CAN MUSIC of A PARTICULAR REGION BE REFLECTED IN the ...

69

?

Can music of a particular

region be reflected in the region’s

architecture Mahmoud M. Riad, Architect/Principal, Riad Generations Architecture

Many scholars have discussed the relationship between architecture and music. Some discuss architecture influencing music, as the evolution of western classical music is largely based on acoustical conditions of the performance space. Others discuss music influencing architecture, as the use of music – or music theory principles - in the design process has the ability to expand the designer’s creativity (either through synesthesia or algorithmic design methodsa). However, most of the discussion is aimed at understanding the common values and characteristics between both arts, like proportion or rhythm, and not necessarily that one art directly influences the other. While these discussions have mainly used western music as a foundation, the research presented in this article aims at investigating these relationships in a non-western setting, transforming

such correspondence ideas between the two arts into a regional study. Music would be used as a cultural identifier, to unlock "hidden dimensions" shared in the region’s culture, to produce an architecture fitting within the cultural context.The case study site chosen for this exploration is historic Cairo, between the Fatimid Walls, as this research calls for a deeper understanding and evolution of Cairo's heritage. For the past two centuries, Cairo, like many third world major cities, has continuously been abandoning its cultural heritage and embarking on a process of westernization – starting with the Parisian inspired Downtown Cairo, and fast forwarding to the American Suburban town configuration, with the faux Greco-Roman fashion makeovers, of the 6th of October satellite cities. On the other hand, those who seek to hold onto the city’s identity are abusing traditional

ART

70 THE CHRONICLES, FALL 2009

motifs in a manner that breeds cliché and absurdity; either by rejecting any claims for architectural evolution, implying that the entire run of what they define as “Islamic Architecture”b has been forever immune to development; or others who imply principles of defamiliartization and critical regionalismc rather superficially, exploiting certain forms used throughout our architectural history (domes, minarets, or even ancient Egyptian temple facades) without fully understanding the circumstances of which such forms were used in the first place.The following article will attempt to address the issues of aesthetics and authenticity of the oriental / Arab spirit (ruh el sharkeya) as cultural elements, in light of the authors recent thesis exploration and research, titled Architecture: Music, City, and Culture, at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland, which explored possible connections between Egyptian / Arab music and Egyptian / Arab architecture. This research and exploration attempts to provide designers in the Egyptian and Arab world with abstract design processes that are not form based but principle based. This article will document the first steps that were conducted in this ongoing investigation.

Some of the initial experiments in applying architectonic form to music were through a series of animations. Since all research on this topic use western music as a reference, it was felt that comparing a western music piece with an Arabic piece was vital. The pieces chosen were Pachelbel’s canon in Dmaj, and Um Kalthoum’s “Alf Leila we leila”.The music was translated into a visual lexicon using two methods: rhythmical and algorithmic. The rhythmical method assigns a column form for each note played and uses the time duration of the notes to adjust the spacing between them– in other words, applying 3D forms to the sheet music, yet it doesn’t distinguish between the musical instruments in the piece. The algorithmic method assigns a specific value to each instrument and attempts to emulate the performance of the instruments by emphasizing the musician’s performance attitude, through musical techniques like vibrato and dynamics.

Figure 1: Visual representation of Pachelbel's Canon in Dmaj

ART

71THE CHRONICLES, FALL 2009

Figure 2: Visual representation of Um Kalthoum's Alf Leila we Leila

Pairing these animations together was found to be very revealing. The initial expectations were that the differences between the music in respect to rhythm and musical intervals would be apparent in these animations… They are not… What is apparent however is the extent to which the musical structures differ. The Canon piece is very cyclical in nature, there is a simple chord progression acting as a central unifying element, and the themes and variations are being applied on to it - whereas the Arabic piece is much more episodical, consisting of various movements with different musical forms. Both musical structures are very typical to their musical regions, as the cyclical nature of the canon and fugue was introduced by J.S. Bach in the 17th century, and the episodical nature (known in Arabic as Fasil) was originated in ottoman court music. The comparison could be then made between this idea of musical structure with some of the architecture of the same period - the Central “big room” space of Palladio, to the series of courtyards, or episodes, of the ottoman house.

