HTS Thesis - Tamara Rasoul

HTS Thesis 2021/2022

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted The settlement, transition and resilience of the Bedouin Population in the Arabian Gulf.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

07

INTRODUCTION

09

HARVESTED

13

i. THE TENT

13

ii. THE TRIBE

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iii. THE STATE

21

TRANSPLANTED

29

i. THE SHA’BI HOUSE

33

ii. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

39

PRIVATISED

43 49

ADAPTED ALTERED

53

EXPANDED

59

TRANSFORMED

65

A DICTIONARY OF TRANSFORMATION

71

TRANSLATED

91

BIBLIOGRAPHY

93

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ABSTRACT

The nomads are there, on the land, wherever there forms a smooth space that gnaws, and tends to grow, in all directions. The nomads inhabit these places; they remain in them, and they make themselves make them grow, for it has been established that the nomads make the desert no less than they are made by it. They are vectors of deterritorialization. They add desert to desert, steppe to steppe, by a series of local operations whose orientation and direction endlessly vary.

- 1227: Treatise on Nomadology - The War Machine 1

The nomad and the landscape is a relationship founded and built upon the earthbound philosophy adopted by all indigenous populations. Their respect and attachment to their context stems from their recognition of all it has offered them. Gifting them with food, language, intelligence and life and upon their death, taking them back.2 For the nomads of the desert, this relationship is no different. Learning from, growing with and adapting to their landscape, the nomads make the desert no less than they are made by it. This inherent adaptability, versatility and flexibility of the tribe becomes the crux of this research. A characteristic that has historically framed the bedouin as a national problem, a source of trouble and a backward, uncontrollable entity in the way of state development and progress.

This research aims to examine and analyse the role of social housing in the consolidation of a distinctly modern Arabia through the domestication and “settling” of the bedouin. A solution to the problem of nationhood adopted among leaders within and outside Arab government circles.3 Where housing is seen as an infrastructure of socialisation and detribalisation 4 that integrates the bedouin fully with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner to achieve nationhood and development.5 A solution materialised historically in a variety of state-subsidised housing programs within the Arabian Peninsula.

Opposite Page: 1. Tamara Husam Rasoul, Sha’biyat Al Shurta, Dubai, December, 2017

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Focusing on state-subsidised housing schemes in the United Arab Emirates and chronicling the process of political frictions becoming spatial, communities becoming isolated, extended families becoming nuclear and movement becoming settlement; how has this process of sedentarisation and adaptation created a new national identity and form of living which defines the urban fabric of the Arabian Gulf today?

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

1. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), 445.

2. Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, (London: Vintage Classics, 1998).

3. Tannous, Afif I. “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”. Middle East Journal 1, no. 1 (1947): 5–17. http://www. jstor.org/stable/4321824.

4. Printz, Gabrielle. n.d. “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

Ph. D, Architectural Association School of Architecture.

5. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17.

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INTRODUCTION

The desert on the other side was, most of the time, flat, hard and desolate; nothing and no one came from its depth except rarely . . . The bedouin who had at first refused to go near the sea or take part in unloading cargoes from the small boats were soon won over. It seemed to them curious, arousing and somewhat risky, and before long they went closer to the sea. They did so hesitantly, in stages, with a sense of experimentation and secrecy . . . but their fear never left them, for ‘water is treacherous, a swallower who never is satisfied’ . . . Later on they waded into the shallow water. It was enticing, caressing their feet with its coolness and density, and with the passing of time they did not hesitate to bathe in the sea . . .

- Abdelrahman Munīf, Cities of Salt 6

The urban narrative of the bedouin has always been one of loss, where through colonisation, exploitation and the introduction of the modern city they have been removed from their landscape.7 As a result, the term bedouin has evolved from denoting way of life into an identity.8 Statistically, over the last century, the bedouin population of Arabia has indeed decreased as a result of their settlement into the modern city. Seen as a solution to the problem of the bedouin standing in the way of nationhood, this “settlement” was materialised in a variety of state-subsidised housing schemes. Where housing was seen as an infrastructure of socialisation and detribalisation by the state,9 integrating the bedouin fully with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner to achieve nationhood and development.10 However, the Bedouin have not been erased and replaced by the city. Their flexible way of life and identity has through their process of adaptation; shaped, defined and transformed the cities of the Arabian Gulf. Thus, the urban narrative of the bedouin is not a story of loss but is a story of adaptation, hybridisation and transformation.

Opposite Page: 2. Henrik August Ankarcrona, Bedouins in the Desert, 1831 - 1917, https://www. averydash.com/products/ henri-ankarcrona-1831-1917bedouins-in-the-desert. Accessed December 10, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Explored through the development of the United Arab Emirates and the role of social housing in the consolidation of a distinctly modern Arabia through the domestication of the bedouin and following the transformations of the nomad to the settled, the desert to the sown and the tent to the villa;11 how has this process of sedentarisation and adaptation created a new national identity and form of living which defines the urban fabric of the Arabian Gulf today?

Structured into three main sections; Harvested, Transplanted and Adapted, the

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

6. Munīf, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān. Cities of Salt. United Kingdom: Cape, 1988.

7. Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, (2004).

8. Cole, Donald P. “Where Have the Bedouin Gone?”. Anthropological Quarterly 76, no.

2 (2003): 235–67. http://www. jstor.org/stable/3318400.

9. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

10. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17.

11. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

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research attempts to answer this question by following the sedentarisation stages of the bedouin. Continuously explored through two scales; the scale of the home and the scale of the community, the research chronicles the evolution from the tent to the Sha’bi house to the villa and on a larger scale; the transformation of the tribe into the neighbourhood and its effect on the country’s development.

The tribal confederation of the United Arab Emirates formed in 1971 was the basis for the creation of a nation-state within a large and geographically varied territory. Believed to be occupied by Semitic peoples two thousand years before Christ, this territory has radically developed over the past century in ways that only a few nations and civilisations have experienced.

Before the changes brought about following the discovery of oil, living in a physically unforgiving hot and arid environment with few resources, the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula experienced deprivation because of the shortage of fertile and arable land, only relieved by relying on their tribal established methods for survival.

