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Traditional Islamic-Arab House: Vocabulary And Syntax

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 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04
Traditional Islamic-Arab House:
Vocabulary And Syntax
Dr. Abdel-moniem El-Shorbagy
Architecture Department, College of Engineering
Effat University, Saudi Arabia
aelshorbagy@effatuniversity.edu.sa
Abstract— Houses represent the background or framework
for human existence. The Islamic-Arab house with its structural
clarity and beauty can be conceived as being generated from the
plan, which gave form and order to the space within as well as
measured and scaled by the human body and its experience. The
Islamic-Arab house was also established and based on a series of
sustainable-oriented principles. The design concept of the
Islamic-Arab house, problems, and solutions can be traced in
many of the existing traditional Arab architecture, in which
forms and spaces were dictated by habits and traditions. The aim
of this paper is to examine the architectural vocabulary which
governed the design concept of the Arab house and highlights
their distinctive characteristics. It also explores the essential
design problems, which affected the shape and the plan form of
all traditional Muslim houses, in relation to the physical
environment. A discussion of the way that tradition, culture, and
religion formed the basis of the Arab house design approach and
the continual reinvention of the plan will also be included.
However, the main objective of this research is to identify the
idealized spatial system of the Islamic-Arab house, which became
a methodological and conceptual tool to constitute the basic
vocabulary and syntax of its design.
Index Terms— Islamic-Arab House, Tradition, Sustainability,
Eco-Architecture, Syntax
I. INTRODUCTION
I n many parts of the Islamic-Arab world, one can realise
many distinctive examples of traditional architecture,
mainly houses. Although there were socio-cultural differences
in each region, the design of houses retained a common
architectural language that responded to both the common hot
arid zones climate and the common religious needs. For
example, the use of courtyard and the employment of the
windcatcher or mashrabiyyah. The Islamic-Arab house is also
one of the best examples that express the sakina. The word
sakina comes from the word sakan, which is the Arabic name
for a house and relates to dwelling in peace and purity. The
heritage of traditional Islamic-Arab houses includes various
forms, which were developed in response to religious,
cultural, and traditional factors along with the specificity of
the local built environment. The remarkable traditional houses
of medieval Cairo, the stylish facades of Jeddah’s townhouses,
the windcatcher (badgir) of the houses of Dubai’s Bastakia
1
district, and the courtyard houses of Yemen, are all evidence
to the rich wealth of Islamic-Arab residential architecture.
Every architectural element in the Islamic-Arab house
represented a solution or an answer to a different problem that
appeared according to a specific condition. They were a
sequence of related problems, which were met successfully to
achieve a unified and a harmonious house. In fact, the beauty
of these traditional houses represents an art form that has
resulted from an understanding of a unique mode of religious
and cultural human life.
II. VOCABULARY AND SYNTAX
“My father's palace where every footstep had a
meaning” [1]. This quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery
expresses the design concept of the traditional Islamic-Arab
house, where every step, forms and spaces were shaped by
people’s habits and tradition. The Islamic way of life strictly
defined the particular roles of man and woman in relation to
the physical environment. While the public areas in a house
are the domain of men, the private and family areas are the
domain of women. The privacy of the family was also an
essential element which affected the shape and the plan form
of all traditional Muslim houses, to be clearly defined as
public, semi-public and private spaces. The cultural and
religious emphasis on visual privacy in Islamic communities
has also tended to produce an inward-looking plan with plain
external walls to discourage strangers from looking inside.
Climate also played an important role as a moderating factor
and complemented the cultural and religious need for privacy.
The houses of the hot arid zones such as Egypt, Iraq and
India, are introverted, where family-life looked into a
courtyard rather than looking out upon the street. However,
the architectural vocabulary which governed the design
concept of the Islamic-Arab house and highlighted its
distinctive characteristics were, the majaz (entrance), the
courtyard, the combination of the qa‘ah and the malqaf, the
takhtabush, and the mashrabiyyah.
A. The Majaz (Entrance)
In Arab houses there were two entrances; the majaz (the
main entrance of a house), which usually opens onto a
courtyard and the doorway, which is the main external feature
at ground floor level. The majaz was designed to open into a
blank wall to obstruct views into the inside from outside in
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04 2

