No description available.

In the late eighteenth century, a large urban redevelopment program was initiated by the Shii Isna ‘Ashari Muslim ruler Asaf al-Dawlah in Lucknow, a city located in the prosperous, semi-autonomous north Indian region of Awadh. The development included four monumental entrances, a congregational mosque and a monumental imambarah, a ritual centre used for the annual mourning of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn by the city’s small, elite Shii Isna community. Incorporating one of the largest masonry vaults ever built in human history, the imambarah has a monumental scale that contributes to its uniqueness. Although Shii Isna ‘Ashari communities elsewhere developed smaller imambarah facilities, none ever thought to build one using monumental proportions typically reserved for congregational mosques. Asaf al-Dawlah’s Great Imambarah is unusual in the history of world architecture and in Shii Isna ‘Ashari, Islamic religious practice, but the building and complex have never been the focus of study. / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1982. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-329).

This thesis discusses the architecture of early Islamic Iran (16-450/637-1059). To better understand the architectural history of this period, it is necessary to specify in detail how it took shape and to describe its features. Hitherto, no fully comprehensive study has been carried out on this subject. Most of the earlier attempts in that direction are the products of Western scholars. Few of these can be regarded as fully comprehensive - however worthy they were in their own time - in the light of the huge amounts of information now available. This mass of new material, a good deal of it unearthed in the decades since the Islamic Revolution, at last makes it possible to outline in detail the architectural characteristics of this early period. The proposed study will build on the work done by earlier scholars in the field, both western and Iranian, among which two lengthy studies are of particular value. Mehrdad Shokoohy in his unpublished Ph. D. thesis, Studies in the early mediaeval architecture of Iran and Afghanistan (Edinburgh, 1978), describes twelve buildings in 2 Iran and Afghanistan which he dates to the early mediaeval period. This research - some of which has been published in article form1- introduces some monuments that are little known, but there is still ample room for more detailed conclusions and analysis to clarify the evolution of Iranian architecture in this period. The latest study, Frühe Iranische Moscheen (Berlin, 1994), has been carried out by Barbara Finster. This book explains the different types of early mosques in Iran, with much material from literary sources to supplement the author’s own fieldwork. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran (1357/1979), Iranian specialists have carried out some significant architectural and archaeological research; some of this work has not been published yet while other work has been published only in Persian and is difficult of access. In the course of restoration operations in key historical monuments much new and important material has been assembled, though much of this has not been reported yet. To gather together and to order all of this new information is one of the most important aims of my study. Its primary aim is to understand the characteristics and the underlying principles of early Islamic Iranian architecture. In what follows, I shall try to explain how and why this early (and neglected) period holds the key to understanding the Islamic architecture of Iran. It is essentially a transitional period, a time of laying the foundations for what was to come. It documents the earlier experiments in building types, structural techniques and architectural decoration. We see here the earliest attempt of Islamic architecture in Iran to find a distinctive voice. Only few buildings survive – thought it is very likely that more will be 3 found in years to come - but their wide range of form, style, material and decoration reveals a national tradition that – even thought it was still in the process of tradition that was already, in key ways, different from that of the other Islamic lands. The thesis tries to explain how the heritage of pre-Islamic Iranian architecture evolved and how it laid the foundations for Iranian, and especially Saljuq, architecture. Thus, to create a solid base for studying the later period is an important supplementary aim of this thesis.

Since the beginning of this century, inacculturation which is the full acceptance of foreign ideas and concepts, have produced a negative impact on the Arab/Islamic socio-cultural milieu. Instead of the synthesised approach to the transfer of ideas and concepts or in another word acculturation the inacculturation approach resulted on many socio-cultural contradictions on the Arab/Islamic built environment. Every built-environment consists of distinctive features that relates to social, cultural, economical and environmental parameters inherent in that particular built-environment. Before the 1950s, the built-environments of the country of Saudi Arabia were a natural continuation of city-building techniques throughout history. The most significant period that affected that urban continuity was the advent of the religion of Islam. However, since the 1950s, fast and dramatic changes had occurred in the built-environment that had affected it in social and cultural terms. These urban changes were not synthesised with the socio-cultural norms and ways of life of the residents of these built-environments. In another word, the process of urban inacculturation instead of acculturation had been taking place in the urban spatial structures of the country’s cities and towns. This study attempts to understand and explain the process of urban change that had occured since the 1950s. The city of Arriyadh was chosen for an in-depth investigation as a case study for this research. The case study approach starts by analysing the city urban development from the traditional to the contemporary. Then, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, it examines the socio-cultural contradictions, urban identity and perceptions of the built-environment. The study reveals that the traditional built-environment had less socio-cultural contradictions, clear urban identity and perceived in positive terms. While the contemporary built environment resulted in socio-cultural contradictions, and ambiguous and distorted urban identity and perceived as containing negative social, cultural, and environmental and economical handicaps.

