Features

Regional Identity,Tradition and Modernity

william bechhoefer Contemporary Architecture in the Arab States: Renaissance of a Region
udo kultermann
McGraw-Hill 1999 $49.95 42.99 262 pp. 78 col/173 mono illus isbn 0-07-036831-7

ecent architecture beyond the confines of Europe and North America deserves more exposure than it generally gets in the Western architectural press. For a number of years the journal MIMAR: Architecture in Development filled a vital role in bringing to light the work of architects and builders all over the non-Western world, but its demise in 1992 left a significant gap in knowledge of this new architecture. Dr Udo Kultermann, Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, wrote extensively for MIMAR about contemporary Arab architecture, and his research has been brought together in one volume with the significant subtitle Renaissance of a Region. The main theme of Contemporary Architecture in the Arab States is that a `renaissance' may be in the making as cultural identity is reinforced by economic prosperity and relative political stability. In the last three decades, local traditions deemed retrograde in comparison with the `modernity' of the West have been rediscovered and are increasingly seen as sources of cultural identity, and Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan ibn Salman ibn `Abd al-`Aziz can confidently state that `tradition is modernity's future' in reference to his renovation of his farmhouse estate near Riyadh.1 The message of Kultermann's book is that this `renaissance' is manifest in the reinterpretation of traditional architectural form in contemporary contexts. One question that arises from Kultermann's work is how it contributes to broader discourse about the use of tradition and traditional architectural form in new building? The book presents architects and architecture from seventeen Arab states, an ambitious and welcome undertaking that documents the last thirty years of architectural activity in the region. The body of the book is devoted to individual chapters on each of the

Arab states. The chapters open with the historical and architectural background of the country, followed by specific contributions of colonial or other international forces and a summary of architectural issues facing the architectural profession. In most cases there is some discussion of the new generation of architects. The parallel structure of the chapters, each of which to a large extent stands alone as a kind of journalistic report, illuminates the dramatic differences between countries. This specificity breaks down

1 Interview with William Facey in `Al-`Udhaibat.' Aramco World, Vol 50, No 4, July/August 1999.

superficial generalisations about the uniform culture, politics and economics of the Arab world an important contribution. In his excellent introduction, Kultermann addresses the complex issues arising from the long history of the intermingling of Eastern and Western traditions in North Africa and the Middle East. The use of tradition as a driving force in architecture is as complex as it is in politics, for the uses of tradition depend upon interpretation and intent. Kultermann notes that the early layers of traditions manifest in the Arab states include Greco-Roman, Iranian, Pharonic and AssyroBabylonian sources. Added to this are later Byzantine and Ottoman influences, as well as specifically local traditions of, for example, the Berbers of North Africa. Arabic language has been a unifying force, and Islam has been a source of both unity and conflict. Arab Islamic civilisation was most vital in the medieval period, when it showed remarkable abilities to absorb many cultural forces and to synthesise its own identity. From this period came most of its greatest architectural monuments, and especially its great cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Kairouan and Fez, to name just a few. The period was marked by conflict with the Christian West in the form of the

Serge Santelli, tourist complex,Tabarka, Tunisia, 1972. Photo courtesy Serge Santelli, Paris.

