International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 No:04 15 Traditional Islamic-Arab House: Vocabulary And Syntax Dr. Abdel-moniem El-Shorbagy Architecture Department, College of Engineering Effat University, Saudi Arabia [email protected] Abstract— Houses represent the background or framework stylish facades of Jeddah‟s townhouses, the windcatcher for human existence. The Islamic-Arab house with its structural (badgir) of the houses of Dubai‟s Bastakia district, and the clarity and beauty can be conceived as being generated from the courtyard houses of Yemen, are all evidence to the rich wealth plan, which gave form and order to the space within as well as of Islamic-Arab residential architecture. Every architectural measured and scaled by the human body and its experience. The element in the Islamic-Arab house represented a solution or an Islamic-Arab house was also established and based on a series of answer to a different problem that appeared according to a sustainable-oriented principles. The design concept of the specific condition. They were a sequence of related problems, Islamic-Arab house, problems, and solutions can be traced in which were met successfully to achieve a unified and a many of the existing traditional Arab architecture, in which harmonious house. In fact, the beauty of these traditional forms and spaces were dictated by habits and traditions. The aim houses represents an art form that has resulted from an of this paper is to examine the architectural vocabulary which understanding of a unique mode of religious and cultural governed the design concept of the Arab house and highlights their distinctive characteristics. It also explores the essential human life. design problems, which affected the shape and the plan form of all traditional Muslim houses, in relation to the physical II. VOCABULARY AND SYNTAX environment. A discussion of the way that tradition, culture, and “My father's palace where every footstep had a meaning” religion formed the basis of the Arab house design approach and [1]. This quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery expresses the the continual reinvention of the plan will also be included. design concept of the traditional Islamic-Arab house, where However, the main objective of this research is to identify the every step, forms and spaces were shaped by people‟s habits idealized spatial system of the Islamic-Arab house, which and tradition. The Islamic way of life strictly defined the became a methodological and conceptual tool to constitute the particular roles of man and woman in relation to the physical basic vocabulary and syntax of its design. environment. While the public areas in a house are the domain of men, the private and family areas are the domain of women. Index Term— Islamic-Arab House, Tradition, Sustainability, The privacy of the family was also an essential element which Eco-Architecture, Syntax affected the shape and the plan form of all traditional Muslim houses, to be clearly defined as public, semi-public and private spaces. The cultural and religious emphasis on visual privacy I. INTRODUCTION In many parts of the Islamic-Arab world, one can realise many in Islamic communities has also tended to produce an inward- looking plan with plain external walls to discourage strangers distinctive examples of traditional architecture, mainly houses. from looking inside. Climate also played an important role as a Although there were socio-cultural differences in each region, moderating factor and complemented the cultural and religious the design of houses retained a common architectural language need for privacy. The houses of the hot arid zones such as that responded to both the common hot arid zones climate and Egypt, Iraq and India, are introverted, where family-life looked the common religious needs. For example, the use of courtyard into a courtyard rather than looking out upon the street. and the employment of the windcatcher or mashrabiyyah. The However, the architectural vocabulary which governed the Islamic-Arab house is also one of the best examples that design concept of the Islamic-Arab house and highlighted its express the sakina. The word sakina comes from the word distinctive characteristics were, the majaz (entrance), the sakan, which is the Arabic name for a house and relates to courtyard, the combination of the qa‘ah and the malqaf, the dwelling in peace and purity. The heritage of traditional takhtabush, and the mashrabiyyah. Islamic-Arab houses includes various forms, which were developed in response to religious, cultural, and traditional A. The Majaz (Entrance) factors along with the specificity of the local built environment. In Arab houses there were two entrances; the majaz (the The remarkable traditional houses of medieval Cairo, the main entrance of a house), which