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Traditional Islamic-Arab House: Vocabulary

And Syntax
Dr. Abdel-moniem El-Shorbagy
Architecture Department, College of Engineering
Effat University, Saudi Arabia
aelshorbagy@effatuniversity.edu.sa

Abstract Houses represent the background or framework

for human existence. The Islamic-Arab house with its structural
clarity and beauty can be conceived as being generated from the
plan, which gave form and order to the space within as well as
measured and scaled by the human body and its experience. The
Islamic-Arab house was also established and based on a series of
sustainable-oriented principles. The design concept of the
Islamic-Arab house, problems, and solutions can be traced in
many of the existing traditional Arab architecture, in which
forms and spaces were dictated by habits and traditions. The aim
of this paper is to examine the architectural vocabulary which
governed the design concept of the Arab house and highlights
their distinctive characteristics. It also explores the essential
design problems, which affected the shape and the plan form of
all traditional Muslim houses, in relation to the physical
environment. A discussion of the way that tradition, culture, and
religion formed the basis of the Arab house design approach and
the continual reinvention of the plan will also be included.
However, the main objective of this research is to identify the
idealized spatial system of the Islamic-Arab house, which
became a methodological and conceptual tool to constitute the
basic vocabulary and syntax of its design.

Index Term Islamic-Arab House, Tradition, S ustainability,

Eco-Architecture, S yntax
I.
INT RODUCT ION
In many parts of the Islamic-Arab world, one can realise many
distinctive examples of traditional architecture, mainly houses.
Although there were socio-cultural differences in each region,
the design of houses retained a common architectural language
that responded to both the common hot arid zones climate and
the common religious needs. For example, the use of courtyard
and the employment of the windcatcher or mashrabiyyah. The
Islamic-Arab house is also one of the best examples that
express the sakina. The word sakina comes from the word
sakan, which is the Arabic name for a house and relates to
dwelling in peace and purity. The heritage of traditional
Islamic-Arab houses includes various forms, which were
developed in response to religious, cultural, and traditional
factors along with the specificity of the local built environment.
The remarkable traditional houses of medieval Cairo, the

stylish facades of Jeddahs townhouses, the windcatcher

(badgir) of the houses of Dubais Bastakia district, and the
courtyard houses of Yemen, are all evidence to the rich wealth
of Islamic-Arab residential architecture. Every architectural
element in the Islamic-Arab house represented a solution or an
answer to a different problem that appeared according to a
specific condition. They were a sequence of related problems,
which were met successfully to achieve a unified and a
harmonious house. In fact, the beauty of these traditional
houses represents an art form that has resulted from an
understanding of a unique mode of religious and cultural
human life.
II. VOCABULARY AND SYNTAX
My father's palace where every footstep had a meaning
[1]. This quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery expresses the
design concept of the traditional Islamic-Arab house, where
every step, forms and spaces were shaped by peoples habits
and tradition. The Islamic way of life strictly defined the
particular roles of man and woman in relation to the physical
environment. While the public areas in a house are the domain
of men, the private and family areas are the domain of women.
The privacy of the family was also an essential element which
affected the shape and the plan form of all traditional Muslim
houses, to be clearly defined as public, semi-public and private
spaces. The cultural and religious emphasis on visual privacy
in Islamic communities has also tended to produce an inward looking plan with plain external walls to discourage strangers
from looking inside. Climate also played an important role as a
moderating factor and complemented the cultural and religious
need for privacy. The houses of the hot arid zones such as
Egypt, Iraq and India, are introverted, where family-life looked
into a courtyard rather than looking out upon the street.
However, the architectural vocabulary which governed the
design concept of the Islamic-Arab house and highlighted its
distinctive characteristics were, the majaz (entrance), the
courtyard, the combination of the qaah and the malqaf, the
takhtabush, and the mashrabiyyah.
A. The Majaz (Entrance)
In Arab houses there were two entrances; the majaz (the
main entrance of a house), which usually opens onto a
courtyard and the doorway, which is the main external feature