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Crusades, as well as by peaceful trade and transmission to the West of classical literature and discoveries in mathematics, medicine and sciences. Indeed, the histories of all the peoples of the Mediterranean and Arab world are so intertwined that the East-West dichotomy seems artificial. However, East-West divisions were dramatically accentuated as the Renaissance in Europe and subsequently the Industrial Revolution tipped the balance of power, ultimately leading to colonial domination in the Arab world. Edward Said, in his seminal work, Orientalism, argues that colonial regimes, in league with academia, needed to reinforce the definition of the inferior `other' to justify their actions. As part of this agenda, principally the English and French dramatically reshaped many cities to consolidate their control and to create aspirations for modernity among local elites. In this context, local traditions were seen as inferior to modern European ideas, even as significant efforts at historical preservation were undertaken in the name of ethnographic research or as a nod to local sensibilities. Thus, for example, the French would build `new' cities next to old ones, effectively isolating the old as frozen monuments and enticing the inhabitants to migrate to the new city if they could afford it. Another strategy was to clothe essentially Western building types, such as administrative buildings, in decorative motifs sometimes taken from local examples, but more often concocted from generalised notions of what was thought to be `Oriental.' Ambivalence about cultural heritage was the result, as the richness of Arab civilisation seemed unable to compete with the sheer force of European political, economic and cultural models. The emergence from colonial domination of nations all over the world has been a salient fact of geopolitics in the last half of the twentieth century. Political freedom, however, was often incomplete, as former colonial powers have continued to maintain spheres of influence as part of economic interest and Cold War strategies. In this context, the United States has become a player; containment of communism was a high priority, and secure sources of oil remain important considerations. Dissemination of American culture accompanies economic and political alliances, adding yet another layer to the cultural mix in the Arab world. It is against this complex background that Kultermann discusses the impact of tradition in architecture:
More than any other defining element of a civilization is the heritage of specific and unique regional traditions achieved by earlier generations and creatively integrated into new articulations. Tradition in this sense is of great significance for contemporary architecture in the Arab states, whether it is manifested in buildings by Arab architects or in buildings by foreign architects . . . It is also important to keep in mind that tradition is not the rhetorical declaration of one's heritage or the wishful claim of a renewal of old grandeur and past glories. It is instead the hard task of not only recognizing but also creatively transforming those values that have accumulated over centuries, and through this process incorporating contemporary values that did not exist before . . . In most countries tradition is not a single layer of past cultural manifestations; rather, it is multi-layered and complex . . .

The complexity that Kultermann expresses so well in this statement is not so well explored in his presentation of architectural examples, which he seems to base almost exclusively on formal reinterpretation of traditional architecture as manifest in vernacular and monumental buildings. Thus, for example, bedouin tents are the inspiration for a series of new buildings, ranging from Kuwait's parliament to a sport centre in Syria to Saudi Arabia's monumental King Abdul Aziz International Airport. Likewise, many new water towers seem inspired by minarets, not only because of their verticality, but also because of their symbolic power as sustainers of life in the desert. Other sources of inspiration are specific architectural elements such as traditional wind towers that have served for centuries to provide natural cooling and cross ventilation. Another traditional element is the moushrabiya, a wooden latticed screen placed on windows to provide ventilation while also controlling light and assuring privacy. The rich tradition of geometric pattern and decoration of surfaces throughout the Islamic world provides ample opportunity for contemporary application, and traditional geometry is also used by some architects to organise the spatial patterns of individual buildings. Even more significant, however, is the `unity of building and city' that is so remarkable in traditional Arab Islamic cities. Unlike the modernist notion of isolated buildings in an urban or natural landscape, the Arab city is a continuous fabric in which exterior individual expression is subordinate to the unity of the whole. One lesson that the reader may take from the book comes from the experiences of architects in the Arab states who must challenge norms of practice based on Western models to achieve culturally, climatically and aesthetically appropriate urban design; this struggle can be instructive to anyone concerned with historic preservation and with the creation of humane environments for contemporary living. Neo-traditional urban design movements in the United States and Europe might take note, and, in this regard, notable contributions have been made by Jordan's Rasem Badram in projects in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, whose work is documented by Kultermann. Equally instructive to architects worldwide are the Aga Khan Awards for architecture. More extensive examination of the issues raised by the Aga Khan Awards would have been useful because, while specifically addressing the Islamic world, the methodologies and thought processes demonstrated by recipients and extensively documented in publications of the awards are of greater than local significance. Architecture critic Robert Cambell notes that `surely a homogeneous built world is the ultimate horror. That's why the Aga Khan Awards . . . are so interesting. They are the only serious efforts to discover and cultivate a kind of design that will retain its cultural language without copycatting the past. That's not an easy job, and it requires deep attention to the essence of a culture, as well as a sensitive response to whatever is genuinely local: climate, materials, building traditions, perceptions, and what Spanish architect Rafael Moneo calls

