WRITTEN REPORT
from the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires.
ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
AFANTE, MARSON KATE
ALCERA, GARRY MAE
ALMERIA, JHON
ALVAREZ, VERA FAYE
ANGELES, KEN RAXEL
INTRODUCTION
 Encompasses both secular & religious buildings
from the beginning of Islam to present day,
influencing the design & construction of
structures within the sphere of Islamic Culture.
 One of the world’s most celebrated building
traditions. Known for its radiant colors, rich
patterns, and symmetrical silhouettes, this
distinctive approach has been popular in the
Muslim world since the 7th century.
 Though often associated with
the Islamic mosque—Muslims’ place of
worship—this approach to architecture is also
apparent in other edifices,
from palaces and public
buildings to tombs and forts.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 HADITH – Collection of Mohammed’s sayings or
injunctions and is lesser weight, while the law is
extracted from the prophet’s instructions, from
tradition and example.
 ISLAM – means submission
 MOSQUE – a Muslim house of worship
 MUSLIM – those who submit to the expression
of the will of God by the prophet Mohammed.
 NICHE – Something that resemble a recess in a
wall
TYPES OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
 Mosque – muslim centre @ place for worship
 Madrasah – public school
 Hammam - A structural design for a hot
bathhouse
 Caravanserai - A roadside inn for travellers
 Casbah/Citadel - a fortress
 Mausoleum - a tomb or a monument
STYLES
 The architectural forms and styles came largely
 Early buildings were either renovations of
existing buildings or new buildings constructed
from the ruins of older buildings
GEOGRAPHY
 Flourished principally in the countries of
Southern Asia and North Africa.
 Spread of Islam has been associated with
MILITARY CONQUEST, RACIAL
MOVEMENTS, CONSEQUENT
DISPLACEMENT OF ESTABLISHED
POPULATION.
GEOLOGY
 The countries into which Islam first expanded
were already rich in building tradition and the
important techniques of exploitation of natural
resources for building works.
HISTORY
 Muslim chronology dates from A.D. 622, the
year of Hegira (Hijrah), when Mohammed
moved from Mecca to Medina. In the succeeding
ten years of his life Mohammed established the
framework of the religion and the beginnings of
the military organization charge with spreading
the faith. Immediately after his death in 632. The
concerned efforts of the Arabian tubes carried
then as conquerors into Central Asia and
westwards towards the Atlantic.
 Islamic Architecture encompasses a wide range
of both secular and religious styles from the
foundation of Islam to the present day,
influencing the design and construction of
buildings and structures in Islamic culture. The
principal Islamic Architectural types are: the
MOSQUE, the TOMB, the PALACE and FORT.
From these four types, the vocabulary of Islamic
Architecture is derived and used for buildings of
less importance such as PUBLIC BATHS,
FOUNTAINS ad DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTIC OF ISLAMIC
ARCHITECTURE
Water - In hot Islamic climates, the water from courtyard
pools and fountains cools as it decorates. Water can not
only reflect architecture and multiply the decorative
themes, it can also serve as a means of emphasizing the
visual axes.
Three main elements:
 Geometry- These patterns exemplify the Islamic
interest in repetition, balance, symmetry and
continuous generation of pattern. The integration
of geometry with such optical effects as the
balancing of positive and negative areas, a
skillful use of color and tone values.
The four basic shapes, or "repeat units," from which the
more complicated patterns are constructed are: circles
and interlaced circles; squares or four-sided
polygons; the star pattern, ultimately derived from
squares and triangles inscribed in a circle;
multisided polygons.
 Floral Patterns- Arabesque (islimi) Arabesque
designs are biomorphic, floral patterns
representing the underlying order and unity of
nature with a great deal of accuracy. flowers and
trees might be used as the motifs for the
decoration of textiles, objects and buildings.
 Calligraphy- Like other Islamic decoration,
calligraphy is closely linked to geometry. The
proportions of the letters are all governed by
mathematics. Inscriptions are most often used
as a frame along and around main elements of a
building like portals and cornices.
Architectural Features:
 Mashrabiya – projecting window enclosed with
carved wood latticework
 Mihrab - semi-circular niche in the wall of a
mosque that indicates the qibla.
 Sahn – a courtyard combine with ablution area.
