Architecture of the Muslim World

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Architecture of the Muslim World

• The Muslim House
• 2/6/07

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Definitions Discussion

• What is a house?

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Definition

• Merriam Webster
• a building that serves as living quarters for
  one or a few families
• Oxford
• A building for human habitation esp. a building
  that is the ordinary dwelling-place of a family

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Extrapolating from Rapoport

• A dwelling unit in which a family or families
  reside. Formally the house is an unquestioned
  representation of the socio-cultural status of
  the inhabitants, articulated through expression
  of wealth, religious beliefs, and protect
  against the climatic elements

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Guy Petherbridge

• Monumental architecture is studied as a
  manifestation of the society (at least the
  elites) desire to impress god or the people
• Agrees with Rapoport that monumental architecture
  is better understood through comprehension of the
  hierarchical nature of the vernacular context
  especially as it pertains to the manifestation of
  power

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Structure of the Hierarchy of the Muslim Society

• The Caliph
• The Palace
• The Khassa (noble class)
• The people of the book
• The Aamma
• The migrants (from the peripheries)
• The outsiders (Dar el_Harb)

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Form

• Islamic Law stresses on the judicial rights of
  the individual and the inviolability (sanctity)
  of the house
• Because of the unifying general culture
• Some features transcend differences
• Because of the Heterogeneity of the society and
• Regional differences
• No unifying formal expression in residential
• Why regionalism was so detrimental?

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Ibn Khaldûns Proposition (1)

• The Arabs are quite firmly rooted in the desert
  and quite unfamiliar with the crafts.
  Furthermore, before Islam, the Arabs have been
  strangers to the realms of which they took
  possession. When they came to rule them realms
  outside Arabia there was no time enough for all
  the institutions of sedentary cultures to develop
  fully.

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Ibn Khaldûns Proposition (2)

• Moreover, the building of others, which they
  found in existence, were sufficient for them.

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Ibn Khaldûns Proposition (3)

• Furthermore, at the beginning, their Arab
  Muslims religion forbade them to do any
  excessive building or waste too much money on
  building activities for no purpose.

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Problems with Ibn Khaldûns Propositions

• House of Mohammed AD622 - 622

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Pre-Islamic Arab Architecture

• Church Tower, Umm-Al-Rasas Syria

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Pre-Islamic Arab Architecture

• Taq-i Kisra, Ctesiphon, Iraq AD500 - 600

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Pre-Islamic Arab Architecture

• Sanaa, Yemen

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So!

• Why didnt the Muslims, who were mostly urbanized
  with some building traditions did not stress upon
  the conquered realms their stylistic signatures?
• Was Ibn Khaldun right after all?

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The Law

• As mentioned earlier the code does not control
  the house as a private and individual unit
• Or in other words, the right of the individual
  precedes the right of the community (example of
  the second Caliph and eavesdropping)

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The Law

• Quranic verse
• O you who believe! Do not enter houses other
  than your own, until you have asked permission
  and saluted those in them
• Does that provide an explanation of the concept
  of interiority?

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Female Privacy

• According to Omar Bahammam1
• In any society, the need for privacy is one of
  the basic demand of all humans and consequently,
  on house form (do you agree?)
• According to Islamic teaching a Muslim woman is
  expected to seek protection for her body from
  been seen by anybody other than her husband,
  family members, and close women friends. Men on
  the other hand, are expected their gaze and not
  stare at them
• 1 from The role of privacy on the design of the
  Saudi Arabian courtyard in Courtyard Housing
  past, present, and future Edward, Brian, Sibly,
  Hakmi, M. Land, P. Taylor and Francis
  Publishers, New York, 2006.

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Urban

• Planned
• Deliberate
• Form underlines social hierarchy and allegiances
• Delineates the separation between domestic and
  public life

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Urban Form

• Physical manifestation of the equilibrium
  between social homogeneity and heterogeneity

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Social Aspects of the Muslim House

• Belief Systems and Women
• Seclusion off women

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Entrance

• Symbolic for Occupant status
• A filter for strangers or outsiders

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Accretion

• A house is continuously growing with the family
  and its wealth
• Rooms are classified and used based on the degree
  of accessibility of outsiders (tidal in nature)

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Next

• Tuesday 2/13 Climatic Responses of Muslim
  Architecture
• Adils short talk and
• Thursday 2/15 Reading dialogs Rapoport
• Ch 4, 5, 6
• Tuesday 2/20 Imperative Teach-in Web cast (no
  class)
• Thursday 2/22 Readings Propose a topic of term
  paper final proposal is due 3/8

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Questions

• Is identifying an Muslim House easier than
  Islamic Architecture?
• Why (either way)?
• What is the role of regionalism in
  differentiating between versions of the Muslim
  house?
• Do you expect to see a difference between the
  different classes in the society and their
  houses?
• Lets talk about the role of womens position and
  the house and urban forms