Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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The Journal
of Architecture
Volume 12
Number 2
Yasser Mahgoub
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Literature review
Background
In Kuwait, architecture passed through dramatic
transformations during the second half of the twentieth century that were the result of economic,
regional and global changes. Starting with the discovery of oil during the 1940s and the economic
wealth generated by its sale, the implementation
of the first master plan for the country during the
1950s and 1960s, the economic boom during the
1970s following the dramatic increase in oil prices
in 1973 and the economic depression during the
1980s following the stock market crash, they culminated, finally, with the first Gulf war and the experience of invasion and liberation by foreign countries
during the 1990s. Architecture reflected all these
layers of rapid political, economic, and cultural
changes.
The movement towards expressing cultural identity in Kuwaiti architecture is not new. It started
with attempts by foreign architects who participated
in the design of buildings after the implementation
of the first master plan in Kuwait during the 1960s
(Shiber, 1964). Jorn Utzons Parliament Building
and Reima Pietilaes new Sief Palace are landmarks
designed by foreign architects expressing a cultural
identity (Gardiner, 1983; Vale, 1992; Kultermann,
1999) (Fig. 1). These are examples of foreign architects commissioned to design projects in Kuwait
because of a lack of Kuwaiti architects, but the
appearance of architecture by Kuwaiti architects
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Figure 1. Attempts by
foreign architects to
express cultural identity
in architecture.
(Photographs by the
Author.)
a. The Parliament
Building by Jorn Utzon.
b. The Scientific Centre
by C7.
c. Banks Complex by
SOM.
d. Kuwait Towers by
Marlene Bjoern.
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disturbing. It disrupts the sentimental embracing between buildings and their consumers
and instead makes an attempt at pricking the
conscience . . .A critical approach reintroduces
meaning in addition to feeling in peoples
view of the world. (Lefaivre et al., 2001, p. 9.)
Lefaivre et al. (2001) noted that Vitruvius was the
first to point to the differences in buildings around
the world and referred to this phenomenon as
regional architecture, concluding that the
arrangement of buildings should be guided by
locality and climate. (Lefaivre et al., 2001, p. 3.)
They traced the development of the forms of regionalism in architecture from picturesque, romantic and
over-familiarising regionalism into Lewis Mumfords
critical regionalism (Lefaivre et al., 2001, pp. 3 6).
Kenneth Framptons concept of regionalism
mainly focuses on the relationship of a building to
its site and location in a sociological context. He
states that the fundamental strategy of Critical
Regionalism is to mediate the impact of universal
civilisation with elements derived indirectly from
the peculiarities of a particular place. (Frampton,
1985, p. 20.)
Regionalism received much attention as it seemed
particularly relevant to developing countries faced
with the onslaught of Western media, commodification and globalisation. Chris Abel suggested that
it is in the countries of the Third World, where the
effects of Modernisms break with the past have
been compounded by a drastically speeded-up rate
of development, that regionalism has a special
meaning. (Abel, 1986.) Khan argued that
perhaps regionalism, in cultural and technological
terms, is stronger in the Third World because the
Method of inquiry
This study focuses on the views of architects contributing to the production of cultural identity in architecture in Kuwait and analyses examples of their
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Findings
The questionnaire responses were statistically
analysed and the in-depth interviews were thematically analysed to reveal the commonalities and
differences in the views of the Kuwaiti architects.
The questionnaire analysis produced the following
results (Fig. 2).
. Regarding Kuwaiti architectural identity, 88% of
the respondents agreed that there is currently
no identity in Kuwaiti architecture, while 12%
agreed that there is an identity expressed in contemporary Kuwaiti architecture. 94% believed
that there should be an identity in Kuwaiti architecture and 6% disagreed. 94% of the respondents believed that there is a need to develop
building regulations to impose Kuwaiti identity
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Figure 3. Elements of
traditional Kuwaiti
architecture.
(Photographs by the
Author.)
a. Entrance (dahreez).
b. Courtyard (housh).
c. Mens reception
(diwaniya).
d. Sitting bench
(mastaba).
e. Colonnade (liwan).
f. Wooden roof
(chandal).
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Figure 4. Examples of
contemporary Kuwaiti
architecture.
a. The Great Mosque.
(Photograph from:
http://www.islamic
architecture.org/
architecture/i/
mosques/kuwait/
i107.jpg)
b. Seif Palace.