 Minaret - visual focal point and are used for the
call to prayer.
 Dome - focal point and covering the main prayer
hall.
 Dikka- a place of delivering royal message
 Mimbar- a pulpit where imam deliver khutbah
 Muqarnas- stalactite vault, Persian arch’l
ornament.
 Praying area hall- main area to perform
congressional pray
 Arch- structure that spans a space while
supporting weight
SOCIAL
 Islamic culture is a term primarily used in secular
academia to describe the cultural practices
common to historically Islamic people. The early
forms of Muslim culture were predominantly
Arab. With the rapid expansion of the Islamic
empires, Muslim culture has influenced and
assimilated much from the Persian, Caucasian,
Bangladeshi, Turkic, Mongol, Chinese, Indian,
Malay, Somali, Berber, Egyptian, Indonesian,
Filipino, Greco-Roman Byzantine, Spanish,
Sicilian, Balkanic and Western cultures. Islamic
culture generally includes all the practices which
have developed around the religion of Islam,
including Qur'anic ones such as prayer (salat)
and non-Qur'anic such as divisions of the world
in Islam. It includes as the Baul tradition of
Bengal, and facilitated the peaceful conversion
of most of Bengal. There are variations in the
application of Islamic beliefs in different cultures
and traditions.
TERMINOLOGY
BUILDING TYPES
 Masjid (Persia, India) - A mosque is a place of
worship for Muslims. Any act of worship that
follows the Islamic rules of prayer can be said to
create a mosque, whether or not it takes place in
a special building. Informal and open-air places
of worship are called musalla, while mosques
used for communal prayer on Fridays are known
as jāmi.
 Jami - mosque, principal place of worship, or
use of the building for friday prayers
 Mesjid - Term for small prayer house
 Madrassah - Arabic word for any type of
educational institution, secular or religous,
wether for elementary or higher learning
 Saray, Serai - term for palace
BUILDING COMPONENTS
 Mihrab - Mihrab is a semicircular niche in the
wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is,
the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence
the direction that Muslims should face when
praying. The wall in which a mihrab appears is
thus the "qibla wall".
 Minbar: - A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque
where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in
the Hussainia where the speaker sits and
lectures the congregation. The word is a
derivative of the Arabic root n-b-r; the Arabic
plural is manābir.
 Iwan, Ivan: (Persia): - An iwan is a rectangular
hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three
sides, with one end entirely open. The formal
gateway to the iwan is called pishtaq, a Persian
term for a portal projecting from the facade of a
 building, usually decorated with calligraphy
bands, glazed tilework, and geometric designs
 Bab: - Term for gateway
 Sahn: - A sahn, is a courtyard in Islamic
architecture. Most traditional mosques have a
large central sahn, which is surrounded by a
riwaq or arcade on all sides. In traditional Islamic
design, residences and neighborhoods can have
private sahn.
 Minaret: tower from which call to prayer is made
 Harem - women’s pr private quarters of a house
or palace
 Selamlik – men’s or quest’s quarters
 Kibla, Kible: - The Qibla is the direction that
should be faced when a Muslim prays during
ṣalāh. It is fixed as the direction of the Kaaba in
the Hejazi city of Mecca. Most mosques contain
RELIGION
ISLAM
 Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion
teaching that there is only one God, and that
Muhammad is a messenger of God. It is the
world's second-largest religion with over 1.9
billion followers or 24.4% of the world's
population, commonly known as Muslims.
 Islam is the second largest religion in the
world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion
Muslims worldwide. Although its roots go
back further, scholars typically date the
creation of Islam to the 7th century, making
it the youngest of the major world religions.
Islam started in Mecca, in modern-day Saudi
Arabia, during the time of the prophet
Muhammad’s life. Today, the faith is
spreading rapidly throughout the world.
Date founded - A.D. 622
Place founded - Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Founder - Muhammed (born c.570), a trade
merchant from Arabia
Adherents - 1.3 billion
Size rank (religion statistics) - second largest in the
world
Main location - Middle East and North Africa
Sacred text - Qur'an (Koran)
Original language - Arabic
Muhammed
 Muhammad was an Arab religious, social and
political leader and the founder of Islam.