As a result, the society remained tribal until the time when changed economic circumstances made it possible for an increasing number of families to find a livelihood from one economic activity such as maritime trade. When the new age of oil began, the local population only had a distant view of the newly industrialised world, its ways of life and its values. Adapting to this new world became a challenge for the bedouin, who had no clear concept of this new life and the changes that were taking place within their environment.12

Opposite Page: 3. A Handbook of Arabia, Volume 1, Tribal Map of Arabia, https://www.raremaps. com/gallery/detail/61830/ tribal-map-of-arabia-witharabia-districts-and-townswith-admiralty-war-staff-intelligence-division. Accessed December 13, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

State subsidised housing was thus one of these changes brought about by the new age, seen as a way for the government to encourage Bedouins to succumb to sedentary and modern forms of living. Similar to social housing schemes in the west; whose goals are to upgrade the working class to the middle class, the social housing schemes within the United Arab Emirates also projected class identity. The Bedouin tribe: made up of autonomous independent units of extended families were all equal in class to one another. Thus, with the establishment of the state and the designation of a president, the philanthropic project of social housing in the UAE established a class structure within a classless society. However, unlike western housing schemes, the Bedouin were not shifted from working to the middle class but were immediately established as the upper class. A strategy by the government to preserve a strong sense of national identity among the locals who were and still are a minority of the population under threat by the influx of expatriates to the country - attracted by the prospects of the newly discovered oil-rich country, growing and developing quickly.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

12. Frauke Heard-Bey, “From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates” A society in Transition (New York, 1982).

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HARVESTED

Before there were cities, there was the desert and before there were oil companies, there were Bedouins. Change is constant. As landscapes grow and are transformed their inhabitants change as well, pushing traditional practices aside to make way for more modern forms of living.13 In the case of the Arabian Peninsula, the desert and its inhabitants were harvested and encouraged to change for various reasons.

However to understand why they had to change, one must first ask how did they live?

Bedouin / Bedu (noun). a term derived from Arabic word badawi translating to “desert dweller”.

Al’ a’ilah (noun). Arabic word for the family, generally referring to 3 generations of the extended family.

Opposite Page: 4. Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, Salim bin Ghabaisha with Warad, a saluki, November 14-29, 1948, http:// photographs.prm.ox.ac.uk/ pages/2004 130 22009 1. html. Accessed November 18, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

In the late 1960s before the unification and formation of the United Arab Emirates, the area was home to many Bedouin tribes.14 These tribes as a result of the aridity of the landscape and the scarcity of resources such as electricity, running water, health care and adequate housing15 all adopted an adaptable, self-sustainable and simple way of life embodying ideals of austerity, endurance, justice and hospitality.16 This lifestyle revolved around their constant movement17 determined by seasonal variation and the vagaries of rainfall; a requirement of the adverse climate and environment of the desert.18 Thus the term Bedouin was used to describe them. A term derived from the Arabic word Bedu translating to “desert-dweller”.19 However, the identity of the bedouin extends beyond their mobility and their ability to endure the harsh desert landscape. Their basic values stemming from Islam include; individual independence, reverence for leadership, respect for old age, hospitality, generosity, community consciousness and loyalty,20 these values shaped all spheres of their life, whether cultural, social, economic or political.21 Islam is not merely a religion in the western sense of the word, a practice comprising the purely spiritual, speculative, form and content of devotion and faith. It constitutes also the indestructible, lasting fabric that moulded the patterns of social behaviours and the many conventions of daily life. For the Bedouin, it is interwoven with the traditions of the tribal society. Everything concerning the family’s domestic structure, its functions within the community and all its daily routines were part of man’s very existence as a Muslim.22 This can be seen through their forms of living, their social structure as well as their relationship with the state.

i. The tent Embodying the basic unit and core of the social structure of the Bedouin community; the tent represents the extended family or the household: al ‘a’ilah, a unit

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

13. Browning, Nancy Allison.

2013. “I Am Bedu: The Changing Bedouin In A Changing World”. Bachelor of Art in Anthropology, 2011, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

14. Damlūji, Salmá Samar. The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates. Garnet Pub Limited, 2006.

15. Al-Mansoori, Mohammed Abdulla Jakkah. “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates: the example of the Federal Government low-cost housing programme”.

PhD diss., Newcastle University, (1997).

16. Cole, Donald Powell. Bedouins of the Empty Quarter. N.p.: Taylor & Francis, 2017.

17. Fadan, Yousef Mohammed. “The development of contemporary housing in Saudi Arabia (1950-1983): a study in cross-cultural influence under conditions of rapid change”. PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983.

18. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

19. Cole, “Where Have the Bedouin Gone?”, 235–67.

20. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17.

21. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

22. Frauke Heard-Bey, “From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates” A society in Transition

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Al-nous (noun). Arabic term meaning “middle”; refers to the family section of the tent where all living, working and sleeping takes place.

of social consolidation encouraged by Islam generally composed of 3 generations.23 This form of living innovated, constructed and elaborated by the bedouin themselves 24 - woven by the woman of the family on ground looms out of collected goat or camel hair - 25 met the desires and needs suiting the nature of their nomadic lifestyle.

Not only is it easily sourced: woven from natural fibres of the herd they lived with, 26 but through its material properties creates a living, breathing skin that reacts to the external climate. Absorbing the suns heat during the day, releasing it during the cold night and when it rains, becoming waterproof as the woven fibres swell.27 These homes not only ensured the practical need for accommodation was met, but that the constraints of their physical environment were taken into account and that their own social and religious obligations were considered. 28

Majlis (noun). Arabic term meaning “a place of sitting”. It refers to the most public space where guests are received and entertained.

Satr (noun/verb). Arabic term referring to the act of hiding something or something that is hidden or should be hidden.

Mendaban (noun). Space within a tent where food is stored.

The absolute necessity for any locally born individual to be and to remain integrated into a clan and a tribal system stems from the tribal rather than the Islamic basis of society. But how the members of the family arrange their lives together, and incorporate other members of the society into the family unit by marriage, is to a very large extent prescribed by the tents of Islam.

23. Fadan, “The development of contemporary housing in Saudi Arabia (1950-1983)” 24. Al Amaireh, Ali. “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”. open house international (2011).

25. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

26. “Bedouin Tents, Black Wool and A Cactus”, Spatial Experiments, accessed April 10, 2022, https://spatialexperiments.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/bedouintents-black-wool-and-a-cactus/.

27. “Nomad Pavilion”, Dina Haddadin, accessed April 12, 2022, https://dinahaddadin.com/ nomad-pavilion.

28. Al Amaireh, “Th Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision” 29. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

The design of the tents was based on three aspects of their life; hospitality, herding and the value of the family. 29 Physically reflected in the division of the interior space, the tent was divided into two sections; the space for the family; al-nous and the space of hospitality; the majlis. These spaces were arranged and shaped according to the Islamic values of privacy; satr. Subdivided by curtains and partition walls which not only hid and protected the domestic spaces of the home but also allowed the tent to become a flexible space transforming based on how it was used.

Therefore, upon entering the tent, the first space one would encounter is the majlis. A typically male-dominated space where the values of hospitality and generosity are practised through the entertainment and hosting of guests through the offering of a place to sit, food and coffee. The majlis is strategically located within the tent.

