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The Architecture of the Traditional Arab House

http://architecture.knoji.com/the-architecture-of-the-traditional-arab-house/ (1 of 33)08/04/2014 12:11:59

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Abdel-moniem El-ShorbagyFOLLOW

The architecture of the Arab houses retained a common architectural vocabulary, which expressed an outstanding response to both the climate of its specific regions as well as the common religious needs.

In many parts of the Arab world, one can realise many distinctive examples of traditional architecture, including religious, educational, commercial, and mainly houses. The remarkable traditional houses of medieval Cairo, the stylish facades of Jeddahs townhouses, the wind-catcher (badgir) of the houses of Dubais Bastakia district, and the courtyard houses of Yemen, are all evidence to the rich wealth of the Arab residential architecture. The traditional Arab house is characterised by its structural clarity and subtle beauty, which can be visualized as being generated from its plan and scaled by the human body. In fact the


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forms and spaces of the Arab house were dictated by the habits, traditions, and culture of its inhabitants. Although there were socio-cultural differences in each region, the architecture of the Arab houses retained a common architectural vocabulary, which expressed an outstanding response to both the climate of its specific region as well as the common religious needs.

Image credit: Traditional Arab House

The regions of most of the Arab world such as Egypt, Iraq, and the Gulf area are hot arid zones. However, unlike most of the European houses, which are extroverted to enjoy the maximum amount of the sun-heat, the Arab house is introverted, where family-life looked into a courtyard rather than looking out upon the street. However, the architectural vocabulary which governed the design concept of the Arab house and highlighted its distinctive characteristics were, the majaz (entrance), the courtyard, the combination of the qaah (reception area) and the malqaf (wind-catcher), the takhtabush, (a sitting area between to courtyards) and the mashrabiyyah (wooden lattice bay window).

Every architectural element in the Arab house represented a solution or an answer to a different problem that appeared according to a specific condition. They were a sequence of related problems, which were met successfully to achieve a unified and a harmonious house. In fact, the beauty of these traditional houses represents an art form that has resulted from an understanding of a unique mode of religious and cultural human life. For example, the privacy of the family was an essential element which affected the shape and the plan form of all traditional Arab houses, to be clearly defined as public, semi-public and private spaces. However, the design concept of the house tended to generate an inward-looking plan with plain external walls. These plain and thick walls were designed to discourage strangers from looking inside the house as well as to protect the house from the harsh climate of the region.

The majaz (entrance) of the house 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 or to open into a for-courtyard, which leads you to the entrance of the house. Al-Suhaymi house in Cairo is an outstanding living example from the mid 17th century. It expresses the relationship between the main entrance and the courtyard.



The entrance opens into the courtyard, Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648

Image credit: Entrance to Zeinab Khatoun showing the only Mashrabeyya on the exterior faade, 14th century



Another essential feature of the Arab house is the courtyard, which represented the core of all Arab houses, specifically in hot arid regions. The courtyard was used, not only to achieve privacy, which is a necessity in Arab society, but also to enhance the thermal comfort inside a house. The courtyard is an effective device to generate air movement by convection. In hot dry zones the air of the courtyard, which was heated by the sun during the day, rises and is replaced by the cooled night air coming from above. The accumulated cool air in the courtyard seeps into and cools the surrounding rooms. During the day, the courtyard is shaded by its four walls and this helps its air to heat slowly and remain cool until late in the day.

Image credit: A courtyard in a traditional Tunisian House

Image credit: A courtyard in a traditional Moroccan house

In the early Arab houses the courtyard also represented an intermediary space between the entrance and the guest area. Meeting people who are not relatives, always took place in the takhtabash, a type of loggia. It is a covered outdoor sitting area, located between two courtyards; one is an unshaded, large paved-courtyard and the other is planted. The takhtabush has one side opening completely onto the paved-courtyard and



through mashrabiyyah (wooden lattice-work bay window) onto the back garden. Air heats up more readily in the unshaded courtyard than in the back garden creating an area of low air pressure. However, the heated air rising in the courtyard draws cool air from the back garden of the takhtabush, creating a cool draft.

Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648

Image credit: Takhtabush facade of the Suheimi House, Cairo, 1648

In the Mamluk period in the 12thcentury, a change in the style of the house took place that involved the covering of the courtyard, and the introduction of the qaah as the main reception hall in the house. The



qaah consisted of the durqaah (a central part of the qaah 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. With the covered courtyard, a new system of ventilation was invented to achieve thermal comfort inside the qaah. This was the malqaf (a wind-catch). The malqaf is a shaft rising high above the building with an opening facing the prevailing wind and constructed on the north iwan (sitting area). It traps the cool air and channels it down into the interior of the building.