(Photograph from
Abdullah Qabazard,
architect.)
c. Chamber of
Commerce.
(Photograph by the
Author.)
d. Souq Sharq.
(Photograph by the
Author.)
the architects graduated from schools of architecture in the USA during the 1980s. All of them
were employed in governmental agencies for
several years before starting their private professional practice (Fig. 5). Below are thematic portraits representing the views of some of the
Kuwaiti architects interviewed for the purpose of
this study followed by a common themes analysis.
Muhamad Al-Khedr graduated from Wisconsin
School of Architecture, USA, in 1985. He practised
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Figure 5. Attempts by
Kuwaiti architects to
express cultural identity
in architecture.
a. Salah Al-Farisi Villa by
Muhamad Al-Khedr.
(Photograph from
M. Al-Khedr, architect.)
b. Al-Najjar House by
Fareed Abdal.
(Photograph from
F. Abdal, architect.)
c. Salmeya Palace by
Saleh Al-Mutawa.
(Photograph by the
Author.)
d. Al-Farisi Villa by Jamal
Al-Hajji. (Photograph
from Jamal Al-Hajji,
architect.)
For him, the expression of family needs in architecture is an important element in the reflection
of local identity. He asserts that traditional desert
architecture, characterised by its courtyards and
adobe-style construction, should be the source
of architectural identity in Kuwait. The impact of
climatic conditions is another factor that reflects a
true architectural identity. The harsh weather
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Outcomes
The study revealed that there are commonalities
and differences between the views of Kuwaiti
architects regarding the sources of Kuwaiti cultural
identity. There is a general agreement that the
climate and the environment have a major influence on the culture of the people and the identity
of architecture. Environmental response to the
climate is a key factor in reflecting the identity of
the country. Located in a harsh desert region,
Kuwait suffers from long hot summers that dominate the image of the weather of the country,
overshadowing the moderate weather of the
winter months.
Kuwaits location on the tip of the Arabian Gulf
makes it a representative of Gulf architecture. Its
history of sea trading, pearl harvesting and fishing
is part of its traditional cultural identity. Many
architects employ simplistic metaphors of pearl
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Discussion
The analysis of several examples of Kuwaiti architects
projects concluded that there are several strategies
employed by Kuwaiti architects to express a Kuwaiti
cultural identity in their work. A three-dimensional
matrix was developed to illustrate the relationship
between the ranges of these strategies, use of precedent and building types. The matrix utilises the
four design strategies suggested by Broadbent to categorise the examples (Broadbent, 1973). They are
identified as pragmatic, iconic, analogical and
canonic. Two more strategies were added to complete the range of the identified strategies; symbolic
and metaphoric. They are utilised in the matrix
according to the following definitions.
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Figure 6. A matrix
illustrating strategies of
expressing cultural
identity in architecture.
(#the Author.)
5. Symbolic design strategy focuses on reinterpreting the principles and elements of traditional
architecture and avoids any copying and
pasting of elements and shapes.
6. Metaphoric design strategy attempts intentionally to depart from being associated with tra-
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practised in Kuwait. Future research could investigate the same phenomenon by applying the same
method in different countries and comparing the
results systematically. Additionally, research could
focus on the comparison between developing and
industrialised countries in terms of architects views
regarding the representation of cultural identity in
architecture.
The matrix developed by this study is useful for
practitioners and observers of contemporary
architecture in Kuwait for understanding the
current trend towards achieving a cultural identity
in architecture. Further research could include
expatriate architects currently practising in Kuwait,
to compare their views with those of local Kuwaiti
architects. It is important to recognise that this is a
new trend that is just starting and is changing,
with more and more Kuwaiti architects joining this
movement and new building types being constructed. As in the case of Singapore,
local architects now have better opportunities to
produce original innovative work, and to actively
contribute towards Singapores architectural
manifestation and new directions in the evolving
urban environment. Their intellectual energy
must range beyond the restrictive boundaries of
architecture and urbanism to include participating
in the theoretical discourse of cultural studies,
which has now recognized the essentiality of
meaningful local inputs to achieve viable globalization. (Lim, 2004.)
The expression of cultural identity is manifested in
many ways. Neil Leach challenged the whole
notion of identity as some fixed and stable condition: identities must be perceived in the plural,
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Bibliography
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182
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