Sitting at the periphery to maintain the privacy of the family but also located near the dining area and the hearth to ease the process of being hospitable.

Opposite Page: 5. Donald Powell Cole, The tent, 1975, in Donald Powell Cole, Nomads of the Nomads (Chicago: Aldine Publishing company, 1975), 65. Accessed October 3, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

On the other side of the curtain wall separating the majlis is the largest and most important section of the tent. The space for the family. Taking its name from its location in the middle of the tent, al-nous, the family section is the space where all living, working and sleeping takes place. The al-nous also includes culturally unique spaces such as the mendaban; the space where food is stored, the hearth, a hand-dug hole in the sand where the cooking, baking and coffee making is done, and the khidan,

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

Hearth (noun). Hand-dug hole in the sand where the cooking, baking and coffee making is done.

Khidan (noun).

Most private space of the tent; a sleeping area for the parents or married son.

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the most private space of the tent, a sleeping area for the parents or married son.30

Niqab (noun). A garment that covers the face but leaves the area of the eye uncovered. Usually, it is worn with a headscarf.

Worn by muslim women as part of the hijab.

Burqa’ (noun). A mask worn by Emirati women as more covered version of the hijab.

Sheila (noun). A veil that covers the chest and head.

Worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers of males outside their immediate family. Typically a black thin fabric worn as a hijab by women from the Arabian Gulf.

Opposite Page: 6. Dutch National Archives, Drinking coffee in the desert, January 1, 1960, https:// www.nationaalarchief.nl/ onderzoeken/fotocollectie/ aedc8af0-d0b4-102d-bcf8003048976d84. Accessed October 28, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

This segregated area of the al-nous; where only the father, brother, son and sometimes close male relatives are permitted to enter becomes a symbol of a woman’s position within society. Physically, women are isolated from the community, belonging to the private lives of the men they depend on at the particular stage of their lives – father, husband or brother. The al-nous, like the security of their clothing – the mask of the niqāb, the enveloping burqa’, the headscarf sheila and the black coat abaya – becomes a protective space for the institution of the women al-harim from the male world, sheltered and delimited by the fabric walls from men outside their immediate lineage. Only moving outside the limits of the tent if sheltered and covered by the fabric of their clothing, to help take care of their animals or to collect water from the well. However, women’s physical isolation from the public life of their community does not mean that they hold an inferior position to men. Restricted to the space of the home gives them power over that space and within the tribal community, women dominate the domestic scene. As a result, the form that family life takes becomes largely moulded by the role of the women in it. Free in their decisional power, the women lay down the rules for the entire household from religious matters to social arrangements. They become the decision-makers of the family protected through the cooperation of the male members, who are the providers, spokesmen and representatives of the family, who largely follow the direction and rules set by the women of the family. Therefore, even though the role of the women within the tribal community may seem to be inferior to the men, their physical limitation to the home serves to preserve and protect them and the institution of the family by the male head. Aligning with the spirit of Islam, which seeks to restore the dignity of women as family members rather than commodities.31 Unlike rooms in modern forms of living the spaces in tents are not fixed, demarcated spaces that permanently exist. A hearth is dug out when coffee is needed and a khidan only becomes segregated from the rest of the family section in the evening.

Thus space is not pre-defined and is only given a function and demarcated when a particular action is required. This flexibility of space exists internally not only through the movement of the curtain walls but also through the lack of fixed furniture within the tent.

The lack of furniture not only allows for the ease of movement of the bedouin but also gives the space fluidity and versatility allowing it to be used in a variety of ways.

Within the tent the only “furniture” or “objects” one would usually find are carpets, floor seating elements and cooking utensils such as coffee making equipment, pots

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

30. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision” 31. Heard-Bey, “From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates” A society in Transition

Abaya (noun). A long robe, worn over clothes to cover a woman’s body a part. Typical worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers or males outside of their immediate family.

Al-harim (noun).

An Arabic word referring to the institution of the women. Either referring to a section of the home reserved for the female members of a household or to the female members of the family themselves.

Including but not limited to: mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and servants.

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and pans.

This flexibility: a result of the tent’s light and temporal materiality not only creates a fluid interior but also gives the tent and the unit of the household the ability to become an autonomous, independent entity of the tribe. Enabling it to operate in line with the environment, attaching and detaching from the tribe as demanded by the landscape.32

ii. The tribe As a result, the tribe becomes a flexible structure following a segmentary system where the tent forms the social core. This variable system exists through the inclusion of more and more families which transforms the household to the lineage, the lineage to the clan and the clan to the tribe.

Tribes are generally made up of the lineage of one family. Named after the family they originate from; they are ruled by the senior male. Familial ties thus constitute the basis of the social and physical organization of the tribe.

Opposite Page: 7. National Archives, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan chatting with a group of Emiratis (Bedouin), 1970, https:// gulfnews.com/uae/government/shaikh-zayed-thebest-treasure-god-has-given-us-1.2193358. Accessed December 20, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Although bedouins hold the reverence of leadership as an important value in their way of life. The tribal leaders are only slightly differentiated from the rest of the tribe. They rule by persuasion and not by threatening and dictating. Their continuation as leaders results from their ability to reconcile conflicts within the tribe and their ability to act as the representative of the tribe to the outside world. This equality between the members of the tribe and the tribal leader stems from the household maintaining its ability to function as an independent socio-economic unit. This equality is thus reflected in the way of life and structure of the tribal camps, where the provision of housing combines top-down decision making in land distribution with bottom-up responsibility through the self-organization of the distributed land.

The layout and spatial organization of the tribal camps, like that of the tent are quite flexible and dependent on the landscape, the number of tents and the bedouin tribes values and way of life. However, generally, the tents are arranged in a scattered manner with each tent slightly distanced from the other to preserve values of privacy.33 Within the camps, even though each household remains an autonomous unit, the division of labour is shared between the members of the tribe. Tasks such as cooking become a communal activity where the responsibility constantly shifts from one household to another. Moreover, trust between the members of the tribe allows for resources to be pooled together and shared. The herd, for example, becomes com-

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

32. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

33. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

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munally held by the senior male of the tribe, who does not own the animals nor the power to sell them but simply keeps them together.34 The trust between the members of the tribe, sharing and pooling of resources as well as the equality that gives every member the power of decision making such as in the selling of herd animals gives them more faith in their tribal leader.

This relationship between the members of the tribe which has been built on family ties, values and trust has not only defined their unquestioned trust and reverence for their leader but has also defined the relationship between the nomadic tribes and the state.

iii. The state In the case of the United Arab Emirates, the relationship between the state and tribe was crucial to the development of the nation; as the tribes have historically been the most important source of local political support for the ruling family.35

Sheikh (noun). The Arabic word for a leader in a Muslim community or organization.