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at ground floor level. The majaz was designed to open into a
blank wall to obstruct views into the inside from outside in
order to preserve the privacy of the family. On the other hand,
the doorway is functional and modest because osten tation is
discouraged according to the egalitarian basis of Islam. AlSuhaymi house, Cairo, 1648, is a good example, which
expresses the relationship between the main entrance and the
courtyard (fig.1). Some historians attributed the unpretentious
doorway to the owners reluctance to show off his wealth,
which would attract burglars, but this is a superficial reason. In
fact, in traditional Arab houses, the real entrance to the house
is the one which opens onto the main courtyard. In the Arab
cosmology the four walls of the courtyard indicate the four
columns carrying the dome of the sky and the courtyard
symbolizes their private piece of sky. However, they preferred
to have the main entrance open into this clean and holy space,
which is on the scale of the house, rather than into the public
street, which is on the scale of the city.

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Fig. 2. Dar Lajimi, a courtyard house, T unis. [3]

Fig.1. T he entrance opens into the courtyard, Al-Suhaymi house,

Cairo, 1648. [3]

B. The Courtyard
The courtyard is the most essential element, which
represented the core of all Islamic-Arab houses. The concept
of the courtyard is commonly used in traditional architecture,
both rural and urban, of the hot arid regions from Iran in the
East to the shores of the Atlantic in the West. The courtyard
dates back to the Graeco-Roman tradition (c. 1900 BC.) in
Arabia. With the advent of Islam (632), Muslims adopted the
concept of the courtyard because it suited their religious and
social needs, especially the degree of privacy needed. The
arrangements of the courtyard also provided a satisfactory
solution to their specific environmental problems. The size of
the courtyard varies, as does the number, according to the
available space and resources [2].
Historical examples of Arab desert architecture, include, the
Ukhaider palace in Iraq, Quasir Amara in Jordan and Dar Lajimi
in Tunis (fig.2) as well as the twelfth century courtyard-houses
of Al-Fustate city, Egypt (fig. 3). The houses of mediaeval
Cairo such as Al-Souheimi, Zeinab Khaton and Moheb Ad-din
Al-Shafie are also expressive examples.

Fig. 3. Al-Fustt house, a courtyard house, Cairo. [3]

The courtyard was employed in most Arab houses, not only

to achieve privacy, which is a necessity in Arab society, but
also to enhance the thermal comfort inside a house. The
courtyard is an effective device to generate air movement by
convection. In hot dry zones the air of the courtyard, which
was heated by the sun during the day, rises and is replaced by
the cooled night air coming from above. The accumulated cool
air in the courtyard seeps into and cools the surrounding
rooms. During the day, the courtyard is shaded by its four
walls and this helps its air to heat slowly and remain cool until
late in the day [3].

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C. The Qaah And The Malqaf

In the early Arab houses the courtyard also represented an
intermediary space between the entrance and the guest area.
Meeting casual male visitors, who are not relatives, always
took place in the takhtabash, a room with a side open to the
courtyard. On the other hand, important male visitors would
enter indirectly from the courtyard to another large reception
hall with a lofty central space, which was flanked by two
spaces at a slightly higher level [2]. In the Mamluk period in
the twelfth century, a change in the style of the house took
place that involved the covering of the courtyard, and the
introduction of the qaah as the main reception hall in the
house.
The qaah consisted of the durqaah (a central part of the
qaah with a high ceiling covered by the shukhshakhah
(wooden lantern on the top)) and two iwans (sitting areas) at a
higher level on both the north and south sides. The lantern is
provided with openings to allow the hot air to escape. Its
shape could be square, octagonal, or hexagonal. It was also flat
on the top, in order to help the upper layer of air to be heated
up through exposure to the sun. With the covered courtyard, a
new system of ventilation was invented to achieve thermal
comfort inside the qaah. This was the malqaf (a wind catch).
The malqaf is a shaft rising high above the building with an
opening facing the prevailing wind and constructed on the
north iwan (fig.4). It traps the cool air like sails capturing the
wind and channels it down into the interior of the building.