order to preserve the privacy of the family. On the other hand,

the doorway is functional and modest because ostentation is
discouraged according to the egalitarian basis of Islam. Al-
Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648, is a good example, which
expresses the relationship between the main entrance and the
courtyard (fig.1). Some historians attributed the unpretentious
doorway to the owner’s reluctance to show off his wealth,
which would attract burglars, but this is a superficial reason.
In fact, in traditional Arab houses, the real entrance to the
house is the one which opens onto the main courtyard. In the
Arab cosmology the four walls of the courtyard indicate the
four columns carrying the dome of the sky and the courtyard
symbolizes their private piece of sky. However, they preferred
to have the main entrance open into this clean and holy space,
which is on the scale of the house, rather than into the public
street, which is on the scale of the city.

Fig. 2. Dar Lajimi, a courtyard house, Tunis. [3]

Fig.1. The entrance opens into the courtyard, Al-Suhaymi house,

Cairo, 1648. [3]

B. The Courtyard
The courtyard is the most essential element, which
represented the core of all Islamic-Arab houses. The concept
of the courtyard is commonly used in traditional architecture,
both rural and urban, of the hot arid regions from Iran in the
East to the shores of the Atlantic in the West. The courtyard
dates back to the Graeco-Roman tradition (c. 1900 BC.) in
Arabia. With the advent of Islam (632), Muslims adopted the
concept of the courtyard because it suited their religious and
Fig. 3. Al-Fustãt house, a courtyard house, Cairo. [3]
social needs, especially the degree of privacy needed. The
arrangements of the courtyard also provided a satisfactory The courtyard was employed in most Arab houses, not only
solution to their specific environmental problems. The size of to achieve privacy, which is a necessity in Arab society, but
the courtyard varies, as does the number, according to the also to enhance the thermal comfort inside a house. The
available space and resources [2]. courtyard is an effective device to generate air movement by
Historical examples of Arab desert architecture, include, the convection. In hot dry zones the air of the courtyard, which
Ukhaider palace in Iraq, Quasir Amara in Jordan and Dar was heated by the sun during the day, rises and is replaced by
Lajimi in Tunis (fig.2) as well as the twelfth century the cooled night air coming from above. The accumulated
courtyard-houses of Al-Fustate city, Egypt (fig. 3). The cool air in the courtyard seeps into and cools the surrounding
houses of mediaeval Cairo such as Al-Souheimi, Zeinab rooms. During the day, the courtyard is shaded by its four
Khaton and Moheb Ad-din Al-Shafie are also expressive walls and this helps its air to heat slowly and remain cool until
examples. late in the day [3].
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04 3

C. The Qa‘ah And The Malqaf of the opposite side of the ’iwan and placed at an angle to
In the early Arab houses the courtyard also represented an allow the water to trickle over the surface [3].
intermediary space between the entrance and the guest area.
Meeting casual male visitors, who are not relatives, always
took place in the takhtabash, a room with a side open to the
courtyard. On the other hand, important male visitors would
enter indirectly from the courtyard to another large reception
hall with a lofty central space, which was flanked by two
spaces at a slightly higher level [2]. In the Mamluk period in
the twelfth century, a change in the style of the house took
place that involved the covering of the courtyard, and the
introduction of the qa‘ah as the main reception hall in the
house.
The qa‘ah consisted of the durqa‘ah (a central part of the
qa‘ah with a high ceiling covered by the shukhshakhah
(wooden lantern on the top)) and two ’iwans (sitting areas) at
a higher level on both the north and south sides. The lantern is
provided with openings to allow the hot air to escape. Its
shape could be square, octagonal, or hexagonal. It was also
flat on the top, in order to help the upper layer of air to be
heated up through exposure to the sun. With the covered
courtyard, a new system of ventilation was invented to
Fig. 5. Remains of an iwan with a shadirwan (Salsabil) in its center, the
achieve thermal comfort inside the qa‘ah. This was the malqaf Western Fatimid Palace of al-Mansur Qalawun. [9]
(a wind catch). The malqaf is a shaft rising high above the
building with an opening facing the prevailing wind and However, this new system of ventilation combined the
constructed on the north ’iwan (fig.4). It traps the cool air malqaf, the salsabil and the lantern in one design to assure a
“like sails capturing the wind” and channels it down into the good circulation of cool air in the qa‘ah. The fourteenth
interior of the building. century Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shaf’i Al-Muwaqqi house in
Cairo best illustrated this combination (fig. 6).