Kabir, Nujaba Binte. / "November 2009." / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2008-2009, design report"--Leaf preceding t.p. / Thesis (M.Arch.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRUCT --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.V / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.vii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter PART I. --- HISTORY OF SULTANATE MOSQUES ARCHITECTURE IN BENGAL & SHAPE GRAMMAR ANALYSIS. / Chapter Chapter 01. --- History and Origins of Sultanate Mosques --- p.9 / Chapter 1.1 --- Historical context --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Geographical & climatic context --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3 --- Origins of Bengal mosque architecture --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4 --- Pre-Muslim architectural traditions of Bengal --- p.14 / Chapter 1.5 --- The common characteristics of the Sultanate mosque --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 02. --- Shape Grammar: Analysis of Style and Grammar Interpreter. --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1 --- Analysis of style --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2 --- Generative application --- p.21 / Chapter PART II. --- DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAMMAR FOR SULTANATE MOSQUES. / Chapter Chapter 03. --- The Style of the Corpus of Sultanate Mosques and the Features Require Developing the Grammar. --- p.24 / Chapter 3.1 --- The corpus of the Sultanate V Mosques in Bengal --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Examining the corpus of the Sultanate Mosques in Bengal --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3 --- Features Require Developing the Grammar --- p.30 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Grammar --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 04. --- The Vocabulary of the Sultanate Mosques. --- p.41 / Chapter 4.1 --- Vocabulary elements --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2 --- The formation of the grammar --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter 05. --- Stage 1: Generation of the Starting Unit --- p.47 / Chapter 5.1 --- Concept --- p.47 / Chapter 5.2 --- The algorithm --- p.48 / Chapter 5.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 06. --- Stage 2: Formatting the Grids and Forming the Columns --- p.53 / Chapter 6.1 --- Concept --- p.53 / Chapter 6.2 --- The algorithm --- p.54 / Chapter 6.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter 07. --- Stage 3: Formatting the Walls around the Complete Grid. --- p.58 / Chapter 7.1 --- Concept --- p.58 / Chapter 7.2 --- The algorithm --- p.58 / Chapter 7.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.61 / Chapter Chapter 08. --- Stage 4: Locating the Corner Towers and the Openings on the Walls --- p.62 / Chapter 8.1 --- Concept --- p.62 / Chapter 8.2 --- The algorithm --- p.63 / Chapter 8.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.66 / Chapter Chapter 09. --- The Language of Designs --- p.68 / CONCLUSION --- p.72 / REFERENCES --- p.75 / APPENDIX --- p.78

Architectural historians have always seen the Islamic city and Islamic house as unsystematic in design and layout. In this work I show that there is a basic spatial symbolism predating, and then adopted by, Islam, based on three major concepts. The first is that there is a residual notion of center as something sacred; secondly that instead of dichotomies or binary oppositions space in Islamic architecture is a continuum and lastly that the center of the center, whether or not it has any visible symbolism, (fountain for example) is an axis mundi, or vertical axis to the heavens. These features are seen not just in urban and housing designs, but also in mosques, madrassas, and garden layouts.

Fourteenth-century Cairo saw a movement towards abstract, geometric art. This movement reflected contemporary intellectual interests and represents the culmination of the ascendancy of Islamic philosophy over the humanist vocabulary of art. The thesis seeks explanations for the positive, i.e. for the forms which art actually took, rather than concentrating on prohibitive mechanisms. In architecture, the disappearance of stucco vegetal decoration may have been partly due to the effects of an outbreak of plague, but the main influences on contemporary art and architecture came from the esoteric habits of thought induced by sufism, alchemy and hermeticism, and from the dualist concerns of Islamic philosophy. The thesis discusses the continuity between sufism and Shī'ism, the history of sufism in Cairo as it affected art and architecture, concepts of the microcosm and the macrocosm, and theories of colour, substance and gilding. The thesis examines talismans and other esoteric material. It discusses architectural incorporata, presents a catalogue of Pharaonic material re-used in Islamic architecture, and argues that blocks bearing Pharaonic hieroglyphs represented Hermetic lore and, at entrances to buildings, paralleled the use of Pharaonic references at the beginning of esoteric manuscripts. The detailed discussion of architecture takes the form of an examination of a religious building, scrutinising the underlying principles of decoration and then moving on to specific elements such as the entrance and the mihrab. The thesis discusses, and dissents from, iconographic interpretations of architectural imagery. It attempts to evolve a terminology for discussion and concludes that 'mamluk' is inappropriate as a cultural term, since the influence of the individual patron on art and architecture was less innovative than the intellectual background of the period, and the dissociation of the patron from contemporary society has been over-estimated. It comes to the conclusion that 'an art of the bāṭin' would more effectively express the major influence on the art and architecture of fourteenthcentury Cairo.