Fig. 5. Remains of an iwan with a shadirwan (Salsabil) in its center, the

Western Fatimid Palace of al-Mansur Qalawun. [9]

However, this new system of ventilation combined the

malqaf, the salsabil and the lantern in one design to assure a
good circulation of cool air in the qaah. The fourteenth
century Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shafi Al-Muwaqqi house in Cairo
best illustrated this combination (fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Section of the Q'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shf'i, 1350, Cairo. [3]
Fig. 4. Bastikia district, Dubai. [8]

D. The Takhtabush

The idea of the malqaf dates back to the early Pharaonic

periods. Examples can be found in the Eighteenth Dynasty
houses of Tal Al-Amarna. Fathy was influenced by the
Pharaonic house of Neb-Amun, which was depicted on his
tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty (1300 BC.). It shows a malqaf
with two openings, one facing windward to capture the cool air
and the other facing leeward in order to evacuate the hot air by
suction. To increase the humidity of the air coming from the
malqaf, the salsabil was also introduced (fig. 5). It is a marble
plate, decorated with wavy patterns and provided with a
source of water. The salsabil was put against the wall of the
opposite side of the iwan and placed at an angle to allow the
water to trickle over the surface [3].

In the vernacular architecture of the Arab house the concept

of the courtyard has also been developed to ensure a steady
flow of air by convection by including the takhtabush, a type
of loggia. It is a covered outdoor sitting area, located between
two courtyards; one is an unshaded, large paved-courtyard
and the other is planted. The takhtabush has one side opening
completely onto the paved-courtyard and through
mashrabiyyah onto the back garden. Air heats up more readily
in the unshaded courtyard than in the back garden creating an
area of low air pressure. However, the heated air rising in the
courtyard draws cool air from the back garden of the
takhtabush, creating a cool draft. The takhtabush can be
found in the medieval Cairo houses, such as Al-Suhaymi

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house (fig.7) and the Qaah of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shafi AlMuwaqqi, [3]. Both houses featured two courtyards with a
takhtabush between them.

Fig. 8. Zeinab Khatoun House 14 th century

Fig. 7. Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648. [3]

E. The Mashrabiyyah
The mashrabiyyah is another important device which was
used to cover openings as well as to achieve thermal comfort
and privacy in a house. Its name is originally derived from the
Arabic word drink and referred to a drinking place. This was
a cantilevered space covered with a lattice opening, where
water jars were placed to be cooled by the evaporation effect
as air moved through the opening. The form and function of
the mashrabiyyah has changed to become a wooden lattice
screen. It is composed of small wooden circular balusters,
arranged at specific regular intervals, in a decorative and
intricate geometric pattern. The mashrabiyyah has five
functions and its design may fulfil some or all of these
functions. These are; controlling the passage of light,
controlling the air flow, reducing the temperature of the air
current, increasing the humidity of the air current and ensuring
privacy. To control the amount of light and air and to graduate
the contrast between shade and light, the size of the interstices
and the diameter of the balusters are adjusted [3].
Mashrabiyyah can be found in medieval houses in Cairo, such
as Gamal Al-Din Al-Dahabi House 1637, and Zeinab Khatoun
House, 14th (fig.8).