Figure 3: Comparisons between Palladio's Palazzo Antonini in Udine and Bayt al Suhaimi in Cairo, paired with their respective visual animation representations

ART


The linear sequences of the abstract animations start to suggest movement through a path along the built environment. Such analysis animations could also be conducted on real paths and streets, in order to translate it to the same abstract visual language of the music animations. The street chosen to perform this task on is al Mu’izz street in Cairo, the main thoroughfare and most preserved street of the historic city. Through the analysis, nine different zones were identified. Each zone is an episode, with its own identity, texture, and thresholds upon entering and exiting (the boundaries of each zone are often signified by an opening of a certain view vista, usually a minaret, which is often accompanied by a significant change in street width and a dramatic change of character). The next step in this process becomes site selection. The street has not been subject to any significant urban planning reconstruction ever since the Ottoman Empire (1517 – 1798), and many historic buildings have been torn down, before it could be established as a historic monument, to make way for disturbingly ugly low income modern housing units. The ongoing masterplan process starts off by highlighting a few soft sites that can be torn down and replaced by a series of urban design interventions. Each one of these interventions would deal with the macro-function of the street, which is now a public museum of Islamic culture, as well as the micro-character of each zone, all using ideas of Arabic music in design generation.

Figure 4: Existing site plan with zones highlighted along with proposed thesis masterplan

The first zone, the moqadema / introduction, was the first site picked for further exploration, in hope to return to the street later in the process. Using the episodical ottoman house as a paradigm, the proposed building is set to explore ideas of the maqam in Arabic music. The maqam is the foundation of all melody in Arabic music, while the tetrachord is the most basic element of a maqam (a maqam is usually formed by two or more tetrachords). Each tetrachord has a unique pattern of intervals and rules for how

ART


you move between notes, thus maqams have very different kinds of structure, feel, and importance in music than western modal scales. These tetrachords and maqams are in the center of this architectural exploration, as the project is taking these basic units through juxtaposition, seeing how they interrelate in architectonic form.

There are many maqams, but the ones that I have chosen to focus on in this exploration are Rast, Bayati, Hijaz, Saba, and Sikah; the same five that are traditionally used for the call to prayer in Islam. Due to the structure and spacing of their musical intervals, each of these maqams have different characters and personalities that can be translated in architectonic elements: proportion, surface treatment, light, pattern, acoustics, materials etc. The intent of this exploration is to create 5 different spaces that correspond to each of the characters of these maqams, dictating the proposed building to be organized around five clusters of rooms. The most contributing factor that led to the generation of character is the application of the maqam interval proportions onto the vertical surface of the rooms. Spatially, each room is manipulated to emulate the character of each maqam. Upon entering the Northern gate, one finds themselves inside the Rast room. The decision to place the room right in front of the gate was due to symbolic reasons, as Rast being the most celebrated maqam in egyptian music, used in most nationalistic and many folkloric songs.

Figure 5: Space based on the Rast maqam

The Bayati room is the room with many attitudes towards space, adhering to the notion that Bayati is the maqam where many variations occur; scholars don't agree on a distinct character, but many agree that the maqam has different flavors.

ART


Figure 6: Space based on the Bayati maqam

The Hijaz room has a very distinct and clear difference between the smaller and larger spaces, adhering to the Hijaz maqam interval pattern size (1/2 - 1 1/2 - 1/2).

Figure 7: Space based on the Hijaz maqam

Saba, the maqam attributed to music of sadness, is designed to utilize acoustics to create a vast echoing room, with a minimal source of light creeping into the building from the dome.

ART


Figure8: Space based on the Saba maqam

Figure 9: Space based on the Sikah maqam

Finally, the Sikah room serves as a tight gallery space, peeking views into all the rooms, adhering to the notion that the Sikah maqam has the narrowest range, and the Sikah tetrachord is commonly paired with most of the other tetrachords, out of the five in Arabic music.

