually been replaced by industrial tents. Furthermore, buildings have been built instead of black tents in nomadic dwellings. Unfortunately, alternatives to the black tent, do not have the Qashqai tribe identity, and are not inspired by the typology of Qashqai tribe black tent, to respond appropriately to changes in lifestyle and identity through the architecture body. It is hoped that this study could be a guide for designers and stakeholders with respect to the physical and cultural context.