In the late 1960s before the establishment of the state, the tribe were very vocal about the ruler Sheikh Shakhbut, who upon the discovery of oil and its newfound wealth was hesitant of spending it on the development and modernisation of the country. His fear stemmed from his belief that the harsh old world of Arabia couldn’t face the modern world36 and was convinced modernisation would only bring more distress than benefits.37 Thus the bedouins, who were excited to benefit from what this newfound wealth had to offer, were taken aback by Sheikh Shakhbut’s conservative ways of ruling.

Therefore, in 1966, his brother Sheikh Zayed under pressure from the tribe took over the ruling of the state. Sheikh Zayed, who was greatly respected and followed by the tribesmen saw the importance of modernisation, but also knew it had to be introduced incrementally, maintaining a balance between building the new and wrecking the old.38

Opposite Page: 8. dubaiwalla2, flickr, Portrait of Sheikh Zayed alongside the highway bearing his name, Dubai, dubaiwalla2, flickr, 2009, https://www.flickr. com/photos/42033228@ N05/3953754794/. Accessed January 15, 2022.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

The tribe in the history of the United Arab Emirates have been very influential in the political structure of the country. Not only did they choose Sheikh Zayed; who himself was originally a Bedouin from the tribe Beni Yas, but have also helped in creating a country whose political structure learns from their tribal past. Like the tribes, the country is centred around a ruling Sheikh as the sole decision-maker and face of the country.39 As a result, this tribal political structure has maintained the tribal reverence for leadership and has created an authoritarian and paternalistic local

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

34. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

35. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

36. National Archives . “Farewell Arabia (1968)”. Uploaded May 2012. Video. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=KnPrI2fc vo&list=FLxurKMWJkcZXzl0 xqv1aA&index=3&t=2374s.

37. Aravena Mori, Alejandro, Alamira Reem Bani Hashim, Adina Hempel, Khaled Alawadi, Chaitanya Krishna Kumar, Karishma Asarpota, el-Sayed El-Aswad, Amel Chabbi, Rachel Goodfriend, and International Architectural Exhibition (15th : 2016 : Venice, Italy). 2016.

Transformations : The Emirati National House = Taḥawwūlāt Al-Bayt Al-Waṭanī Al-Imārātī.

Edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy.

Abu Dhabi, UAE: National Pavilion United Arab Emirates la Biennale di Venezia.

38. National Archives, “Farewell Arabia (1968)”.

39. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

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government built on mutual obligation between the tribal populations and its leaders.

One that gives the rulers absolute authority but also creates rulers who are open to hearing people’s problems and petitions.40 The United Arab Emirates could have become a centralised state providing inhabitants with equal rights and equal entitlement to the wealth generated in any part of the country. However, this would have meant abandoning traditional social structures built upon the hierarchy of tribally defined leadership embodied in the father figure of the ruling Sheikh who looks after and fulfils the dreams of their small local population.41 This tribal link between the inhabitants of the country and the rulers has instilled a lot of pride within the nation. The nationals are proud that they have created a country where brothers assist brothers not only materially but also through their bedouin methods of mediation and advice.42 Therefore, considering that the country was founded and built upon pressures of the tribe and tribal values; why did the bedouin have to change?

The 20th century had an increase in the desire for the settlement of the Bedouin population.43 Specifically, in the Arab region, this was first discussed when the newly independent Arab Governments and Saudi Arabia created the Arab League.

They along with various organisations of the newly created UN began to call for the sedentarisation of the bedouin.44 As a result, between the 1940s and 1970s, several state-sponsored settlement projects and programs, which were often financially and technically supported by international agencies were planned and implemented within the region.45 The importance of the sedentarisation and incorporation of the bedouin into the productive enclosure of the nation46 was influenced by a variety of different reasons.

Seen as a solution to certain problems, a way to provide new opportunities and incorporate technological advancements within the region.

Opposite Page: 9. Adnoc Group, Leslie Pableo, Khushnum Bhandari, A bedouin with his camel next to the Murban 3 oil well and storage tanks, 1960, https:// thenational.shorthandstories. com/murban-oil/. Accessed November 4, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Primarily, the discovery of oil in the 1960s brought with it colonial powers who became strong influences on the government - who prospered from this newfound source of wealth.47 These powers redefined the economic and social patterns of the country 48 and pursued modernisation based on western models.49 Changes in housing institutions, building regulations and materials were implemented 50 and the bedouin started to lose their strong political relationship with the power. As a result, they lost the ability to choose between the old life and the new. It was now in the hands of God and the oil company. 51

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40. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

41. Heard-Bey, Frauke. “From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates” A society in Transition.

42. Heard-Bey, Frauke. “The United Arab Emirates: Statehood and Nation-Building in a Traditional Society”. Middle East Journal 59, no. 3 (2005): 357–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4330153.

43. Nahedh, Monera. “The sedentarization of a Bedouin community in Saudi Arabia”. PhD diss., University of Leeds, 1989.

44. Cole, “Where Have the Bedouin Gone?”, 235–67.

45. ibid.

46. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

47. National Archives, “Farewell Arabia (1968)”.

48. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

49. Cordes, Rainer, and Fred Scholz. Bedouins, wealth, and change; a study of rural development in the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman. 1980.

50. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

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The introduction of new building materials such as concrete allowed the construction industry to move past the confinements of using the limited resources of locally available materials.52 These new homes, made of more permanent and durable materials contrasted greatly with the local and temporal forms of living. The nationals depending on their eco-cultural zone were living in homes made out of palm leaves or tents made from camel hair. 53 Thus these influences started to create frictions with the nomadic way of life. 54 A lifestyle regarded as uncivilised in comparison.

The discovery of oil implemented a contemporary ideology strongly against the continuation of nomadism. Seen as contrary to the goals and aspirations of a modern nation and society, 55 the desert and its people quickly became emblems of a backward life.56 Constituting a problem and a source of trouble that stood in the way of national progress.57 This “problem” became the key conversation between governments in the Arab region. In 1965 an Arab League conference entitled ‘The bedouin and the way to deal with them; Settlement and Training’ was held in East Jerusalem.

During the conference words such as ‘civilised’ were used to describe the objective of settling and changing the bedouin.58 The bedouin; a fluid entity appearing and disappearing within the desert was seen as an evolutionary state preceding sedentary lifestyles. Thus this uncontrollable force terrified the state and had to be “dealt” with and reshaped and trained to conform to the western ideas of “civilised”.

