The Moshabak Effect: Perforated Surface as Design Strategy in Iranian Architecture

Jafari, Zeynab; Islami, Seyed Yahya; Hashemi Toghroljerdi, Seyed Majid

doi:10.22059/jdt.2026.416603.1207

The Moshabak Effect: Perforated Surface as Design Strategy in Iranian Architecture

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zeynab Jafari ¹

Seyed Yahya Islami ²

Seyed Majid Hashemi Toghroljerdi ¹

¹ Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran.

² School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jdt.2026.416603.1207

Abstract

Most studies of Moshabak concentrate on its architectural effects, including daylight control, ventilation, shade, privacy, ornament, and regulated visibility. Less attention has been paid to the physical organization through which a perforated surface produces these effects. This study investigates Moshabak as an operative surface logic by examining how void is measured, distributed, and held within material continuity. The research combines theoretical-historical interpretation with field documentation, measured drawings, and computational morphometric analysis of two Moshabak surfaces in the Jameh Mosque of Ardestan. Aperture count, density, scale, spacing, orientation, and solid–void ratio were calculated and compared. The results reveal two markedly different configurations. Type A contains 239 apertures, a void ratio of approximately 40.4%, an aperture density of 130.9 apertures/m², and an oblique line share of 67.4%. Type B contains 106 apertures, a void ratio of approximately 32.2%, an aperture density of 26.1 apertures/m², and an orthogonal line share of 97.7%. Together with the measured drawings and field photographs, these configurations support the interpretation of Type A as a filtering boundary and Type B as a framing boundary. These findings define the Moshabak Effect as the capacity of a materially continuous perforated surface to organize boundary conditions and graded interior–exterior relations through calibrated void. The study thus connects the architectural interpretation of Moshabak to measurable properties of surface configuration.

Keywords

Moshabak

Calibrated Void

Perforated Surface

Morphometric Analysis

Iranian Architecture.

Subjects

Design Thinking

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