Architecture of the Muslim World

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Architecture of the Muslim World

• Vernacular Islamic Architecture
• 1/30/07

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Definitions

• Traditional
• Pre modern
• Dichotomous (good and bad)
• As a constraint
• Cannot be understood without the context in which
  it is located
• What is handed down should not necessarily be
  physical

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Definitions

• Primitive pre-industrial, preliterate
• Popular pertaining to or originating from the
  common people
• Vernacular indigenous, used by people
• Context for the monumental

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Donald Watsons distinction

• "Indigenous design" indigenous to a region or
  specific locale, characterized by local building
  methods, materials and response to climate,
  developed without conscious or articulated design
  style by local peoples, builders in traditional
  societies. "Indigenous design" does not travel
  well (the building techniques are often a learned
  craft requiring local materials and great skill).
  Examples Pueblos, dogtrot house in US south,
  troglodyte desert dwellings, etc."Vernacular
  design" influences sic by local (e.g.
  indigenous) building traditions, but developed to
  point of a distinct identity and design
  stylization, characterized by craftsman and/or
  native builder designs, including industrial
  societies. The term "vernacular architecture"
  describes articulated design style, pattern. The
  term is also used to refer to "common building
  style or architecture" as distinct from "high
  art." (Great class assignment See how various
  architectural historians define this point).
  Vernacular style does travel, whether you like it
  or not, as do any cultural styles and habits.

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Another one!!

• I think of indigenous as something native to a
  place and therefore very slow to change (the root
  of the word is Latin for native, I think).
  Vernacular is the ongoing cultural adaptation of
  a style or technique and changes (and travels)
  more rapidly. Indigenous is typically
  bioclimatically responsive, while vernacular
  might be or might not.
• Muscoe Martin Architect and a lecturer at UPenn

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And anther one!

• Vernacular, is a term that describes a common
  characteristic of a group of people. Since
  architecture may be considered a manifestation of
  human/ society/groups of peoples desires,
  ambitions, fears, and general view on life and
  death, we can consider vernacular architecture as
  the architecture that expresses and
  identifies/characterizes that group of people.
• On the other hand, indigenous denotes a direct
  and causational relationship with a particular
  place. Making the architecture more bound to
  geography and climate than the vernacular type.
• Sharag-Eldin

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Remember!

• Cannot fully understand, vernacular, indigenous,
  or traditional design (high or folk) without
  regionalism as context

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Stop here!!

• Break into groups of four
• Handout Definitions pages
• (15 min) Ask students to design arguments against
  these definitions using to the best of their
  knowledge examples and scenarios that prove their
  point
• (10 min) Present to the class their arguments
• Continue lecture

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Niger
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Yugoslavia
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Saudi Arabia
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Africa (Mali)
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Construction
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Public
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Religious
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Construction
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Mosques, Beijing China
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Towers
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Thailand
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India
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Regional diversity within a unifying cultural
amalgam

• Culture
• a set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors
  the way of life shared by the members of a
  society
• Source the Society of American Archaeology
  http//www.saa.org/

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Chapter 6

• Vernacular Architecture The house and society
• Great Examples
• All images and no discussion relevant to the
  chapter title

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Next time

• Continue on vernacular (2/1)
• The house and society (2/6)
• Architecture of the Islamic World pp. 193-208
• Environmental Considerations (2/8)
• Chapter 4 Amos Rapoport