Fig. 4. Bastikia district, Dubai. [8] Fig. 6. Section of the Qã'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shãf'i, 1350, Cairo. [3]

The idea of the malqaf dates back to the early Pharaonic

periods. Examples can be found in the Eighteenth Dynasty
houses of Tal Al-Amarna. Fathy was influenced by the
Pharaonic house of Neb-Amun, which was depicted on his
tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty (1300 BC.). It shows a
malqaf with two openings, one facing windward to capture the
cool air and the other facing leeward in order to evacuate the
hot air by suction. To increase the humidity of the air coming
from the malqaf, the salsabil was also introduced (fig. 5). It is
a marble plate, decorated with wavy patterns and provided
with a source of water. The salsabil was put against the wall
D. The Takhtabush
In the vernacular architecture of the Arab house the concept
of the courtyard has also been developed to ensure a steady
flow of air by convection by including the takhtabush, a type
of loggia. It is a covered outdoor sitting area, located between
two courtyards; one is an unshaded, large paved-courtyard and
the other is planted. The takhtabush has one side opening
completely onto the paved-courtyard and through
mashrabiyyah onto the back garden. Air heats up more readily
in the unshaded courtyard than in the back garden creating an
area of low air pressure. However, the heated air rising in the
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04
courtyard draws cool air from the back garden of the
takhtabush, creating a cool draft. The takhtabush can be found
in the medieval Cairo houses, such as Al-Suhaymi house
(fig.7) and the Qa‘ah of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shaf’i Al-
Muwaqqi, [3]. Both houses featured two courtyards with a
takhtabush between them.
Fig. 7. Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648. [3]
E. The Mashrabiyyah
The mashrabiyyah is another important device which was
used to cover openings as well as to achieve thermal comfort
and privacy in a house. Its name is originally derived from the
Arabic word ‘drink’ and referred to ‘a drinking place’. This
was a cantilevered space covered with a lattice opening, where
water jars were placed to be cooled by the evaporation effect
as air moved through the opening. The form and function of
the mashrabiyyah has changed to become a wooden lattice
screen. It is composed of small wooden circular balusters,
arranged at specific regular intervals, in a decorative and
intricate geometric pattern. The mashrabiyyah has five
functions and its design may fulfil some or all of these
functions. These are; controlling the passage of light,
controlling the air flow, reducing the temperature of the air
current, increasing the humidity of the air current and ensuring
privacy. To control the amount of light and air and to graduate
the contrast between shade and light, the size of the interstices
and the diameter of the balusters are adjusted [3].
Mashrabiyyah can be found in medieval houses in Cairo, such
4
as Gamal Al-Din Al-Dahabi House 1637, and Zeinab Khatoun
House, 14th (fig.8).
Fig. 8. Zeinab Khatoun House 14th century
III. THE PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURAL
COMPOSITION
The Islamic-Arab house revealed an understanding of the
laws of composition, which created a conscious arrangement
of elements of a building in a functionally and visually
satisfying whole. Hierarchies were an essential factor in the
design process of the Islamic-Arab house, which highlighted
the importance of the interior and exterior of a building. Scale,
proportion, contrast and balance were also tools, which
enhanced the character of buildings. All the spaces in
traditional houses were covered with variations of domes,
vaults, shukhshakhah and flat roofs, which achieved pleasant
spatial and visual characteristics. The design of the Islamic-
Arab house also respected human reference and human scale
and this had enabled people to articulate and comprehend the
elements of their buildings. Harmony with the surrounding
landscape was another important factor in the design process,
where these houses were carefully integrated to the
environment which has existed in equilibrium for a very long
time.
Applied colour seldom appears in Islamic-Arab houses, but
the natural colours of materials, which identified both the
origins of this architecture and its close link to the landscape.
The visual impact of the homogeneous single colour
emphasised the basic form of the building without the
distraction of various colours, textures or materials.
Traditional houses were also largely, determined by a unique
vision of light and its influence on materials. The dynamic
contrast of light and shade, and the dramatic use of space were
also features, which can be sensed in the architecture of
Islamic-Arab houses. The real power of light is not derived
completely from its inherent character, but requires some sort
of darkness to assert itself. For example, light entering
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04 5