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``the whisper of the site.'' '2 Recipients of Aga Khan Awards range from architects and planners to contractors and master craftsmen, to involved citizens and tea carriers on job sites, thus recognising that communities without formal professional training can design and create their physical communities. Communities interpret traditions and traditional architecture in many ways, an issue that also would suggest further examination. For some, tradition is an exercise in nostalgia. For others, tradition `sells' and is a commodity to be marketed to local elites or to tourists. Tradition can be a political tool celebrating religious, ethnic or nationalist agendas and, as a corollary, defining the `other.' Tradition can be seen in opposition to modernity, or as its source. For architects interested in the use of traditional architectural sources as inspiration for their work, `critical regionalism' offers a body of theory developed by Alexander Tzonis and Diane Lefevre in the Netherlands and widely articulated by Kenneth Frampton, architectural historian at Columbia University. Vernacular architecture is an important source for the critical regionalist. However, Frampton points out that `. . . critical regionalism is a recuperative, selfconscious, critical endeavor, and nothing can be further from the vernacular in the initial sense of the term.'3 While by no means devaluing vernacular traditions, Frampton focuses attention on processes of critique and reinterpretation. This is a highly selfconscious process which, however, can facilitate an architecture which `mediates' between the homogenising tendencies of modern design thinking and the particular identities of culture. The only constant is that traditions reflect value systems and that, in architecture, those values are manifest not only in built artifacts, but in the reception of those artifacts by the many communities that encounter them. Kultermann notes that `the majority of new buildings in the Arab states remain within the vocabulary of Western architecture' whether designed by prominent European or American architects or by local architects, most of whom were trained in the West or in local schools with Western curricula. On the other hand, it is also clear that both Western and Arab architects have made serious efforts to reinterpret the vernacular, optimistically suggesting that common understandings among cultures are attainable. Most of the Western architects involved in the Arab states are familiar and thoroughly published. However, with the exception of Hassan Fathy, architects practicing in the Arab world are not widely known. Thus, Kultermann's decision to `profile' selected architects is most welcome. Iraq's Mohamed
2 Robert Campbell, `Is There an American Architecture?.' Architectural Record, April, 1999. 3 Kenneth Frampton, `Ten Points on an Architecture of Regionalism: A Provisional Polemic.' Center, Vol 3. University of Texas, Austin.

Saleh Makiya and Rifat Chadirji, Morocco's Elie res, Azagury, Abdeslem Faraoui and Patrice de Mazie Algeria's Roland Simounet, and Jordan's Rasem Badran have produced distinguished work of more than local importance. Hassan Fathy's `profile' is the most extensive, primarily because of his seminal role in the use of vernacular building form. His emphasis on the value of local culture in resistance to inappropriate Western imports has inspired an entire generation of architects in the difficult search for a new synthesis in architecture. His writings have been published world-wide and have also inspired Western architects dismayed by the sterility of much recent building. Kultermann provides extensive footnotes and an outstanding bibliography, partially compensating for some lapses. Biographical notes on architects are useful, but compromised by inconsistent identification of location of practice, date of birth/death, and significance. Given the emphasis on the interpretation of vernacular form, it is disturbing not to have visual documentation; a wind tower in Qatar is the only indigenous form pictured. Furthermore, although there are many photographs, there are almost no plans or sections of buildings to reinforce commentary in the text, and many buildings are discussed with no illustrations whatsoever. There is little illustration of natural or urban context, and buildings, therefore, are presented as objects isolated from physical and cultural context. Furthermore, the book is mostly about architects and signature projects; the communities of citizens and craftsmen which figure so much in the Aga Khan Awards, for example, are nowhere to be found, and the living vernacular building of places such as Upper Egypt or the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco do not merit mention. The active discourse among professionals and in academia about regional responses in contemporary contexts are only obliquely considered. Finally, the publisher might have been more careful in finding typographic errors. Nonetheless, Contemporary Architecture in the Arab States is an important book. It makes one region of non-Western architecture more accessible to a Western audience, and its highlighting of architects working in the Arab world illuminates the role of culture in design, as well as a significant body of work. There is much to be learned from the ideas presented in the introduction, and its presentation of a wealth of architectural examples suggests many paths for future research. Whether or not a `renaissance' is indeed taking place remains an open question, pending more substantial investigation and the judgement of history.
William Bechhoefer, FAIA is Professor and Director of Regional and International Studies in Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park.

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