Internalized Mathematics as Intuitive as Breathing: An Ethnomathematics Study of Traditional Architecture in Iran

An ethnomathematics study was conducted to explore how traditional architects (Traditional architect in Iran is called memar (معمار) whose approach to constructing buildings is cultural and based on instinct and intuition, rather than on considering architecture as a combination of art and engineering. In the present study, the traditional architect also has no formal education) in Iran use mathematics in their everyday activities. In this research, we focused on the work of a traditional architect who was building a nursing home complex in Kerman (Kerman is a city in the southeastern part of Iran which is located near the desert). The architect used the two architectural elements of the badgir (air catcher) and the dome in the complex to provide natural air-conditioning in the hot, dry, and windy climate of the desert by utilizing air flows and conserving energy. The architect’s superb intuitive reasoning helped him to use mathematics with a great degree of precision. The first author spent 4 months with the architect and his coworkers who helped him in building the nursing home. The data collected through observations, field notes, discussions with the architect, and interviews with some volunteer coworkers for the purpose of triangulation and verification of the data and data collection procedure and all the data were documented by the first author. The analysis of the data showed that the architect used various mathematical concepts fluently and precisely, including symmetry, geometrical shapes and constructions, and ratio and proportions. The presence of sophisticated mathematics in calligraphy, tiling, and mathematical divisions of patterns were among the main results of this study.