Wind-catcher, Bastikia district, Dubai. (Author)

However, this new system of ventilation combined the malqaf and the lantern in one design to assure a good circulation of cool air in the qaah. The fourteenth century Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shafi Al-Muwaqqi house in Cairo is a good example to illustrate this combination.

Section of the Q'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shf'i, 1350, Cairo



Q'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shf'i, 1350, Cairo

The mashrabiyyah (wooden lattice-work bay window) is another important device which was used to cover openings as well as to achieve thermal comfort and privacy in the Arab house. It is a cantilevered space covered with a lattice opening, where water jars were placed to be cooled by the evaporation effect as air moved through the opening. The form and function of the mashrabiyyah has changed to become a wooden lattice screen. The mashrabiyyah was designed to fulfill number of environmenta functions including, controlling the passage of light and the air flow, reducing the temperature of the air current, increasing the humidity of the air current and ensuring privacy. To control the amount of light and air and to graduate the contrast between shade and light, the size of the interstices and the diameter of the balusters are adjusted.



Image credit: Mashrabiyyah, Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648

The most outstanding characteristics of the Arab house come mainly from its array of elements that were tested by peoples traditions and culture, and environmental needs. Undoubtedly, the subtle architectural quality of these houses and the positive effect of their images do not only come from its deliberate plans, but also from their imposing exteriors. However, the aesthetic of the Arab house comes from the harmony of putting the architectural elements together as well as juxtaposing them in order to provide variety and visual interest through change in their size and scale as well as maintaining a coherence and unity between inhabited space, construction and landscape.

REFERENCES

Hassan Fathy, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture: Principles and Examples with Reference to Hot Arid Climates. Chicago, 1986, PP. 46-47, 57-59, 62-67.

Alkhateeb, Sharief, Arab Architecture for Those Who Can Really Live in Style. Saudi Gazette, 19 September 1979, p. 5.



Steil, Lucien, Tradition & Architecture. Architectural Design, v. 57, no. 5 / 6, 1987, p. 53.

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James R. Coffey

Remarkable presentation. I really appreciated and enjoyed the insight!

Posted 31 months ago

MrsSamyLeo

Excellent !


Jerry Walch

Nice presentation. Beautifully illustrated.


Mike Quoc

Informative and well-written.




Bill Vertard

Another great article.


Abdel-moniem El-ShorbagyRanked #2 in Architecture

Thank you everyone for reading and commenting. Appreciate very much your encouraging response


MJ5446Ranked #1 in Architecture

Another superb and illuminating piece. I once studied an architect called Archibald Dunn (1832-1917) who travelled to Cairo in the 1880s and published a book of sketches he had taken. A lot of the images look like the houses in your photos. Thanks for the insight.


Guimo Pantuhan



I am really mesmerized. Great piece!


deepa venkitesh

wow!, no words, touch wood, voted for excellence.


Roberta Baxter

When I was in Cairo I wondered about the things you have cleared up for me in this well done presentation.



Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your time reading and insightfully commenting.


Sibt-e-Hassan Raja



It is an excellent piece of work. This is very interesting information. Voted up


Ron SiojoRanked #11 in Architecture

Excellent presentation of Arab architecture Sir Abdel.


P. Regoniel

These are highly distinctive arab designs.


Jill Vance

Not only do I enjoy your articles, but also the presentation.





Thank you Dear everyone for your kind words..really much appreciate


Kaleidoscope Acres

My husband and I often watch a tv show called House Hunters International, it is fascinating, but we did notice similarities between Arab homes and those in Central America, particularly in that they look like basic plain walls from the outside but are beautiful inside.


Virginia Grant

Fascinating, as Americans we do not have enough insight into day to day life in the mid-east


Iris McCammon

As always, your articles are provide a glance into another part of the world.





Thanks Iris for your kind comment..appreciate


Donata L.

Awesome share! Very informative and nicely executed, too. The pictures add great insight to your article. I am a frequent viewer of HGTV House International and saw an episode on Arabic homes and the culture in general. Was fascinating to watch. Thanks again, for sharing another extraordinary article. Voted up!!!



Thanks Dear Donata for your insightful comment.appreciate


Cheryl Murphy

Nice article.




MJ5446Ranked #1 in Architecture

Dear Abdel-Moneim, I'm currently contributing to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. We need someone to write the entry on Hassan Fathy and I thought that you would be the ideal person, given your PhD research. We have many other terms that have not yet been assigned to authors. Unfortunately, the publisher is not paying contributors, but all authors will receive free access to the encyclopedia when it comes online. Please let me know if you're interested. My email is [email protected] if you would like further details.


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