An approach to Islamic architecture

Architecture, in my personal view, is the solemn identity of peoples and civilizations. Architecture is unique structures that become landmarks in an environment -- landmarks that exemplify the identity, the shape and the tone of a society, landmarks that collectively represent the image a society has of itself.

I was, and still am, fascinated by the incredible design, engineering and language of Islamic architecture and arts. As I look at this Web Page about Islamic architecture, I kept asking myself what makes architecture Islamic?:

• Is it architecture that is made for and by Muslims to serve Islam as a religion? If so, is it only architecture that serves a religious function -- the mosque, the Madrasah (school), the palace?
• Is it all the architectural work in Muslim world?
• If this should be so, what does Islamic mean in the phrase 'Islamic architecture'?
• If the word Islamic is not an adjective defining a religious belief or quality, should it be used as a word defining a special kind of architecture, that architecture of a civilization that reflects, or is determined by, the special qualities inherent in Islam as a cultural phenomenon?
• And what qualities would there be that make architecture uniquely and distinctively Islamic?

If Islamic architecture exists, then I must explain and define the qualities and features that set architecture in the Islamic world apart from other architecture.

The most striking feature of all Islamic architecture is the focus on interior space as opposed to the outside or facade. The most typical expression of this focus on inner space is in the Muslim house. Rectangular dwelling units typically are organized around an inner courtyard. The facade of this house offers high windowless walls interrupted only by a single low door.

Often these courtyard houses are clustered together into a walled complex to serve the needs of extended families. Entrance to the complex is through a single door that leads to a passageway from which the individual dwellings can be reached. It has been said that the traditional courtyard house is never a completed project. As family size increases, more rooms are built on the lot's unused land. Once the land around the courtyard has been covered, expansion takes place in a vertical direction.

"The traditional need to entertain male guests, while at the same time bar them access to the females of the household, has given rise to additional complexities of design particular to Islamic domestic architecture, which therefore must accommodate a double circulation system. The men's reception (or guest) room tends to be located adjacent to, or directly accessible from, the entrance lobby of the house so that visitors do not meet or converse with the female household or violate the harem. The simplest form of separation of male and female areas is found in the tent of the nomad, where there is no permanent structural division. A screen or cloth is hung across the center of the tent and along one half of the front when unrelated male visitors are present.

The men's guest room is a symbol of the economic status of the household and is furnished with the precious possessions of the family; therefore it is generally the most decorated room of the house."

Proverbially, the Arab house is never complete; as each extended family grows, so does the house, thereby reflecting the history, accumulated growth and family structure of a number of generations. The assertive nature of the individual Islamic dwelling can be clearly seen in the construction of modern houses. Many of the courtyard houses that give the Islamic city its unmistakable appearance still exist. Often, however, they are being replaced today by structures influenced by the styles of Western architecture.

Yet the traditional courtyard house is an advanced structure. The open-air interior courtyard performs an important function as a modifier of climate in hot, arid areas. The courtyard allows for outdoor activities with protection from wind and sun. The courtyard also serves as an air-well into which the cool, night air can sink. And the plain, thick-walled street facade of the house with few or no windows is designed to withstand severe elements like hot winds and sand. The roof usually is flat with high parapets. The most characteristic decorative feature of the courtyard house is the ornate roof line.

The architecture of the courtyard house has been called the architecture of the veil. Enveloped by a plain facade, the house's innermost sanctum -- the courtyard -- is kept secret. The introverted courtyard house expresses the need to exclude the outside environment while protecting that which is inside -- the family and the inner life.

Because of the lack of emphasis on external appearance in Islamic architecture, a structure -- a mosque, for example -- might be hidden from view by secondary, adjacent buildings. If the facade is visible, it is rare that the facade gives any indication of the structure's size, shape or function.

In "What Is Islamic Architecture," (from Architecture of the Islamic World,1978, Thames and Hudson)" Ernst J. Grube writes that the dominant form of true Islamic architecture is this hidden architecture. In other words, it is architecture that must be experienced by being entered and seen from within.

Closely related to the idea of 'hidden architecture', Grube notes, is the absence of specific architectural forms for specific functions. Most forms in Islamic architecture can be adapted to a variety of purposes. In addition, structures for a specific function might assume a variety of forms. Grube uses as an example the four- iwan structures popular in Central Asia and Iran. (iwans are arched openings or porches reached from a central courtyard.) The four-iwan design has been used for palaces, mosques, schools, caravanserai (waystations for travelers and their animals), and private homes.

Writes Grube, "Generally, Islamic architecture is given to hiding its principal features behind an unrevealing exterior; it is an architecture that does not change its forms easily, if at all, according to functional demands, but rather tends to adapt functions to preconceived forms which are basically the contained inner spaces."

