SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ARAB ARCHITECTURE AND WESTERN ARCHITECTURE

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AND WESTERN ARCHITECTURE
*1Ministry Of Local Administration, Jordan.
DOI : https://www.doi.org/10.56726/IRJMETS33496
ABSTRACT
Architecture is the human tool that expresses societies in the physical world. Hence , the urban fabric is a
physical mirror of everything _ that is not physical , including the ideological aspects and dimensions that
determine the objective reality of that society in the past , present and future.
There is no art form more closely related to a particular society than the form of its expressions.
The idea of comparison and dialogue between different stages of the history of the same civilization , whatever
it may be , or between different Civilizations , is an important pillar in the development of architectural
philosophical thought , which works to simplify the equation to its primary factors and dismantle the links
between its elements in order to understand the relationships and the foundations of the rules , leading to the
logical conclusions with Refutation and negation , which are the simplest rules of systematic , organized
thinking that they refuse to accept repeated axioms as facts , depending on ( their repetition ) as a factor for
recognizing its validity , as presented to us by the philosopher Karl Popper.
Architecture is a department of the Faculty of Arts, which focuses on designing buildings in terms of the
external form, the purpose of the building and the determination of internal dimensions. Architectural
designers meet with clients to determine the construction cost, purpose and time required for delivery .
Therefore, architecture designers are keen to achieve the purpose of the building, so that the benefit will return
to its users , whether it Is it a company , hospital , hotel or others.
I. INTRODUCTION
The architecture of any people does not only express all this concretely by being the result and the summation
of all the contradictions that that society embodies. It also helps in formulating its vision.. It is at the same time
a mirror of the activities of that society and an important tool for formulating its identity.
This explains to what degree is the profession of architecture responsible for formulating and shaping the
taste.. and to what degree is it merely a carrier and a conductor?! We cannot deny the fact that the taste of the
ruling elite controls the style of buildings that give an area its main features that distinguish it, and that are
distinct features that embody what the ruling elite wants. Therefore, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Soviet
Russia produced styles of architecture that are easily recognizable and described. So did the unique
establishments of less formal and informal societies such as we find in various parts of the Middle East and
North Africa.
This does not mean that artistic expression is completely restricted to social reality.. Artists (architects,
painters, or sculptors) play, beyond any doubt, a role in defining, demonstrating, and improving society's vision
of itself and its aesthetic reality.
But architects are more constrained than other artists, as they have to face clients and financing.. They have to
deal with the need for their creations to be able to function properly, and to be subject to a harsh set of strict
controls and restrictions.. They have to interact with society as they represent the arts most associated with it.
economically, politically , socially, culturally and religiously .
II. ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE
Scientists suggest that the human race’s quest for construction began at a very early stage in human history,
and although there is no exact beginning of the history of architecture in the world, the oldest traces of
buildings that were found were from periods at the end or before the end of the ice age, when the slow changes
in the nature of The planet and the melting of ice that was accompanied by large floods and earthquakes, which
prompted humans in separate places of the world to create anti-seismic buildings that still exist to this day,
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which are the pyramids that were built in both Egypt and Bolivia, although the oldest hierarchical buildings
known to humans were in Iraq and Zimbabwe, and it is known that the old grand buildings also bore a religious
character, whether the pyramids, or the ancient Greek temples on top of the mountains.
III. MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Architecture moved to modernity after World War I and the emergence of new architectural styles in Western
countries based on the rational use of modern materials used in construction, and planning based on the
function of the building with the abandonment of decorations and historical precedents in general, and by the
middle of the nineteenth century architects were working on Absorbing modern technology in design and
implementation, and formulating new and modern styles of architecture to replace the previous forms in
architecture with the functional approach. The function of decorations in architecture continued to be reduced
until the year 1960 AD, when a reaction appeared to the previous forms, and architects became more interested
in context and traditions, with the return of decoration in a distinctive way. Modernist.
The difference between architecture and architecture
Architecture depends on design in terms of the technical form, but architecture takes into account all
engineering standards in architectural construction, as follows:
• The architect specializes in designing places for the building's electrical and lighting systems, while the
architecture designer is concerned with the building's internal and external shape only.
• Architectural designers are interested in the costs of building materials, while the architect takes into account
the cost of all equipment for the implementation of the project.
• The architect has the ability to convert all mathematical calculations on the ground during construction, while
the designers put calculations for their drawings in theory only.
Architecture_
It is a branch of the College of Engineering. Architectural engineering takes into account all engineering aspects
during the construction process, whether mechanical, electrical, or industrial. In addition to the accuracy of the
calculations during the implementation of drawings and designs on the ground. The engineer designs structural
systems and building mechanics, and with the diversity in the purposes of urban facilities and technological
progress, the tasks of architects have increased in designing the basics of technological systems during building
construction.
