Search

This study aimed to investigate the architect of the Grand Mosque of Al- Mashun Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Four persons are alleged to be the architect of the mosque, which was built by the Sultan of Deli, Makmun Al-Rasyid Perkasa Alamsyah from 1906-1909. Their names are Adolf J. Dingemans, J.A. Tiendemans, Klingenberg, and Theo van Erp. All of them are Dutch. However, who was the real architect of the mosque remains uncertain. The four names are mentioned in many sources, but no evidence or argumentation is provided. The attributions will be critically examined to find out who is the most likely candidate. The method of this research was a critical review and descriptive analysis of all the collected information, and the interpretation of some physical evidence from the field survey. However, this research did not find who indeed the architect of the Grand Mosque of Al -Mashun Medan. The attribution still needs to carefully investigated because the more definite evidence is still required. It only found that the most convincing assumption is that the architect of the mosque is Theo van Erp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the build environment's products, the existence of the building has a positive and negative contribution towards the surrounding. Along with the emerging of the environmental problems, the architecture sector offers the implementation of the sustainable architecture concept of each architecture object include the traditional and modern building. The application of this concept is the solution to solve the environment, social and economic problems which keep emerging. The aim of this concept is the improvement of the quality of those three aspects and the life of humanity itself. This research aims to find the implementation of sustainable architecture's theory on the vernacular mosque in Aceh. Masjid Tuha, Indrapuri, Aceh Besar is the object of the research. The method is descriptive qualitative which describes the result of observation. The observation is based on the research instrument. The result shows that Masjid Tuha, Indrapuri, Aceh Besar applies 20 of 34 sustainable architecture's indicators. The cultural conservation aspect implements the most numerous signs which mean the existence of the vernacular building itself is one concept of sustainable architecture. However, some other implementations need to be improved to get the best quality of execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque is one of the most beautiful and salient examples of Iranian architecture of the Safavid era, in Isfahan. Despite the scientific studies on the architecture of this mosque, its sacred and semantic concepts have been overlooked behind its hidden values. Therefore, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque has been studied as a human-made place using the phenomenological approach to architecture, in order to understand the importance of inducing the concept of genius loci; and by examining each of the elements and comparing them to the ideas and components of place. The authors try to answer the question that what environmental qualities of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque build its genius loci? The research method used in this paper was phenomenology and information were gathered by library studies. The result of the research indicates that this Mosque has significant values, including semantic load, and there is a relationship between its elements and their material and semantic qualities created by concepts such as enclosure, span, and space. Thus, this integrated logical system confers Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque a genius loci which has been a meaningful quality of this space throughout the centuries and continues to remind the future generations of Iranian cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tahfidz Islamic boarding school is a traditional boarding school that focuses on learning Islam and Quran. Recently, the need for this kind of school for junior and senior high school is increasing in Indonesia. One of the cities that has a high demand for that kind of education is Nganjuk. Nganjuk has many traditional Tahfidz boarding schools that are already running for decades. The design of the existing tahfidz schools is not suitable for modern life, while people nowadays search the school in a contemporary design. There is a paradox in this statement that people want a modern design for a traditional education method. The extending tradition design approach is the appropriate answer to this problem. This study aims to find the proper design for tahfidz boarding school using extending tradition design approach. The method for this design approach used tradition as the basic idea for the design and modified it to be suitable for modern society. The concept of the design is a tradition of togetherness, the culture of continuity, and tradition of socializing. The idea is appropriate for the tahfidz and the Islamic tradition values in modern life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eclecticism style is one of the European architectural styles that have appeared in the buildings of Cairo in 13-14 A.H / 19-20A.D, which means the trend toward consolidation of various models and buildings in the previous civilizations and merge them and out in one building. This style has known as quoted-style or trend in architecture or eclectic architecture. The research is an attempt to Inventory these buildings that are built on this architectural style. This research follows the historical approach to knowing the origin of this architectural style and how it moved and spread in Cairo architecture in 1314 A.H / 1920 A.D. Then follows a descriptive and analytical approach of examples of these buildings built on this style, and analysis its architectural and artistic elements. In the end, the research has reached some critical results. For example, the primary purpose of this quotation and transportation is to give historical and technical value to these monuments. But unfortunately, the method of this quotation came in the wrong way. Thus losing the principle of unity and harmony that characterized the Islamic architecture, they unwittingly distorted the heritage value. These buildings became a collection of models