Nature, as a boundless and potent resource, serves as a profound source of metaphors and symbolic expressions that resonate within the human mind. Using the power of imagination, the artist strives to reveal the spirit and power inherent in nature, and to portray the ironic qualities it embodies for the viewer. Considering that the desired quality and quantity of the designer are what come to the audience’s mind and affect their senses, the necessity of avoiding futility in architecture and dealing with metaphorical concepts arising from truth and meaning is more evident. The garden can be a place for the symbolic presentation of concepts, and the designer uses hidden meanings in the elements of the garden to bring to the fore an interpretable plan that unfolds a mystical narrative. The current research titled “Malakout Garden” is located within the scope of the proposed project (in Kasma village, located in Gilan province) in the vicinity of important places such as shrines, cemeteries, and rivers. The spiritual influence and sanctity of these elements in the collection can help to achieve the principles of conceptual design about the realm of the “world of Malakout”. Malakout Garden’s design incorporates a hierarchy of key elements and functions, drawing inspiration from mystical concepts like the worlds of existence, the Seven Valleys of Love, and Rumi’s gardens, while also integrating symbolic landscape architectural features. It is a sign and evokes the concepts of mystical progress. The purpose of the present research is to design a landscape based on mystical concepts and interpretations of the Malakout world. It addresses the question of how to physically interpret semantic themes and their examples in the landscape design of the Malakout Garden. This research aims to explore the meanings and concepts in the landscape design of Malakout Garden, fostering transcendental thoughts, enhancing social interactions, and addressing people’s spiritual needs by transforming the tomb into a hopeful and reflective space. Using descriptive-analytical methods and library research, this study analyzes mystical concepts and their inferences. Through field observations, it examines the spiritual impact of elements within the Malakout Garden plan, such as the river, shrine, and hermitage, which symbolize life and death, to inform the design of a landscape that represents paradise. According to the results, Malakout Garden is a parable of heaven, which is entirely consistent with the main approach of the research, namely, spatial design arising from mystical meanings and themes. In addition to having the proper function and creating comfort and relaxation for the user, it also displays as much of the beauty of nature as possible. By being in this space, the audience, in addition to understanding the concepts that affect his mind both consciously and unconsciously, communicates with the place.
As mentioned, one of the practical components of the formation of Malakout Garden is the design based on the worlds of existence in mysticism, which involves a process of substitution and combination with the symbols and signs found in Rumi’s poems about the garden and Attar’s Seven Valleys of Love. In the landscape design of Malakout Garden, the physical interpretation necessitates observing a hierarchy that progresses towards the ultimate destination: home. This journey encompasses the worlds of Jame, Nasout, Malakout, Jabarout, Lahout, and Hahout. The observer traverses each world, experiencing its unique characteristics either directly through milestones within each zone or indirectly through hidden metaphorical concepts embedded in the elements of nature. In the meantime, the pristine and natural area, such as the designed site “Kasma”, has also brought significant advantages to the landscape design of Malakout Garden. Physical elements of the landscape, such as water, plants, light, and shadow, as well as paths, have also contributed to achieving the primary goal of the design, which is to realize mystical meanings and concepts in the Malakout Garden landscape design. Despite the existence of the Cemetery and the fact that being in this space may seem unpleasant, the presence of the river, as well as the existing mausoleum and the dominant vegetation, has helped to soften the space and provided a suitable platform for designing the aforementioned approach. In the end, the attention to and application of the principles of meaning and their emergence and occurrence in human activities, accompanied by the system of nature and the use of senses in interaction with the environment, have led to the creation of an all-round plan that fosters knowledge and evolution, and encourages the audience to return to nature.