ARCHITECTURE ON THE ONE HAND AND CONTEMPORARY WESTERN
ARCHITECTURE ON THE OTHER HAND
Hence, this research intends to compare two basic elements in architecture that form the backbone of any
urban fabric or architectural spatial space, which is the (positive) spatial space, which is the architectural block
consisting of walls and structural partitions that separate the inside from the outside and distinguish the public
from the private. As for the second, it is the (negative) spatial space, which is simply the opposite of the first, or
it is the streets, corridors, alleys, and ways of movement, either within the urban fabric if the subject of analysis
and study is the urban fabric, or it is the internal corridors and distributors if the subject of the study is the
building itself.
This research is concerned with proposing and tracking a hypothesis that the fundamental difference in the
relationship between negative and positive between traditional Arab architecture on the one hand and
contemporary Western architecture on the other hand.
So what is this difference?
A quick superficial view of two urban fabrics of two cities, one traditional Arab and the other Western, shows
that there are significant differences in the nature of the formation of these two fabrics, as the urban urban
fabric in any traditional Arab city appears to be spontaneous planning with a tortuous network of streets and
roads that range from wide to narrow, ending with roads. private non-window .
On the other hand, we find that the western city follows a different planning pattern, where the streets appear
to be basic in planning and impose themselves at the expense of the surrounding buildings and blocks, in
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addition to that they often follow chess divisions and straight lines that start from large squares and squares
and run in all directions and angles, but with straight lines.
This major difference in the overall structural organization of the two cities has important repercussions and
concepts in the mechanism and nature of realizing the spatial space or its relationship to the surroundings of
movement spaces such as streets, corridors and roads, in addition to the mechanism of forming the urban
urban fabric as a whole between the two cities.
In the case of the traditional Arab city, the studies that examined the issue of urban formation and the various
mechanisms by which the city was formed were described as a (phasing) building through which the city grew,
with some exceptions, as in Baghdad al-Mansur rounded or others, not prior (readiness) in building and
planning, as is the case in most western cities. Concerned studies, such as the study of Basim Hakim, “The Arab
Islamic City” and others, in addition to presenting models of traditional Arab cities such as Tunisia and others,
sought to dismantle the elements of the traditional Arab city and then research the mechanism by which its
various elements were formed .
On the other hand, we find studies such as Leon Krier, which looks at the western city and its elements that
make it up. urbanization of the two cities.
First of all, we find it useful to redefine or classify two groups of spatial spaces at the level of one building, for
example, and they are: first, the main spatial spaces , such as main rooms, halls, courtyards, etc., and secondly,
secondary spatial spaces such as corridors, stairs, service facilities, and others. The design and formation of any
building is the result of the interaction between these two groups of spaces . The fundamental difference
between different cultures or between design in traditional Arab architecture and Western architecture lies in
the nature of the balance between the control of one group over the other and the importance it acquires within
the design.
In the traditional Arab city in general and in the architectural design in miniature, the (negative) space occupies
less importance than its counterpart in Western architecture, in addition to its distinction and clarity from its
counterpart in Western architecture, although it does not gain importance in terms of geometric formation and
is often produced to accommodate sudden changes in The direction or movement that characterizes traditional
Arab architecture.
We find the exact opposite in the Western concept of the negative space, as it acquires an importance parallel to
the positive space in terms of geometric formation and also in terms of control and location in the building or
city, and we often find buildings in Western architecture formed according to times and methods in a way that
is sometimes (by cutting like cheese squares) Or, at other times, we find the secondary void spaces according to
our classification above, and they occupied distinct and sometimes important geometric sites and shapes that
are more visible than the main void spaces . The main halls and auditoriums were hidden underground or
occupied their positions on non-main or secondary axes .
This phenomenon is rarely found or perhaps non-existent in the design concept in traditional architecture, as
the analysis of any building shows a balanced relationship between the two spatial groups with the dominance
of the main spaces in the design in axis and form, while the secondary spatial group is used as additions and
fillings between the first and absorbs any shifts in order to preserve On (sovereignty) a group of basic spaces
for the building or for the city in general.
This is the most noticeable difference between the Arab and Western concepts of the positive and negative
vacuum in terms of plasticity, and this does not mean that the differences are limited to these plastic aspects, as
there must be social and cultural repercussions that are the result and influences at the same time.
There are prominent cases of such interaction with global currents. Both the negative and the positive. Among
the works of Western architects affecting the Islamic world.. we find “Louis Kahn” and his influence on the
architecture of Bangladesh, and the architect “ Benshaft ” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and there is no doubt
that the influence of Arab thought and Western architecture is very great, while there are no similar examples
The influence of contemporary architects from the Islamic world on the Western world is rare, such as what we
find in the ideas of “Hassan Fathi” that were discussed in Western architecture schools or the writings of “Rifaat
Chadirji” read in the fields of Western architectural thought .