This dissertation focuses on examining the significance of the Qatar University campus as designed by its architect Kamal El Kafrawi. The study takes on a multi-perspective view. The underlying and unifying approach is based on Amos Rapoport's concept of the meaning of the built environment. Rapoport is an architect and scholar, and founder of the field of Environment-Behavior Studies (EBS). Rapoport's early work contrasts 'high culture' design by architects that tends to be self-referential with 'vernacular' buildings by non-architects that respond and speak directly to its users.1 However, I propose to consider El Kafrawi's approach as an exemplary case of bringing both of those aspects together to create an environment that allows buildings (primarily students and faculty) to unfold layers of meaningfulness that the architect intended through a very culturally-sensitive design. This study thus seeks to unearth the meanings associated with the various spaces of the campus areas as built by El Kafrawi and as perceived by its users. The purpose of the project is to find answers to the question, "In what ways and on what basis do people react with their environments, and what meanings and character do those environments develop?"2 Rapoport stresses the meaningfulness of an environment as a key factor that allows inhabitants to feel connected to a place. Author Norberg-Schulz conceptualizes the meaningfulness of the built environment through his theory of Genius Loci as a place with meaning, identity, and history providing a phenomenal or total architectural experience. As per the author, if we consider the physical and symbolic values of the environment, it leads to engagement of human senses at a holistic level - the constructing and construing of architecture. Rapoport outlines a direct approach for the analysis and study of a built environment starting with an assumption that social and cultural factors are the most influential in a built environment. Based on the same concept, the study will critically look at the built environment as designed by El Kafrawi, whether it provides a harmonious blend of culture, traditions, religion, and technology, and whether the amalgamation gives the campus a special meaning and character worthy of the concept of genius loci. Thus, the study aims to unearth the meanings of the thoughtfully designed campus buildings to expose the underlying meaningfulness of the built environment. Rapoport has conducted various studies on the relationships between culture and architecture, notably concerning the influence of environment and behavior, leading to finding the meanings of the environment. He has sought to construct a unified theory on this subject. Rapoport's methods and views will be utilized to identify and investigate the context of this relationship. Based on Rapoport's model, the study will use a three-step approach consisting of dismantling, analyzing, and synthesizing. Firstly, the concepts of culture and the built environment will be identified and dismantled into variables and components according to Rapoport's approach. Then the relationship of these variables with the components and the relationships between the components will be analyzed. Finally, the dismantled and analyzed variables will be gathered and synthesized. Their interrelationships and their ties will be established to understand the significant linkages between forms and their cultural contexts. Integrated with this methodology, the study will look at the meanings of individual design elements from various perspectives and then their integration as a whole to form the character of the built environment. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation explores the Qatar University campus and its significance as designed by architect Kamal El Kafrawi, using a multi-perspective approach based on Amos Rapoport's concept of the meaning of the built environment. Rapoport's idea is that the true meaningfulness of a building is discovered through living with it. The study aims to show how 'living with' the Qatar campus allows inhabitants of the buildings (mainly students and faculty) to unfold layers of meaningfulness that the architect intended in the design of the campus through a very culturally-sensitive design. The study seeks to unearth the meanings associated with the various spaces of the campus areas as built by El Kafrawi and as perceived by its users. The purpose of the project is to find answers to the question, "In what ways and on what basis do people react with their environments, and what meanings and character do those environments develop?" Rapoport's methods and views will be utilized to identify and investigate the context of this relationship. The study will use a three-step approach consisting of dismantling of the designed spaces of the campus, analyzing them, and synthesizing the findings to understand the significant linkages between the designed forms and their cultural contexts. Integrated with this methodology, the study will look at the meanings of these design elements from various perspectives and then their integration as a whole to form the character of the Qatar UniversityCampus. Overall, the dissertation examines how the Qatar University campus reflects a fusion of both contemporary practices and traditional culture through El Kafrawi's approach, bringing together both aspects to create an environment that reflects the meanings and character of the built environment in a culturally-sensitive way. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between culture and architecture and how this relationship can be utilized to create a meaningful built environment.