that are not harmonious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jharokha is a distinctive feature of the architecture of Indian Subcontinent of medieval times. The study of the built heritage features is a way to discover and know about the old culture and society. A Jharokha is an oriel window projecting from upper storeys of a building used in medieval Indian architecture. Jharokha window projecting from the wall face of the building in an upper storey overlooking a street, market or any other open space. This study aims to trace the origin of traditional Jharokha window used in Indian subcontinent. In order to do it, the available data and literature have been carefully reviewed and studied to draw inferences. This study shows that the trend of a protruding window similar to Jharokhas seems to be present in different regions with their regional architectural flavor. The Indian architecture has influenced by various empires, and a lot of external influences came to this region because of the trade route. The external and regional influences have been studied to investigate the Jharokha window origin and form. The 3rd century BC balconies in Mauriyan Empire seems to amalgamate with the windows of Islamic architecture and developed finally into a local window form in the shape of Jharokha. The style and features of Jharokha vary concerning the local material and techniques available. The different era and different regions adopted this window form according to their own needs and aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, researchers of Arab urban centres will observe a few differences between Arab and Western cities. The Arab city is now westernized; this quality cannot protect it from the hot dominant climate, and obscures the architectural heritage acquired over centuries. Traditional Arab-Islamic urbanism has been ignored for decades, and Arab architects have been unwilling to revive traditional features or complying with the New Urbanism movement, which emerged in the early 1990s. This study reveals why the conventional urbanism of Arab-Islamic cities has been ignored, and investigates the potential of bringing it back to the modern metropolis by comparing medieval Cairo with contemporary Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. This paper will highlight the urban values inherited from the historic Arab-Islamic city, and the precautions that should be considered before reviving it. This research concludes that the traditional Arab city is rich with architectural and urban techniques that could be innovatively applied to contemporary municipalities. Present-day planners should learn from urban heritage, rather than dismissing it. When re-introducing old models, today's planners should focus on solving the paradox between the need for narrow, winding streets to maximize shade, and wide, straight streets to facilitate the movement of pedestrians and permeability. Architects should examine beforehand changes in sociocultural life based on feminism and concerns about public and private spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the cultural background similarity of Arab Islamic architects' seniors and pioneers, and the existence of constants representing legitimacy, the final architectural product varies depending on the individual creativity in relating the architectural elements, either elements that pertain to the identity representation of the inherited architecture or elements pertain to the identity representation of the Arab Islamic contemporary architecture product. That created a specific style for each architect according to the degree of their conclusions, investigation's strategy of traditional roots in their products and works, which are often associated with certain values and the ambit of their interest to represent the identity of contemporary Arab Islamic architecture. In addition to the existence of two main strong motives, the need for affiliation and the need for distinguishing oneself and diversity, in parallel with the presence of the methodological pluralism for every Muslim architect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of unity and diversity is the most important feature that characterized the Islamic architecture, and the Islamic religion had a active role in the creation of this phenomenon. Muslim architect innovate architecture consistent with the Islamic religion and compatible with the environment and architecture of countries that under Islam. As the Madrasat Buildings is one of the Islamic architecture types characterized with unity and diversity. From analysis of the previous studies that deal with Madrasat Buildings in Islamic architecture appears that of the evaluating of spatial configuration of these buildings is insufficiency and unclearness according to various Islamic styles. this paper has taken this case as a problem for discussion. This paper aims to discover the Effects of the Variation of Styles in Islamic Architecture on the Changing of The Spatial Configuration of Madrasat Buildings according to each style. Space Syntax analysis has been applied for a sample of an elected Madrasat Buildings in the different Islamic regions. The research Investing a group of software as a Space Syntax, this methodology for the rules of spatial configuration as the most objectivity and accuracy for analysis space. The paper divided to two sections, first is a theoretical construction of the phenomenon through the previous literature, while the second deal with group of different examples of Islamic Madrasat Buildings through the software to reach a determination of the spatial configuration styles of Islamic Madrasat Buildings. At last the research ends with group of conclusion illustrate the phenomenon in a scientific manner accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses ancient Islamic architecture, focusing on the Ottoman architect Sinan and the text "Tezkiretü'l-bünyān," which is attributed to him. A passage in the text which describes the transportation of columns of marble to the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, in the Ottoman Empire, is highlighted. The Muslim faith of Sinan is shown to be extremely important to him in his architecture. Jale Erzen, a scholar of Ottoman texts, describes the literary complexity of "Tezkiretü'l-bünyān."