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V. WHO ARE THE BUILDERS OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
Islam appeared in the Arabian Peninsula in a culturally poor environment, and the Hijaz had not known until
that date significant urban and architectural works, and therefore the Arab conquerors who came to the Levant
did not bring with them an architectural art, but rather their role in the emergence of art, in the beginning, was
evident In their inclination to create and build, and to encourage artistic production, and in their interest in
renewing and developing old methods, in order to be in harmony with their tastes, beliefs, and customs, and to
fulfill their desires, and we do not forget that the arts in the past were to meet the desires of rulers and serve
religions.
The people of the Levant who undertook the construction work were people of talent and long-standing
experience in art and architecture. Thus, it is to these and those newcomers that the credit for the emergence,
prosperity and development of Arab-Islamic art is due.
And we all know that there is a long-standing kinship between the conquering Arabs and the people of the
Levant, and that there is demographic and linguistic intermingling in the Arab region, which consists of the
Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and Mesopotamia for thousands of years. Thus, the region, after the emergence
and spread of Islam, included a new system of life, so the language was unified. Faith and civilization.
From this point of view, the Islamic civilization was established in the Umayyad era, and its builders were not,
as some Arabs of the desert imagined them to be, new to Islam, but rather they were a mixture of these and
their neighbors and relatives in the Levant, among them the ancient Arabs, the descendants of the builders of
civilizations, and among them the modern ones, who are spread in the metropolises and outskirts cities, such as
the Ghassanids, and the tribes scattered in the Euphrates Island (Rabia, Ghalib, Mudar, and Tanukh).
VI. EMERGENCE STAGE
We return to Arab-Islamic art to confirm that it did not start from scratch, but rather benefited from the arts
prevailing in the Levant, so it took from it and was influenced by it, just like the arts of other civilizations.
Here we would like to point out that quotation is a constructive, civilized phenomenon, unlike imitation, and
that the civilized person is the one who takes and gives Thus, the first century after the conquest, the era of the
Umayyad dynasty, witnessed an architectural production in which creativity and originality were evident, as
the artists’ ability to develop, transform, and use the borrowed elements emerged in a manner consistent with
the needs, with the Arab taste, and the new culture, and presented a product that distinguishes everyone who
sees it from what preceded it. We looked at the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, and we did not find it imitating
the temples and churches that were built. Likewise, the palaces of the Umayyads do not resemble the palaces of
the Romans and the Byzantines.
VII. CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE: ORIGINALITY AND EVOLUTION
The process of quotation, modification, and development was in the founding period, and during the first
century, but after that, the artistic production began to move away little by little from the origins from which it
was taken, and the process of renewal and innovation took hold, and thus the similarity between the elements
of architecture and decoration in Arab-Islamic art diminished, and between its counterparts In the arts prior to
Islam. This was evident in the diversity of designs and architectural elements, such as domes, ceilings, and
doors, in arches and columns, and in all inscriptions and decorations, as we shall see.
The nature of the facilities and their function, which came to meet the needs of the Islamic faith and Arab
culture, were among the most important reasons for the emergence of distinguished personality and originality.
Among the general characteristics that characterized Arab-Islamic art in the field of architecture and
decoration: diversification of elements, observance of symmetry, inclusion of decoration and its coverage of
voids, avoidance of depicting humans and living creatures, especially in religious buildings, and compensation
for that with other decorative subjects, botanical, engineering, and nature scenes. The palaces of the Umayyads
differed from that, because, as I see it, they were built and decorated, without the supervision and guidance of
the caliphs, so the Shami artist acted in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon according to inherited traditions. Such
characteristics that gave Islamic art its distinctive personality, made its production a general character and
unity, and what confirms this unity is that we can identify its production easily and conveniently, wherever we
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find it, and at any time. However, it is not permissible to understand from this unity the complete congruence in
artistic works, as the installations that are erected here and there are not an imitation of a specific model, no
matter how perfect and beautiful this model may be.
Individual tastes and desires have contributed to the formation of architectural structures, along with the
inherited traditions and building materials available in each region. The existence of many art schools within
the scope of Islamic art, the mother school. The Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Seljuk, Ayyubid, Mamluk and
Ottoman art were related to the architectural production in Syria and the Arab countries.
It is noticeable that these schools correspond to prominent historical eras, because we notice with the
emergence of each political era, or when a ruling family assumes the emergence of new trends and influences
on the features of the arts, which soon become clear little by little, to give the products of that era a distinctive
character.
Here I would like to remind you of the mistake some researchers make when they say Egyptian art or Syrian
art, referring to a stand-alone art school, within the scope of the Arab-Islamic civilization. It is correct to
attribute the arts to their original schools, so we say, for example: the Ayyubid art in Syria or the Mamluk art in
Egypt, and the same applies to other Arab countries, and all…