This thesis describes an investigation of the traditional houses of the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the Hedj=az region) which has aimed to identify the cultural core of the region's domestic architecture and its components, and the environmental elements that were most supportive of that core. Since these traditional houses are no longer the prevailing type of dwelling, and the lifestyles that operated in them have also vanished, the research drew upon the experience of elderly Hedj=az=i <i>mu'allem=in</i> (master-builders) who are among the few surviving traditional architects. As the descendents of many generations of builders, their knowledge covers a large span of the history of the craft, as well as familiarity with the social convictions of Hedj=az extending from the traditional period (1700s) until today. Further interviews with prominent families who had lived in traditional houses have also helped to reconstruct both the physical and socio-cultural processes of producing the traditional homes of Hedj=az. The study of the traditional Hedj=az=i house reveals that they each and collectively represented a pattern of relationships, the aim of which was to bring order, integrity and meaning to people's life - a series of connections between person, group, house and the world. The traditional Hedj=az=i's effort to make the home a sacred place served both to legitimise the group itself and its occupation of the land, for in this way the town at large, and the home within it, formed a part of divinely-ordered nature rather than being a merely human creation. The design and building processes provide a clear evidence of the desire for correspondence between man, universe and building, each of them a 'dwelling' in the true sense. This expressed the idea of a supreme unifying order in the universe which is embodied in man. It is this order that the traditional <i>mu'allem</i> has tried to grasp and interpret in his works. This central idea was reinforced by rituals, language and by the building itself. Various forms and metaphors were employed which served as devices to remind people of the primordial event from which all order was generated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:653120 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Jomah, Hisham Abdul Salam M. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19879 |
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