Zone of Transition in Seljuq Dome Chambers of Iran

Architecturally, the Seljuqs dominion makes a significant shift from the Pre-Islamic Sassanid squinches to a sophis ticated transition mechanism employed to change the walls of a square chamber to an octagonal base to set a dome. This initiated a new cons truction methodology to hybridize the previous experiences of Sassanid domes with new architectural tendencies. The reason is that the previous unders tanding of the transition zone was a makeshift in quality, not consis tent enough for future architectural adventures in creating larger s tructures. Although a cursory inves tigation of transition zones of Seljuq dome chambers in some respects might reveal a fairly homogeneous framework, it has never meant the s tagnation of architectural creativity in different parts of Seljuk territory. On the other hand, the typology and local schools of Seljuq transitions zones of dome chambers have not been thoroughly considered by geographical centralism in Iran. For a better unders tanding of the s tandardization of various techniques considered in Seljuq architecture between 11th and 12th centuries to span the cubic s tructure in a circular plan, this project is aimed to clarify three various schools of architectural articulation concerning transition zone in the Seljuq dome chambers of Iran.