usually opens onto a courtyard and the doorway, which is the main external feature 104104-3838-IJCEE-IJENS © August 2010 IJENS I J E N S International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 No:04 16 at ground floor level. The majaz was designed to open into a blank wall to obstruct views into the inside from outside in order to preserve the privacy of the family. On the other hand, the doorway is functional and modest because ostentation is discouraged according to the egalitarian basis of Islam. Al- Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648, is a good example, which expresses the relationship between the main entrance and the courtyard (fig.1). Some historians attributed the unpretentious doorway to the owner‟s reluctance to show off his wealth, which would attract burglars, but this is a superficial reason. In fact, in traditional Arab houses, the real entrance to the house is the one which opens onto the main courtyard. In the Arab cosmology the four walls of the courtyard indicate the four columns carrying the dome of the sky and the courtyard symbolizes their private piece of sky. However, they preferred to have the main entrance open into this clean and holy space, which is on the scale of the house, rather than into the public Fig. 2. Dar Lajimi, a courtyard house, Tunis. [3] street, which is on the scale of the city. Fig.1. The entrance opens into the courtyard, Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648. [3] B. The Courtyard The courtyard is the most essential element, which represented the core of all Islamic-Arab houses. The concept of the courtyard is commonly used in traditional architecture, both rural and urban, of the hot arid regions from Iran in the East to the shores of the Atlantic in the West. The courtyard Fig. 3. Al-Fustãt house, a courtyard house, Cairo. [3] dates back to the Graeco-Roman tradition (c. 1900 BC.) in Arabia. With the advent of Islam (632), Muslims adopted the The courtyard was employed in most Arab houses, not only concept of the courtyard because it suited their religious and to achieve privacy, which is a necessity in Arab society, but social needs, especially the degree of privacy needed. The also to enhance the thermal comfort inside a house. The arrangements of the courtyard also provided a satisfactory courtyard is an effective device to generate air movement by solution to their specific environmental problems. The size of convection. In hot dry zones the air of the courtyard, which the courtyard varies, as does the number, according to the was heated by the sun during the day, rises and is replaced by available space and resources [2]. the cooled night air coming from above. The accumulated cool Historical examples of Arab desert architecture, include, the air in the courtyard seeps into and cools the surrounding Ukhaider palace in Iraq, Quasir Amara in Jordan and Dar Lajimi rooms. During the day, the courtyard is shaded by its four in Tunis (fig.2) as well as the twelfth century courtyard-houses walls and this helps its air to heat slowly and remain cool until of Al-Fustate city, Egypt (fig. 3). The houses of mediaeval late in the day [3]. Cairo such as Al-Souheimi, Zeinab Khaton and Moheb Ad-din Al-Shafie are also expressive examples. 104104-3838-IJCEE-IJENS © August 2010 IJENS I J E N S International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 No:04 17 C. The Qa‘ah And The Malqaf In the early Arab houses the courtyard also represented an intermediary space between the entrance and the guest area. Meeting casual male visitors, who are not relatives, always took place in the takhtabash, a room with a side open to the courtyard. On the other hand, important male visitors would enter indirectly from the courtyard to another large reception hall with a lofty central space, which was flanked by two spaces at a slightly higher level [2]. In the Mamluk period in the twelfth century, a change in the style of the house took place that involved the covering of the courtyard, and the introduction of the qa‘ah as the main reception hall in the house. The qa‘ah consisted of the durqa‘ah (a central part of the qa‘ah with a high ceiling covered by the shukhshakhah (wooden lantern on the top)) and two ’iwans (sitting areas) at a higher level on both the north and south sides. The lantern is provided with openings to allow the hot air to escape. Its shape could be square, octagonal, or hexagonal. It was also flat Fig. 5. Remains of an iwan with a shadirwan (Salsabil) in its center, the on the top, in order to help the upper layer of air to be heated Western Fatimid Palace of al-Mansur Qalawun. [9] up through exposure to the sun. With the covered courtyard, a new system of ventilation was invented to achieve thermal However, this new system of ventilation combined the comfort inside the qa‘ah.