Unlike traditional European structures, Grube notes, Islamic buildings rarely have displayed an inherent directional or axial quality. In fact, if the building does have an actual physical direction, this often differs from the functional direction. Grube cites as an example the Temple of Baal at Palmyra in Syria. The temple's cella or chambers have a colonnade on all sides and heavy architraves and tympana on the narrow ends. The entrance, however, is not located at one of the narrow ends but at the center of one of the longs sides. Thus, visitors find themselves confronted with a blank wall and must turn ninety degrees to reach one of the two altars. Built in the 4th century, this temple represents, according to Grube, a total contradiction of the logical sense of direction expressed in European architecture.

In addition, Grube continues, Islamic architecture typically does not strive for the same balance that European architecture does. Thus, it is easy to make additions to original plans for Islamic structures. For example, as families grow, it is simple to add new dwellings to the traditional courtyard-house complex. The complex can become an organic maze of structures accumulating around and totally engulfing the nucleus of the original design.

Enclosed space, defined by walls, arcades and vaults, is the most important element of Islamic architecture, writes Grube. With the exception of the dome and the entrance portal, decoration in Islamic architecture is reserved for the articulation and embellishment of the interior.

According to Grube, Islamic decoration does not emphasize the actual mechanics of a building, the balance and counter-balance of loads and stresses. Instead, Islamic decoration is a part of the Islamic architectural tradition that aims at a visual negation of the reality of weight and the necessity of support.

How is Islamic decoration used to project a feeling of weightlessness? "The various means by which the effect of eightlessness is created, the effect of unlimited space, of non-substantially of walls, pillars, and vaults are well known," Grube writes. "They range from the use of mosaic and painted decoration to tiles -- especially luster and painted polychrome -- and from molded and deeply cut stone or plaster to actual openwork and pierced walls, vaults and even supporting pillars. The multitude of decorative treatments of surfaces in Islamic architecture, the use of almost every conceivable technique and the development of a rich repertory of designs -- from geometric to abstract shapes to full-scale floral patterns, from minutely executed inscriptions in a full variety of calligraphic styles to the monumental single words that serve as both religious images and decoration -- is without parallel in the architecture of the non-Muslim world.

"Its effect is extraordinary and its function quite unmistakable. It goes hand in hand with the non-directional plan, the tendency to an infinite repetition of individual units (bays, arches, columns, passages, courtyards, doorways, cupolas) and the continuous merging of spaces without any specific direction or any specific center or focus. And if a definite spatial limit is reached, such as a terminal wall, the surface that should stop the progress of anyone moving through the building will be decorated with patterns that repeat themselves, leading on visually beyond the given limit of the wall, surface, vault or dome."

Grube adds that the epitome of this concept of architecture is reached in the Alhambra at Granada in Spain. One of the most famous examples of Islamic architecture, the Alhambra was built in the 14th century and served as the royal palace for the Caliph, Abd-el-Walid. The plan of the Alhambra basically includes two great inner courts set at right angles to each other. The courts of the Alhambra lead to halls, and the halls to apartments, each in turn giving way to smaller courts and baths, all richly dressed in geometric designs of stucco, ceramic and wood.

Grube notes that although the Alhambra is a royal palace, it was given no center or focus to emphasize power. "Instead," he writes, "it is a maze of rooms and courtyards, of passages and corridors, of water basins and canals that link the open and covered spaces, of fountains and of decorations that are undoubtedly among the most extraordinarily complex and technically accomplished in all Islamic architectural design. Looking up into the suspended muqarnas canopy that forms the great dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters, we are truly aware of being in the presence of an architecture that is distinctly and unmistakably different from any other ever created by man. Its spirit is clearly readable'... It is that of a metaphysical concept of the world, rooted in the religion that created it -- Islam.

A Final Note
It is absolutely impossible to offer in this brief Web presentation anything approaching a complete interpretation of the characteristics and features I have tried to identify as being essential to Islamic arts and architecture. For this project, I collected, wrote, revised, and edited information from a variety of different sources available in the libraries at The Ohio State University, as well as at some bookstores. This is ongoing research that can NOT be achieved by a single scholar. It is very hard to satisfactorily explain the phenomena of Islamic arts and , in particular, architecture -- to correlate their physical forms in various parts of the Muslim world with the 'spirit' of Islam as it prevailed in any given region and period. But such an interpretation must be attempted if I ever want to go beyond the mere cataloguing and describing of the surviving monuments, objects, and calligraphy which form the basis of this presentation.

Source: http://www.islamicart.com