III. THE PRINCIPLES OF A RCHITECTURAL COM POSITION

The Islamic-Arab house revealed an understanding of the
laws of composition, which created a conscious arrangement
of elements of a building in a functionally and visually
satisfying whole. Hierarchies were an essential factor in the
design process of the Islamic-Arab house, which highlighted
the importance of the interior and exterior of a building. Scale,
proportion, contrast and balance were also tools, which
enhanced the character of buildings. All the spaces in
traditional houses were covered with variations of domes,
vaults, shukhshakhah and flat roofs, which achieved pleasant
spatial and visual characteristics. The design of the IslamicArab house also respected human reference and human scale
and this had enabled people to articulate and comprehend the
elements of their buildings. Harmony with the surrounding
landscape was another important factor in the design process,
where these houses were carefully integrated to the
environment which has existed in equilibrium for a very long
time.
Applied colour seldom appears in Islamic-Arab houses, but
the natural colours of materials, which identified both the
origins of this architecture and its close link to the landscape.
The visual impact of the homogeneous single colour
emphasised the basic form of the building without the
distraction of various colours, textures or materials. Traditional
houses were also largely, determined by a unique vision of
light and its influence on materials. The dynamic contrast of
light and shade, and the dramatic use of space were also
features, which can be sensed in the architecture of IslamicArab houses. The real power of light is not derived completely
from its inherent character, but requires some sort of darkness
to assert itself. For example, light entering through a window or
mashrabiyyah evokes an expressive shadow, which
accentuates the shape of the interior.
IV. CONTEM PORARY ISLAM IC-A RAB HOUSE
The Egyptian architect and master builder, Hassan Fathy
(1900-1989) was one of the first architects to break with modern

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architecture and to found a new approach based on a
conception of interpreting forms and masses from the past. He
was unique in believing that this language could exist
alongside that of an aggressively modern one that cut all ties
with the past. He fully understood the function of the elements
of the Islamic-Arab house and their balanced relation to the
environment. All his buildings and projects, which were mainly
domestic, comprised the same architectural elements which
were drawn from the Islamic-Arab house. One of his important
houses was the Nassif house in Jeddah (fig.9), which
represented an opportunity for Fathy to reinterpret the
traditional architecture of Saudi Arabia. The house featured all
the essentials vocabularies of the Islamic-Arab house such as,
courtyard, mashrabiyyah, shukhshakhah and windcatcher [4].

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(fig.11), exhibited the architects awareness of the traditional

building forms such as dome, vault, loggia, malqaf and
mashrabiyyahs as well as the traditional building techniques.

Fig. 11. Halawa House, Agamy, Egypt, 1975. [10]

Fig. 9. Nassif house in Jeddah. [10]

Another Egyptian architect whose work from the 1960s

onwards has stood out in clear contrast with much modern
architecture has been Abdelbaki Ibrahim. He published several
books discussing the historical perspective of Islamic
architecture and the Arab houses. Ibrahims Al-Nawras Tourist
Village, Isma'iliya, Egypt, 1989, (fig.10) is an expressive example
of the integration between modern architecture and abstracted
traditional vocabulary.

The prominent architect Rifat Chadirji (1926) from Iraq was

aware of the traditional vocabulary of the traditional
architecture in Iraq and employed them to serve contemporary
needs. Chadirjis Tobacco Monopoly Building (1966) in
Baghdad is clear evidence of a contemporary Arab architecture
(fig.12). It exhibited a synthesis of international avant-garde
concepts and abstract forms derived from his own traditions.
For example, Chadirji employed simple projecting
mashrabiyyahs made of brick or concrete instead of the
expensive wooden ones. Chadirjis architecture excluded
simplistic imitations of traditional features and primitive
technologies because neither is compatible with the
fundamental thrust of the mechanical-aesthetic mode [6].

Fig. 12. T obacco Monopoly Building, Baghdad, 1966. [11]

Fig. 10. Al-Nawras T ourist Village, Egypt, 1989. [10]

Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil is also a dedicated Egyptian

architect to the course of vernacular architecture and
traditional building techniques. El-Wakil believed that it is the
role of art, and above all of architecture, to safeguard the
environment in which the tradition can survive [5]. El-Wakils
Halawa house (1972-1975) in Al-Agamy, near Alexandria

Like Chadirji, the distinguished Jordanian architect, Rasem

Badran did not perceive history as a source of physical forms
to be reinterpreted, but tried to adapt the process behind these
forms and explore the social forces behind traditional
typologies. Badrans Al-Talhouni residence, Amman, Jordan
(fig.13), shows the architects confidence in handling the
traditional vocabulary in harmonious composition in his
elevations. He also was capable of adjusting the orientation of

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each courtyard in order to permit maximum airflow and to
exhibit the beauty of nature and the art of reflection by
employing decorative fountains in the courtyard [7].