through a window or mashrabiyyah evokes an expressive

shadow, which accentuates the shape of the interior.

IV. CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIC-ARAB HOUSE

The Egyptian architect and master builder, Hassan Fathy
(1900-1989) was one of the first architects to break with
modern architecture and to found a new approach based on a
conception of interpreting forms and masses from the past. He
was unique in believing that this language could exist
alongside that of an aggressively modern one that cut all ties
with the past. He fully understood the function of the elements
of the Islamic-Arab house and their balanced relation to the
environment. All his buildings and projects, which were
mainly domestic, comprised the same architectural elements
which were drawn from the Islamic-Arab house. One of his Fig. 10. Al-Nawras Tourist Village, Egypt, 1989. [10]
important houses was the Nassif house in Jeddah (fig.9),
which represented an opportunity for Fathy to reinterpret the Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil is also a dedicated Egyptian
traditional architecture of Saudi Arabia. The house featured all architect to the course of vernacular architecture and
the essentials vocabularies of the Islamic-Arab house such as, traditional building techniques. El-Wakil believed that “it is
courtyard, mashrabiyyah, shukhshakhah and windcatcher [4]. the role of art, and above all of architecture, to safeguard the
environment in which the tradition can survive” [5]. El-
Wakil’s Halawa house (1972-1975) in Al-Agamy, near
Alexandria (fig.11), exhibited the architect’s awareness of the
traditional building forms such as dome, vault, loggia, malqaf
and mashrabiyyahs as well as the traditional building
techniques.

Fig. 9. Nassif house in Jeddah. [10]