According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet,
sent to present and confirm the monotheistic
teachings preached previously by Adam,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. 
Quran
 The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is
the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims
believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely
regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic
literature.
ISLAMIC DECORATIVE ELEMENTS
 Calligraphy - Islamic calligraphy is the artistic
practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based
upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a
common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes
Arabic Calligraphy, Ottoman, and Persian
calligraphy.
 Vegetal patterns - Employed alone or in
combination with the other major types of
ornament.
The early centuries of the
Islamic era saw the initial
adoption of semi-naturalistic
pre-Islamic motifs and patterns,
followed by widespread and
highly diverse experimentation
adapting these forms to suit the
aesthetic interests and tastes of
the new Muslim patrons
 GEOMETRIC PATTERN - geometric patterns
are elaborate artistic designs made by
repeating, interlacing, and combining basic
geometric forms in large arrays.
Islamic geometric patterns are
formed from four basic shapes:
circles, squares, stars, and
multi-sided polygons. The circle
and the square are the most
basic shapes. The star shape is
derived from squares or
triangles inscribed in a circle,
and the 8-point star is a
common element in Islamic art.
  Figural Representation - Ornamentation in ornamental features are the intricately carved
Islamic art came to include figural geometric stalactite designs (a recurring pattern
representations in its decorative vocabulary, in Islamic architecture called muqarnas in
drawn from a variety of sources. Although the Arabic) that adorn the halls surrounding the
often cited opposition in Islam to the depiction of Court of the Lions.
human and animal forms holds true for religious  The Dome of the Rock - The Dome of the Rock
art and architecture, in the secular sphere such in Jerusalem is the oldest extant Islamic
representations have flourished in nearly all monument and one of the best-known. Built in
Islamic cultures. 691–692, about 55 years after the Arab
conquest of Jerusalem, the design and
The Islamic resistance to the ornamentation are rooted in the Byzantine
representation of living beings architectural tradition but also display traits that
ultimately stems from the belief would later come to be associated with a
that the creation of living forms distinctly Islamic architectural style. The
is unique to God, and it is for structure consists of a gilded wooden dome
this reason that the role of sitting atop an octagonal base. Inside, two
images and image makers has ambulatories circle around a patch of exposed
been controversial rock. The site is sacred to both Judaism and
Islam; in Jewish tradition it is said to be the spot
EXAMPLES OF ISLAMIC STRUCTURE AND THEIR where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son
ANALYSIS Isaac,and in Islamic tradition it is held to be the
site of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven. The
 Taj Mahal - In 1631 Mumtaz Mahal, the third and interior is richly decorated with marble, mosaics,
favorite wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and metal plaques.
(reigned 1628–58), died while giving birth to the
couple’s fourteenth child. Devastated, the
emperor commissioned the Taj Mahal, a
massive mausoleum complex on the southern
bank of the Yamuna (Jumna) River that
ultimately took more than 20 years to complete.
Today the Taj Mahal is the most famous piece of
Islamic architecture in the world, with the
possible exception of the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem. The monument is remarkable both
for its size (the finial of the dome of the central
mausoleum stands 240 feet [73 meters] above
ground level) and for its graceful form, which
combines elements ofIndian, Islamic, and
Persian design
 Chinli Kiosk Commentary - "The ‚inili Kiosk, or
Tiled Pavilion, in the Topkapi Palace, at Istanbul,
is decorated with glazed faience. Built as early
as 1473, and possibly designed by a Persian
architect, it exerted a powerful influence upon
succeeding Ottoman architecture. Square in
plan, it is preceded by an arcaded entrance
portico. The interior is roofed with an elaborate
arrangement of ribbed vaults and a lofty central
dome."
 The Alhambra - On a hill overlooking the
Spanish city of Granada stands the Alhambra, a
palace built by princes belonging to the Muslim
Nasrid dynasty (1238–1492) in the 14th century.
Although some portions of the palace have been
demolished, three parts remain: a fortress
(Alcazaba, or al-Qasbah) on the west end of the
hill, a princely residence to the east, and a
cluster of pavilions and gardens known as the
Generalife. The courtyards and rooms of the
Alhambra are exquisitely decorated with colored
tiles, carved stucco, carved wood, and
calligraphy. Some of the most remarkable