In the case of the UAE; sedentarisation of the bedouin was not only seen as a way to deal with a backward entity and problem of nation-building but was seen as a way to give back to the citizens and secure a strong national identity among the nationals who were and still are the minority of the population. Therefore, comfort and the improvement of living conditions for the bedouin was seen as essential by the central government. This was not only seen as a way to achieve political stability59 but as a form of income redistribution and diffusion of public wealth generated by the oil population.

Opposite Page: 10.Gérard Klijn, Informal shacks dotting the Waterfront area of Abu Dhabi would eventually be replaced by the newly-built Sha’bi houses, 1975, https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/ how-emiratis-made-shabi-housing-their-own-inpictures-1.226198?videoId=5766484581001.

Accessed October 3, 2021.

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This altruistic governmental approach stems from the Islamic principle that the poor members of a community should be protected and aided. These principles were embedded within the UAE constitution as can be seen in Articles 10 and 24 (pg 27), where the aims of the “provision of a better life for all citizens together” and “raising the standards of living” stress the importance of the individual citizen as the main concern of the new state and therefore their welfare is the aim of all government institutions and organisations in the country.

The aims of the Union shall be the maintenance of its independence and sov-

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

51. National Archives, “Farewell Arabia (1968)”.

52. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

53. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

54. Cordes and Scholz, Bedouins, wealth, and change.

55. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

56. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

57. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17.

58. KARK, RUTH, and SETH J. FRANTZMAN. “Empire, State and the Bedouin of the Middle East, Past and Present: A Comparative Study of Land and Settlement Policies”. Middle Eastern Studies 48, no. 4 (2012): 487–510. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/41721149.

59. Cole, Donald P. “Bedouins of the Oil Field”. Ekistics 37, no.

221 (1974): 268–70. http://www. jstor.org/stable/43618305.

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ereignty. The safeguard of its security and stability. The defence against any aggression upon its existence or the existence of its member states. The protection of the rights and liabilities of the people of the Union. The achievement of close co-operation between the Emirates for their common benefit in realising these aims and in promoting their prosperity and progress in all fields. The provision of a better life for all citizens together with respect by each Emirate for the independence and sovereignty of the other Emirates in their internal affairs within the framework of this Constitution.

– Article 10, Constitution of the United Arab Emirates

The basis of the national economy shall be social justice. It is founded on sincere co-operation between public and private activities. Its aim shall be the achievement of economic development, increase of productivity, raising the standards of living and the achievement of prosperity for citizens, all within the limits of Law. The Union shall encourage co-operation and savings.

– Article 24, Constitution of the United Arab Emirates 60

These aims were not only humanitarian and altruistic in nature, but also ensured that the central government were able to secure a national identity, which was at risk not only due to the outdated and uncontrollable way of life adopted by the Emiratis but also due to the rapid large scale immigration.61 Leading the nationals to become a minority in their own country - representing only 8-20% of the population.62

Opposite Page: 11. Al Ittihad, Zayed visits the sites for the new Sha’bi homes ,1973 in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 93. Accessed December 13, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Thus the bedouin were “harvested”; a segment of the population that formed the root of the state selected and gathered to be transformed and redefined. “Settling” the tribe became the solution to the problem of nationhood seen among leaders within and outside Arab government circles.63 Housing was seen as an infrastructure of socialisation and detribalisation that not only allowed for the bedouin to benefit from the newfound wealth of the government and the introduction of new construction technologies but also ensured the integration of the bedouin fully with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner to achieve nationhood and development.

This solution has materialised historically in a variety of state-subsidised housing programs within the Arabian Peninsula.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

60. “United Arab Emirates: Constitution”. 2 December 1971. https://www.refworld.org/docid/48eca8132.html.

61. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

62. Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, (2004).

63. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17.

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TRANSPLANTED

“Then they took the census and discovered that there were 36,000 Abu Dhabians.

Zayed said ‘Right, we’ll have national housing.’ He didn’t want the bedouins wandering all over the place with the goats and sheep. So we had little villages of national houses. Each had a front garden and a back garden; the bedouins would sleep on the roof. We built these villages all over Abu Dhabi.”

- John Elliot, Town Planner of Abu Dhabi 64

The first formal attempt to settle the bedouin within the Arabian Peninsula was long before the discovery of oil. Upon realising that no political structure could be built on nomadism and uncertain tribal loyalties, ‘Abd Al Aziz Al Saud; the founding monarch of Saudi Arabia 65 began to influence the bedouin to reside in agricultural settlements through the spread of reformist Islam.66 This political movement which lasted from 1912 to 1930 resulted in over 200 bedouin settlements being constructed around Saudi Arabia.67

Hijar (noun). Name of Bedouin settlements constructed around Saudi Arabia during 1912 to 1930.

The settlements were named after the Prophet Mohamed PBUH migration model from Mecca to Medina called Hijra.

Opposite Page: 12. Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations, Construction of sha’bi housing in Abu Dhabi, late 1960’s, https:// www.thenationalnews.com/ arts-culture/a-nation-at-homehow-emiratis-made-sha-bihousing-their-own-1.202113.

Accessed October 3, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

These settlements, called Hijar were named after the migration model of Prophet Mohamed PBUH from Mecca to Medina. Symbolising the inhabitants migration from an ignorant nomadic life to an enlightened sedentary life tied to agriculture.68 A mode of pacification replacing bedouins predatory mode of subsistence with a more passive occupation in farming.

However, after the discovery of oil, the settlement of pastoral nomads in Saudi Arabia was still vital in the development of the nation-state. Seen as an adaptive process involving the government and an ecological and economic necessity allowing for the reclamation and control of the desert and its inhabitants. Transforming it into a productive agricultural landscape, improving the standards of living and diversifying the economy away from its oil revenue base.69 This can be seen through the agricultural settlements initiated under King Faisal’s rule. In 1958 following 6 years of successive droughts, the second agricultural bedouin settlement plan was initiated in Wadi Sirhan as a relief measure for the bedouins who lost the majority of their herds.70 In 1964, inspired by the project in Wadi Sirhan the governments most ambitious and largest sedentarisation plan began.71 The King Faisal settlement project looked at reclaiming 40,000 hectares of the desert to settle at least 1000 Bedouin families in a model farm for experimentation and training of the bedouin.72 However in 1971 after the site was levelled, irrigated and paved

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

64. Khoubrou, Mitra., Koolhaas, Rem. Al Manakh. Germany: Stichting Archis, 2007.

65. Shamekh, Ahmed A. “Bedouin Settlements”. Ekistics 43, no. 258 (1977): 249– 59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43618835.

66. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

67. Shamekh, “Bedouin Settlements”, 249–59.

68. Nahedh, “The sedentarization of a Bedouin community in Saudi Arabia”.

69. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

70. Shamekh, “Bedouin Settlements”, 249–59.

71. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

72. Shamekh, “Bedouin Settlements”, 249–59.

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none of the permanent structures of housing for the villages had been built.73 Today all that remains of both projects are the agricultural fields.

Thus, the attempts by the monarchy to settle the bedouin through farming were unsuccessful. These schemes designed, managed and advised by foreigners lacked communication with the nomadic population. As a result, the governmental schemes lacked knowledge of the tribal ways of life and were too big and ambitious. The bedouin who not only lacked interest but also knowledge to support such large scale agricultural developments either went back to their nomadic ways of life or began to settle themselves.74 Since then, “Settling” the bedouin through housing to establish a modern state has been adopted by many other Arab Governments. An example being the rulers of the United Arab Emirates.

In the 1960s after the discovery of oil, the ruler and founder of the country; Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan began to apply his ethos “Money is worth nothing if it is not dedicated to serving the people” 75 through the establishment of state-subsidised housing schemes. This scheme aimed to provide adequate, comfortable, healthy and modern homes to encourage the Bedouin community to settle in permanent dwellings, educate their kids, improve their living standards and participate in the development of the new state.76 At the time, the tribe and their nomadic ways of living were beginning to strongly contrast the new, modern lifestyle introduced by colonial powers in the Middle East.

Which highlighted the extent to which the country and its people needed to urbanise and modernise to build the nation.

Opposite Page: 13. Ahmed A. Shamekh, Dukhnah - morphology of a nucleated early hijrah, 1977, in Ahmed A. Shamekh, Bedouin Settlements, Ekistics 268 (Athens Center of Ekistics: 1977), 254. Accessed November 10, 2021.

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This view of the Bedouin modes of living as a backward entity could be seen through not only the media description of their lifestyles; such as in a 1977 Article in Al Ittihad; “Nostalgia for the Tents”; “permanent public housing in which the sons of the desert will begin to practice a normal life, and which represent the first step on the path of civilisation.”77 But also through the separation of the terms “bedouin” and “civilisation” within the sayings of the former president Sheikh Zayed; who was originally a Bedouin, “I do not want the Bedouin moved to civilisation. I want the civilisation moved to the Bedouin” 78. It became evident that the perception of the Bedouin community as a backward entity that required changing in order to better suit the new oil-rich state was not only believed by the residing foreign forces but also by the tribal government who foresaw the benefits of sedentarisation.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

73. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.

74. Cole, Bedouins of the Empty Quarter.

75. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

76. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

77. Elsheshtawy, Yasser. “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries.” Arabian Humanities. Revue internationale d’archéologie et de sciences sociales sur la péninsule Arabique/ International Journal of Archaeology and Social Sciences in the Arabian Peninsula 11 (2019).

78. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

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Thus, other than becoming a way for the government to compensate for years of economic hardship, these houses became a tool of nation-building through the sedentarisation of the bedouin. Allowing the government through their resettlement into urbanisation to strengthen population numbers,79 dilute territorial and tribal divisions and create a more homogenous landscape.80 Sha’bi (noun).

Arabic term meaning “folk” or “traditional”. State subsidised housing schemes in the UAE were termed as Sha’bi homes.

These houses called Sha’bi homes; which translates to “folk” or “traditional”81 became a very constructive step towards transforming the bedouins way of life; which no longer served the image of the United Arab Emirates,82 through their transplantation in concrete homes with electricity, sewage disposal and running water.83 The fully state-subsidised homes were greatly anticipated by the bedouin who were excited to benefit from the country’s newfound wealth and felt acknowledged and respected by the government.84 As a result, the process of sedentarisation rather than being an aggressive imposition was a voluntary un-coerced shift.85 The homes advertised as “Zayed’s Gift to the People” were met with lots of gratitude; “I own this house and thanks to God first who has given us Zayed and second thanks to Zayed, who gave us comfort and happiness.” Portraying the state and the ruler as the protector of the people.86

i. The Sha’bi House The design of the homes was greatly based on modernising the Bedouin lifestyle.

Designed by many different architects the house took influences from western cultures but maintained a link to a particular version of the past. They became tools of constructing a new national identity. Substantively changing their form of living through the amenities, materiality, functional distribution and layout that the homes introduced.87

Opposite Page: 14. UAE Ministry of Public Works, Typical floor plan of a national house type, 1974, https://www. commercialinteriordesign. com/insight/uaes-transformations-exhibition-exloring-the-national-house-unveiled-at-2016-venice-biennale. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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A Sha’bi house provided the family with the basic building blocks required to live in a modern house.88 A single-storey concrete home composed of 2 bedrooms, a majlis space, a kitchen, 2 bath/shower rooms and a large courtyard all enclosed within a 2 meter high boundary wall. Each unit sat on a 576 square meter plot (24 meters by 24 meters), taking up only 40% of the total area,89 never exceeding 100 square meters.90 Drawing inspiration from the layout of nomadic tents, the house was separated spatially into two sections; the internal and external domain. The internal domain consisted of the spaces where the daily domestic life of the family took place; the

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

79. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

80. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

81. el-Aswad, el-Sayed. “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”. 15th International Architecture Exhibition ‘National Pavilion United Arab Emirates-La Biennale Di Venezia. Venice Architecture Biennale, 108-141.

82. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

83. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

84. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

85. Nahedh, “The sedentarization of a Bedouin community in Saudi Arabia”.

86. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

87. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

88. The National Archive. “EP 10: Inside The Emirati Sha’bi House”. The National Archive.

2016. Podcast. https://audioboom.com/posts/4617015-ep10-inside-the-emirati-sha-bihouse.

89. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

90. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

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bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, internal living spaces and the garden. While the external domain represented the spaces in which the values of hospitality were exercised; the majlis and elements that allowed for the preservation of privacy; the boundary walls and entrances.

This strict separation between the members of the household and the public was further enhanced through the inclusion of two separate entrance spaces; one for the family which led to the domestic parts of the home and another for guests which led to the majlis. These entrances become one of the most important elements of the home, representing the core values of privacy and exclusiveness.91 Thus the spatial organization of the rooms and the segregation of these two sections creates an inward-looking building organised around an open garden connecting all the areas of the home together. This courtyard, a large section of roofless open space, maintains the bedouins connection to nature. Creating a space to perform daily household tasks such as cooking outside, socialising and becomes a playground for the children. 92 This space is enclosed by the boundary walls of the house that fully protects the inhabitants from the curious eyes of strangers.93 More than being an element of privacy and protection, the boundary wall also acts as a territorial claim to the land by defining the area of the plot. The definition of space and boundaries was a new concept for the bedouin who previously lived in the expanse of the desert. With no defining boundaries except the horizon and the sky.

