The syntactic role of "lywan" in Northern Mesopotamian houses

The region that is surrounded by southern part of Anatolia at the north, Syrian valleys and shores in the west and Iranian borders at the east, situated between Tigris and Euphrate Rivers is called "Northern Mesopotamia". As an extent of house typology in vernacular architecture, the region is widely known by its Asian central type (atrium) houses. At the first glance, this might be true, but it needs more elaboration and in-depth explorations about the region. As a result of existence of climatic and topographical reasons, the vernacular architectural typology of houses might be extent of central type of Asian central house typology and the samplings might be considered as the reminiscent of this widely used typology Despite the architectural configuration similarities, but anthropological structure and life styles differences in the region, only one specific space might be emerged as the "key structural element" called as "lywan" in the comparison of traditional house typologies. In the east from Tabriz of Iran, to the western cities of Anatolia, Turkey, from this geographical interval to southern cities of Mesopotamia, to Damascus and to traditional houses of Baghdad, lywan is a striking syntactic element. Lywan's location and formation in the house configuration, its variability, its shape and even its etymological expressions might be the key element in design considerations. "Lywan" has connotations etymologically regarding similar purposes and functions in the region like other terminologies "talar", "ursi", "sofa", "riwaq", "tarma" and "hosch". They all reflect similar meanings, changes in formations and geometrical shaping, rather than being variety in the architectural heritage, they also imply the cross-cultural understandings and basic considerations about the meaning of this space. Why does "lywan" gain importance and syntactic value in Northern Mesopotamian houses? Is it because of as an extent of Asian central house typology, mainly derived from topographical and climatic conditions? Or is it derived from the formation of its existence, its fragmentation or defragmentation, or another syntactic consideration, or as an extent of symmetric or asymmetric considerations? This study is not only a syntactic discussion regarding varieties of "lywan" in the configuration, but it also enlightens other syntactic components like analysis of "design geometry" and its traces that are found in embedded configurations. This discussion leads us to the dimension of perceptive qualities, variability in the traditional house. It lets us to consider the quantity of convex spaces in the specific nodes, the quality of isovists and the variability of inner perceptions. This study mainly concentrates on "grand/high style houses" corresponding to 16th-19th century period. The samplings regarding the focus area, the southern Anatolian "sofa" houses, Baghdad "tarma" houses in the southeast and Aleppo and Damascus' "rewaq" houses in the southwest are selected with their design philosophies. This study also exhibits the rich variability of traditional house typologies in the region. This paper also reinforces how this architectural heritage is neglected during the ongoing war in the region, even this specific earth is considered possessing rich archaeological heritage like the oldest human settlements of the world.