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The plan of a four-iwan mosque in deep green on sage: a paved courtyard with a central pool, an iwan opening at the middle of each side, domed bays on a grid of piers all round, and a domed chamber behind the iwan on the qibla side.
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The Pattern Atlas

Four-Iwan Plan

No. 42 of 100 · free · 300 dpi

What you seeThe plan of a four-iwan mosque in deep green on sage: a paved courtyard with a central pool, an iwan opening at the middle of each side, domed bays on a grid of piers all round, and a domed chamber behind the iwan on the qibla side.

What it meansThe four-iwan plan, with an iwan on each axis of a courtyard, spread through Iran and Central Asia from the Seljuk period, as at the Friday Mosque of Isfahan, and was used for mosques, madrasas and caravanserais.

Where it worksA calm, ordered plate for a study, an office or a hallway.

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2:3 · 7200 × 10800 px4×6 · 8×12 · 12×18 · 16×24 · 20×30 · 24×36 in
3:4 · 5400 × 7200 px6×8 · 9×12 · 12×16 · 18×24 in
4:5 · 7200 × 9000 px4×5 · 8×10 · 16×20 · 24×30 in
11:14 · 3300 × 4200 px11×14 in
A-series · 7023 × 9933 pxA5 · A4 · A3 · A2 · A1

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More from The Pattern Atlas

All 100 prints
An arcade of the double-arched type known from the Great Mosque of Córdoba: marble columns with gilded capitals carry horseshoe arches, piers above them carry round arches, and both are built of alternating red brick and white stone voussoirs, with the plan of a column forest below in taller formats.Hypostyle HallNo. 43
A tiled portal on deep blue: a tall rectangular frame in turquoise and buff brick surrounds a pointed arch filled with muqarnas, with roundels in the spandrels, a doorway below and two slender minarets on top, flanked in wider formats by two storeys of arched niches.PishtaqNo. 44
Four minarets drawn side by side on pale blue: the brick spiral of Samarra with its ramp winding round a tapering tower, a Mamluk minaret of square, octagonal and round stages, a slender Ottoman pencil minaret with three balconies and a conical cap, and a square Maghrebi tower with a lantern.Minaret FormsNo. 45
Four domes on ink with fine gold lines: a turquoise ribbed melon dome on a tall drum, a white onion dome with a lotus band and finial, a section through a double-shelled dome showing the void between its two shells, and a broad lead-covered Ottoman dome over a ring of windows.Dome ProfilesNo. 46
A section through a house with a windcatcher on warm saffron: wind enters the slotted top of the tower and a blue line traces cool air down the shaft, across a pool in the room below and out to the courtyard, while a red line shows warm air rising out of the other shaft. A small plan shows the tower divided into shafts.WindcatcherNo. 47
A section through a qanat on cream, with the vertical scale exaggerated: a mother well reaches the water table beneath the hills, a gently sloping tunnel carries the water out under the plain, a line of shafts with spoil heaps marks its course, and it emerges at an outlet beside trees and houses.QanatNo. 48
The plan of a courtyard house on soft rose: a paved court with four sunken planted beds, orange trees and a star-shaped fountain at the centre, a columned gallery around it, long rooms on all four sides, a bent entrance passage and a stair, with an elevation of the courtyard facade above in taller formats.Courtyard HouseNo. 49
The plan of a walled garden on deep teal: water channels cross at a central pool and octagonal pavilion, dividing the garden into four quarters, each split again into beds of fruit trees, with rows of cypresses along the main walks and small pools at the ends of the axes.Chahar BaghNo. 50

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