Another Egyptian architect whose work from the 1960s

onwards has stood out in clear contrast with much modern
architecture has been Abdelbaki Ibrahim. He published
several books discussing the historical perspective of Islamic
architecture and the Arab houses. Ibrahim’s Al-Nawras
Tourist Village, Isma'iliya, Egypt, 1989, (fig.10) is an
expressive example of the integration between modern
Fig. 11. Halawa House, Agamy, Egypt, 1975. [10]
architecture and abstracted traditional vocabulary.
The prominent architect Rifat Chadirji (1926) from Iraq
was aware of the traditional vocabulary of the traditional
architecture in Iraq and employed them to serve contemporary
needs. Chadirji’s Tobacco Monopoly Building (1966) in
Baghdad is clear evidence of a contemporary Arab
architecture (fig.12). It exhibited a synthesis of international
avant-garde concepts and abstract forms derived from his own
traditions. For example, Chadirji employed simple projecting
mashrabiyyahs made of brick or concrete instead of the
expensive wooden ones. Chadirji’s architecture excluded
simplistic imitations of traditional features and primitive
technologies “because neither is compatible with the
fundamental thrust of the mechanical-aesthetic mode” [6].
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04
Fig. 12. Tobacco Monopoly Building, Baghdad, 1966. [11]
Like Chadirji, the distinguished Jordanian architect, Rasem
Badran did not perceive history as a source of physical forms
to be reinterpreted, but tried to adapt the process behind these
forms and explore the social forces behind traditional
typologies. Badran’s Al-Talhouni residence, Amman, Jordan
(fig.13), shows the architect’s confidence in handling the
traditional vocabulary in harmonious composition in his
elevations. He also was capable of adjusting the orientation of
each courtyard in order to permit maximum airflow and to
exhibit the beauty of nature and the art of reflection by
employing decorative fountains in the courtyard [7].
Fig.13. Al-Talhouni residence, Amman, Jordan, by Rasem Badran. [7]
V. CONCLUSION
The idea of perceiving a building as an entity as well as
articulating the function and identity of each member of the
building are the key to understand the architecture of the
Islamic-Arab house. The most subtle characteristics of the
Islamic-Arab house come mainly from its array of elements
that were tested by people’s traditions and culture.
Undoubtedly, the outstanding architectural quality of the
Islamic-Arab houses and the positive effect of their images do
not only come from its reliance upon recognised prototypes
6
and deliberate plans, but also from their interesting exteriors.
These houses maintained a coherence and unity between
inhabited space, construction and landscape. Therefore, the
aesthetic of the Islamic-Arab house comes from the harmony
of putting the architectural elements together as well as
juxtaposing them in order to provide variety and visual
interest through change in their size and scale. Although,
domes, vaults, bearing walls, mashrabiyyahs, malqaf,
courtyard and qa‘ah together created a recognised language in
Islamic-Arab houses, their designs were based on finding
solutions to peoples’ religious and cultural needs and
requirements. For example, the arrangement of all spaces
around an inner courtyard and the division of domestic space
into two zones relating to the separation of the sexes. In
addition, the qa‘ah, which was roofed by a dome or a
shukhshakhah, represented the central element of the formal
area in a house and provided the basis for designing all the
possible variations of Arab houses. There is no doubt that the
outstanding quality of the architecture of the Islamic-Arab
house was derived, not from stylistic elements, but from the
superiority of its essential features, their proportional
arrangement and their basic ideas.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author wishes to thank Effat University for its effort to
support the research environment. Thanks are also due to the
Architecture Department for providing financial support to
publish this paper.
REFERENCES
[1] De Saint-Exupéry, Antoine, The Wisdom of the Sands. Chicago, 1979,
p. 19.
[2] Danby, Miles, Privacy as a Culturally Related Factor in Built Form, in
Ben Farmer and Hentie Louw, eds., Companion to Contemporary
Architectural Though. London, 1993, pp. 138-139.
[3] Fathy, Hassan, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture: Principles
and Examples with Reference to Hot Arid Climates. Chicago, 1986, pp.
46-47, 57-59, 62-67.
[4] Alkhateeb, Sharief, Arab Architecture for Those Who Can Really Live
in Style. Saudi Gazette, 19 September 1979, p. 5.
[5] Steil, Lucien, Tradition & Architecture. Architectural Design, v. 57, no.
5 / 6, 1987, p. 53.
[6] Chadirji, Rifat, Concepts and Influences: Towards a Regionalized
International Architecture. London, 1986, pp. 49, 118-119.
[7] Steele, James, The Architecture of Rasem Badran: Narratives on People
and Place. London, 2005, pp.70-72.
[8] Author, 2010
[9] www.myoops.org/.../LectureNotes/detail/lec4.htm
[10] www.archnet.org
[11] http://www.worldarchitecture.org/world-buildings/
Author Dr. Abdel-Moniem El-Shorbagy is the Scientific Chair of
Architecture and Urban Design at Effat University.
In 2001, he received his Ph.D. in Art History from
the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He
also received a M.A. in Architecture from the same
university in 1997 and a postgraduate qualification
from Lincoln University, in New Zealand, in 1996.
Prior to attaining his postgraduate studies, he
 International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS Vol:10 Issue: 04 7

launched and managed his own professional practice from 1980–1995 and
designed numerous residential buildings, villas, and hotels. He taught
Architecture and Design in various academic institutes in Egypt between 2002
and 2006. Currently, he teaches courses in Architecture, Design, Structure,
and Islamic architecture at Effat University. He also manages the preparation
of the urban design manual for upgrading slums in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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