Thus for the bedouin, the original 24-meter by 24-meter plot, which by international standards is quite reasonable, was considered small. 94 Therefore during the duration of their transplantation into the urban fabric the size of the plot kept changing, growing and shrinking. With the largest being a 90 by 90 meter plot. By the early 1990s, the average plot size was 60 by 60 meters.

The spatial organization of the built-up area within this plot was quite deliberate.

The majority of the built-up area of the house stood in the centre of the plot, with some additional service or residential units appearing around the main structure, attached to the boundary wall. These spaces were all connected through what was the “courtyard” or garden. 95

Opposite Page: 15. Braun & Säckl, Isometric Drawing for Housing Type B, 1974, https://journals.openedition.org/cy/4185. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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The centrality of the home not only created larger setbacks which ensured further privacy but also gave the bedouin a lot of natural space surrounding their homes. A replication of the vast desert that surrounded the tent. Thus, this open space was an attempt by the designers and the government to provide the bedouin with a comfortable environment that didn’t make them feel caged.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

91. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

92. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”.

93. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

94. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

95. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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This openness of the plot also allowed the typology to be open to the notion of adaptability. Creating room for conversion, addition and horizontal expansion of the home. A situation already considered by the government who asked the architects to design potential future expansions, knowing that bedouins due to their way of living were always adapting and changing. 96 This consideration of the home as an adaptable unit was not only reflected in the physical form of the house but could also be seen through other details. Such as the stairs leading up to the roof, which allowed for its conversion to an inhabitable space, fit for sleeping overnight. As well as the implementation of reinforced concrete foundations, which allowed for the possibility of the vertical expansion of the home. 97 The preference for horizontal over vertical expansion stemmed from the bedouins previous way of life in the desert which meant mostly ground floor and outdoor domestic activity. Therefore, although provisions were made by the government to do so, the bedouin were reluctant to expand vertically. An attempt to maintain a link to their past. 98 The opportunity to horizontally expand the home as the result of its spatial arrangement questions the definition of the typology by the government as a courtyard home. The home; which one of the earliest typologies was designed and constructed by German architects; Wolfgang Braun and Peter Säckl, bears resemblance to the patio house more than the traditional courtyard home.99 Typologically, the rooms of traditional courtyard houses are clustered around a central courtyard. Creating an interiorised home that values the seclusion and the privacy of the family. Although these values are extended onto the typology of the Sha’bi home through the enclosure of the house within boundary walls and the spatial segmentation separating male and female space, the Sha’bi house does not revolve around a singular courtyard space. But rather the courtyard revolves around the spaces of the home.

Opposite Page: 16. Amel Chabbi, Traditional settlements, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 205. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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The relationship between the “courtyard” and the domestic spaces of the Sha’bi home creates a decentralised typology. Defined through the connection of open garden space to the different rooms which are staggered around the plot. This centralisation of the built form on the plot, with some detached spaces connected through open garden space, allows for the horizontal expansion of the home. This differs from the typology of the courtyard which due to the lack of open space can only expand vertically.100 Thus the typology of the Sha’bi house rather than being domestic spaces centred around various courtyards can be defined as patio homes. In fact that the initial design

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96. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

97. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

98. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

99. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

100. Fadan, “The development of contemporary housing in Saudi Arabia (1950-1983)”.

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of the home in the early 1970s was developed by German architects; Peter Säckl and Wolfgang Braun. Both trained in modern architectural principles during their studies in the 1960s, and they were selected for this project due to their advancements in pre-fabrication construction, with the method known as the “Kasseler Bausystem”.

This system allowed for the reduction on-site construction time and has been used for the systematic and modular-based development of schools in Germany. These German architects were probably inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s patio homes being designed, proposed and constructed during the same period.101 The product of an architectural brief given to students in the early 1930s when he taught at the Bauhaus 102 and later at IIT in Chicago, Mies’s Patio Homes looked at modernising the typology of the courtyard house through the decentralisation and increase of the garden.

This unconventional reconfiguration of the home was an attempt to reinforce the relationship between the interior and the exterior spaces, transforming the introverted courtyard house into extroverted detached houses characterised by external gardens or patios, 103 which reconciled urban living and nature through the internalisation of the gardens and the containment of the site within boundary walls. 104 The Sha’bi housing model designed by Säckl and Braun shares similar spatial features with Mies’s Patio homes. 105 Through its reconfiguration into a singular block of rooms at the centre of the plot, the Sha’bi house completely reshaped the spatial relationship between the interior and exterior. Where the courtyard was originally a climate modifier, breathing space and the heart of the home, were now inverted and shifted to the exterior, and transformed into a perimeter garden surrounding the block of the home. 106 This spatial shift, disconnection and separation of the courtyard redefined the use of exterior spaces. Unprotected by the domestic spaces of the home, rather than being a space where daily life and chores took place, the garden became the most overlooked and least used area of the home, only became useful again through its enclosure.

ii. The neighbourhood

Opposite Page: 17. Mies van der Rohe, Courtyard with Three Courts, 1934, https://at1patios.wordpress. com/2009/07/16/reflexion-1-ejemplos-paradigmaticos-01/amp/. Accessed April 10 2022.

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The imposition of western housing typologies onto the tribe did not only redefine the domestic space of the tent but have also led to a shift of the once compact community centred ideals to isolated suburban visions. 107 Similarly to the Sha’bi house, the neighbourhoods were designed with the aim to modernise the layout of the tribal community spaces, while keeping the basic structure of their tribal society intact – emphasising dwelling privacy, clustering of

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101. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

102. Nile Greenberg, “Mies’ Medium”, Cartha Magazine I, 2019, 06.

103. Luciana Fornari Colombo, “The Miesian Courtyard House”, Architectural Research Quarterly 19 (2), Cambridge University Press: 123–32.

104. Colombo, “The Miesian Courtyard House”, 123-32 105. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

106. Lest We Forget UAE. “Vernacular Architecture in the UAE 2014”. Uploaded May 2017. Video. www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cadWemJ-tjo..

107. Koolhaas, Rem, Todd Reisz, Mishaal Gergawi, Bimal Mendis, and Tabitha Decker.

2010. Al Manakh Cont’d. Amsterdam: Archis Publishers.

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families and social interactions.

Therefore, rather than moving the tribes or attempting to attract them to major cities, neighbourhoods were built in the areas in which the tribe settled. This allowed for the distributed development of the state in every place and location, avoiding overpopulation and the aggravation of urban social problems.