Furthermore, during the research phase of the thesis, Architecture: Music, City, and Culture, a number of studies were done using maqam intervals as visual proportion systems on a number of minarets along al Mui’zz el din street. Proportionate systems have been used throughout history as a form generator, and the following figures are an exploration to test out if maqam intervals could serve as a useful design tool. On the figures below, the first minaret iteration on the furthest left is the actual minaret, which is then sectioned off with intervals to match a common maqam. The actual minarets all fall under approximate correspondence to one of the maqams, and the next iteration next to it depicts the minaret had it followed the ideal interval proportions of the maqam (notice how very miniscule the change is between the actual and ideal iterations). The following four minarets are stretched and distorted, depicting how each would differ in character according to the maqam interval proportions being applied onto it. It should

ART


be noted that this does not mean that these maqam intervals were explicitly used in the design process, but it is further proof that such proportionate systems exist beyond the realm of Arabic music, and could be manifest in other aspects within the Arab culture.

Figure 10: Maqam analysis on the minaret of al Najm al Deen Ayoub mosque

Figure 11: Maqam analysis on the minerat of Bab Zuwaila

Figure 12: Maqam analysis on the minaret of al Barquq mosque

ART


The continuous challenge of this thesis is the re-evaluation of the Islamic architectural motif, while proposing a different approach, one removed from all religious justification, in understanding abstract ideas within the Islamic culture, promoting a process of modernization that is devoid of westernization and true to the authentic oriental spirit, al rouh al sharkeya. The initial hope of was to find clues within the region's attitude towards aesthetics within the arts and culture, to help push the architectural evolution in a direction worthy of competing within a global contemporary arena, while still retained of cultural authenticity and identity. This new paradigm of the architecture has yet to be tested, as what the thesis path lead to instead was a method of deconstructing music to get a better understanding about a region's culture on issues that may have previously overlooked or taken for granted. The result architecture is meant to be conceived as what critical regionalism would consider a defamiliarization of music. Through the use of proportional concepts of the maqam, the visitor is challenged to experience Arab music, and subsequently Arab culture, in a strange – unfamiliar way, slowly being more conscious of its meaning. Unfortunately, much like architectural globalization, there has been a process of musical globalization as well, and these concepts of maqams are in danger of extinction. Therefore, such defamiliarization of the musical concepts only work then with repeat visitors, after students and scholars come and study these maqams over extended periods of time, the building starts to reveal itself. After such connections are made, the student goes back out to rest of the city to make further observations within the urban native architecture - in hope to understand themselves better as Egyptians... in hope to understand themselves better as Arabs.

ENDNOTESa Synesthesia is a sensory phenomenon,

occurring in the limbic system of the brain, that means the mapping of one sense onto another – examples of this could be seeing colors when exposed to sounds, or colored letters (For more, see Cytowic, Richard E., The Man who Tasted Shapes, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1993). Algorithmic design processes entails assigning specific levels for each individual element in the design equation, and let the resultant form be dictated by the algorithm.b It should be mentioned that many scholars argue about the validity of using the name “Islamic Architecture”. As opposed to Renaissance Architecture, that has an explicit canon of ideals and principles, brought down by Alberti, Palladio, Michelangelo …etc, such design guidelines do not exist on Architecture in the Islamic world as a whole, but exist on a regional level. That is the reason each region within the Islamic world has it’s own autonomous character. For more, see Frishman, Martin / Khan, Hassan-Uddin, The Mosque: History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity, Thames & Hudson, London, 2002.

c Defamiliarize” is a term used by Victor Shklovsky, a member of the Russian Formalist group in revolutionary Russia. The concept was used as an artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance the perception of the familiar. The concept of “Defamiliarization” in critical regionalism is addressed in Tzonis, Alexander, and Lefaivre, Liane, paper on Critical Regionalism at the first International working seminar on Critical Regionalism, in 1989, College of Environmental Design, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Proceedings edited by Spyros Amourgis)

[email protected]

CAN MUSIC of A PARTICULAR REGION BE REFLECTED IN the ...

Documents