Architecture Department for providing financial support to

publish this paper.
[1]
[2]

[3]

[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

Fig.13. Al-T alhouni residence, Amman, Jordan, by Rasem Badran . [7]

V. CONCLUSION
The idea of perceiving a building as an entity as well as
articulating the function and identity of each member of the
building are the key to understand the architecture of the
Islamic-Arab house. The most subtle characteristics of the
Islamic-Arab house come mainly from its array of elements that
were tested by peoples traditions and culture. Undoubtedly,
the outstanding architectural quality of the Islamic-Arab
houses and the positive effect of their images do not only
come from its reliance upon recognised prototypes and
deliberate plans, but also from their interesting exteriors. These
houses maintained a coherence and unity between inhabited
space, construction and landscape. Therefore, the aesthetic of
the Islamic-Arab house comes from the harmony of putting the
architectural elements together as well as juxtaposing them in
order to provide variety and visual interest through change in
their size and scale. Although, domes, vaults, bearing walls,
mashrabiyyahs, malqaf, courtyard and qaah together created
a recognised language in Islamic-Arab houses, their designs
were based on finding solutions to peoples religious and
cultural needs and requirements. For example, the arrangement
of all spaces around an inner courtyard and the division of
domestic space into two zones relating to the separation of the
sexes. In addition, the qaah, which was roofed by a dome or a
shukhshakhah, represented the central element of the formal
area in a house and provided the basis for designing all the
possible variations of Arab houses. There is no doubt that the
outstanding quality of the architecture of the Islamic-Arab
house was derived, not from stylistic elements, but from the
superiority of its essential features, their proportional
arrangement and their basic ideas.

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[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]

REFERENCES
De Saint-Exupry, Antoine, The Wisdom of the Sands. Chicago,
1979, p. 19.
Danby, Miles, Privacy as a Culturally Related Factor in Built Form,
in Ben Farmer and Hentie Louw, eds., Companion to
Contemporary Architectural Though. London, 1993, pp. 138-139.
Fathy, Hassan, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture:
Principles and Examples with Reference to Hot Arid Climates.
Chicago, 1986, pp. 46-47, 57-59, 62-67.
Alkhateeb, Sharief, Arab Architecture for T hose Who Can Really
Live in Style. Saudi Gazette, 19 September 1979, p. 5.
Steil, Lucien, T radition & Architecture. Architectural Design, v.
57, no. 5 / 6, 1987, p. 53.
Chadirji, Rifat, Concepts and Influences: Towards a Regionalized
International Architecture. London, 1986, pp. 49, 118-119.
Steele, James, The Architecture of Rasem Badran: Narratives on
People and Place. London, 2005, pp.70-72.
Author, 2010
www.myoops.org/.../LectureNotes/detail/lec4.htm
www.archnet.org
http://www.worldarchitecture.org/world-buildings/

Author Dr. Abdel-Moniem El-Shorbagy is the Scientific Chair of

Architecture and Urban Design at Effat
University. In 2001, he received his Ph.D. in Art
History from the University of Canterbury in
New Zealand. He also received a M.A. in
Architecture from the same university in 1997
and a postgraduate qualification from Lincoln
University, in New Zealand, in 1996. Prior to
attaining his postgraduate studies, he launched
and managed his own professional practice from
19801995 and designed numerous residential buildings, villas, and
hotels. He taught Architecture and Design in various academic institutes
in Egypt between 2002 and 2006. Currently, he teaches courses in
Architecture, Design, Structure, and Islamic architecture at Effat
University. He also manages the preparation of the urban design manual
for upgrading slums in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A CKNOWLEDGMENT
The author wishes to thank Effat University for its effort to
support the research environment. Thanks are also due to the

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