The main purpose of this article is to substantiate the proposition that mathematicians and architect-artisans had collaborated through special meetings, called conversazioni in the text, for the application of geometry to architecture in the Islamic world. A meeting reportedly attended by Omar Khayyam furnishes convincing evidence for this proposition. The study expands on the untitled treatise written by Omar Khayyam as a response to a question raised at this meeting. The treatise is about a problem that concerns an ornamental pattern, the story of which can be traced in two other works on geometry: Abu 'l-Wafa' al-Buzajani's book, "What the Artisan Requires of Geometric Constructions," and an anonymous Persian treatise on ornamental geometry, "On Interlocking Similar or Corresponding Figures." While these three works are analyzed in the article, the wider implications of the collaboration between mathematicians and artisans concerning the field of architecture are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lacking many of the documentary and archival sources available to scholars of the medieval Western world, historians of Islamic architecture are forced to turn to another feature of architectural decoration to reconstruct the building tradition: the written word. A builder's signature on a set of luster tiles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art allows us to connect the set to an early-14th-century shrine complex in central Iran. Reading of another inscription on the tiles, hitherto unnoticed and containing a signature and date, allows us to reconstruct the building campaign at the site and to evaluate the position of builders and potters in Mongol society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the factors underlying the traditional Islamic urban planning and design. It states that environmental and social roots characterized by Islamic culture have been largely missed. The traditional Islamic urban design has been influenced by religious observance, which describes the characteristic of traditional city and neighborhood planning, climatic control, which compares the traditional building with a modern counterpart, and acoustic privacy, which studies the acoustic performance of traditional houses. In addition, it explores the role played by planning in conjunction with architectural design in overcoming climatic challenges.

Debate has arisen over the ability of Muslim architects in the first two centuries of Islam to determine true qiblas accurately. Some believe that they had such a capability, while others think not. The argument could be more complex—perhaps some architects could, while others could not; perhaps their accuracy changed over time or over greater distances from qibla targets. Here, we investigated how the accurate qiblas of 60 mosques or related structures were, using data from Daniel Gibson's books and websites. Contrasts were drawn between theories that the qiblas of early mosques were—or were not—generally accurate. If one were to assume that Mecca was the only qibla, qiblas would not appear to have been accurate. However, if one were to assume that qiblas changed, it would be found that qiblas were accurate to plus or minus two degrees in over half of the cases and accurate within plus or minus five degrees in over 80% of cases. Accuracy was not related to distance but did appear to improve over historical time, while distance from the target cities and historical time were positively associated. The average qibla accuracy had a near zero error, with random variations on either side of that zero error. The overall distribution was not normal—kurtotic—because a greater accuracy was found than would have been expected with a normal distribution; however, the pattern deviated more from a uniform distribution than it did from a normal distribution. To try to synthesize the competing theories, we analyzed data for only 14 of the 60 mosques, those presumed to face towards Mecca, and we found fairly high degrees of qibla accuracy with nearly 43% of qiblas within two degrees of accuracy and nearly 80% within five degrees of accuracy. Comparing the accuracy of Meccan qiblas with other qiblas of the same century, we found no significant differences in azimuth errors. While some architects were more accurate than others, early Muslim architects seemed, in general, quite capable of placing qiblas with reasonable accuracy, even though their accuracy may have improved slightly over the first two centuries of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the 1986 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture. It is stated that the awards was established to encourage building and design that would meet modern-day needs and enrich the future physical environment of the Islamic world. The third round of the Awards indicates a crisis in creativity and innovation. It is indicated that the key concept the year's Awards is adaptive reuse, directed at local craftsmen and incoming tourists.