Named after the tribes who originally settled there, these neighbourhoods created a sporadic and scattered urban fabric defined by clusters of identical units for the settling of families on the basis of their tribal affiliations.108 Arranged in several parallel rows the neighbourhood clusters did not exceed 20 houses, the average size of a migration group. These identical units created a homogenous environment; influenced by the equality of Bedouin settlements, where the building forms did not reflect differences in social hierarchies.109 However, although these neighbourhoods were designed with the intent of maintaining tribal layouts and community relationships, they imposed a lot of changes onto the bedouins who had to redefine their ways of living.

The introduction of water and electricity through piping and wiring revolutionised their living standards. The ability to access water at home made the well redundant and changed the lives of women, who were freed from the chore of fetching water and could adopt new standards in health and hygiene. Thus, the introduction of water through piping transformed the home into an autonomous unit and created an introverted society where members no longer needed to leave the house to perform daily tasks.110 This led to a disconnection between members of the neighbourhood and displaced the importance of outdoor life, gathering and congregation. Which vanished from the street and alleyways to the private home.

Through the transplantation of the bedouin into these neighbourhoods, the tribal community lost contact and interaction with one another and were constrained to a limited public life.111 Opposite Page: 18. A villa on the edge of the desert in the urbanized part of Liwā, where it is still a tradition to have coffee and fruit outside the premises, sitting on the sand, in Salma Samar Damluji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates (Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd, 2006), 42. Accessed October 30, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

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108. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

109. Cordes and Scholz, Bedouins, wealth, and change.

110. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”).

111. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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PRIVATISED The story of the neighbourhood: Al Maqam, Al Ain Constructed in 1978, Al Maqam is one of the earliest national housing neighbourhoods in the UAE.112 Located in Al Ain – an inland oasis city on the eastern border with Oman,

113

the neighbourhood was con-

structed in 1978 and still houses many Emirati families today, like the Al Meqbali family, who refuse to move to newer housing developments given the strong attachment and associated memory accumulated over the years.114 Sha’biyaat (noun).

Arabic term referring to the Sha’bi house neighbourhoods.

Like other Sha’bi neighbourhoods, Sha’biyaat Al Maqam was highly pedestrian, designed to accommodate outdoor congregation and socialisation, the lack of paved roads allowed houses to open up to the street.

The neighbourhood was arranged as two rows of four houses, separated by sikkas - pedestrian alleyways that led to sandy areas and communal green spaces where community members could socialise and children could play.

Each housing unit of Al Maqam, of which the Al Meqbali home (pg 59) is a typical example, provided the family with a one-storey, two-bedroom house which could be divided into three constituent parts: the service quarter – which included the kitchen, washing, laundry room and the maid’s room, the villa – where the bedrooms and family spaces were, and the majlis - a space to host guests.115 Al Maqam was one of the first Sha’bi neighbourhoods whose focus shifted towards incorporating traditional elements within the architecture, such as decorative arches on the enclosure fence and the roof parapet.

An attempt to accommodate the Emirati and Islamic cultures.116 Similar to the case of the Al Meqbali family home (pg 59) and the Sha’bi house in Al Murashed (pg 53), the neighbourhood of Al Maqam underwent a transformation process by the bedouin families. The house, designed to accommodate a nuclear family, gradually expanded through the addition of rooms, spaces and outdoor extensions such as garages constructed from corrugated metal sheets or exterior majlis spaces, expanding past the boundary walls and redefining the limits of the plot.

The growth of the plot through the addition of space completely redefined the home and the neighbourhood dynamic. In addition to taking up the garden, the increased built-up area also resulted in private own-

Opposite Page: 19. Reem Falaknaz, Children from the Al Kaabi and Al Nuaimi households play football on their street in Al Maqam, Al Ain, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 259. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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ership of communal areas, such as the kitchen. As a result, the movement of family members, which once coincided with and relied on other tribal families, became confined to the closed space of the individual plot.

The transformation of these homes through their expansion, addition and customisation of space have thus not only redefined the domestic space of the house but has also redefined neighbourhood planning.

Today Emirati are still inspired by the adapted sha’bi neighbourhoods and have remained privatised and introverted.

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112. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

113. “Al Ain”, Britannica, last modified July 14, 2021, https:// www.britannica.com/place/AlAyn-United-Arab-Emirates.

114. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

115. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

116. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House

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20. Transformation Analysis: Al Maqam, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 175. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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21. Strip Massing Study: Al Maqam, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 282. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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23. Pedestrian Circulation Analysis: Al Maqam, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 177.

Accessed December 13, 2021.

22. Outdoor Extension Analysis: Al Maqam, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 174. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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ADAPTED

“The house seemed to be permanently under construction; whenever another downand-out family member needs a place to sleep, they just knocked the walls out to add a back room. In the desert this would have been easy - weave another flap, add another meter to the tent.”

– Sophia Maria, Transformations : The Emirati National House 117

“People who come from afar tell us we shouldn’t light a fire inside the houses; however, we have to light a fire so we do outside in the tent, not only in order to keep warm but also to create light in the tent, and to recall the early days.”

– The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates, Salmá Samar Damlūji 118

Initially eagerly anticipated by the bedouin; who would set up their tents in front of Sha’bi construction sites, the homes were criticised a few months after people moved in.119 Although the homes and neighbourhoods tried to accommodate the spatial practices and culture of the bedouins, the offering of western ways of living based on settlement imposed a lot of changes. Leading to tensions between modernity and tradition where the home was seen as a place of contradictions and paradoxes that didn’t entirely respond to their needs. 120 This lack of identity, cultural and traditional awareness was a consequence of the fast-paced construction of the homes which led to ‘quantity’ over ‘quality-led planning’.121 As a result, no in-depth analysis of the bedouins requirements was conducted which led to a design lacking a sense of national identity and community, creating an introverted society.

Opposite Page: 24. Reem Falaknaz, Al Salamat Neigborhood in Al Ain, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 260261. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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These functional issues and aesthetic concerns were further exasperation through the involvement of foreign architects in the design of the homes. Who even though tried to incorporate cultural elements lacked the in-depth knowledge of bedouin modes of living. Thus their designs equipped according to European standards122 proposed simplistic schematics such as a free-standing wall separating the private from the public domains of the home.

Consequently, the home didn’t only change through its permanence and its defined plot size but also through its functional layout. Spaces became defined as segregated rooms and lost their flexibility, fixed furniture was introduced and the kitchen became a part of the home.123

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117. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

118. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

119. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

120. Elsheshtawy, Yasser, ed.

The evolving Arab city: tradition, modernity and urban development. Routledge, 2008.

121. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

122. Cordes and Scholz, Bedouins, wealth, and change.

123. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries.”

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ta’dilat (noun). Arabic term meaning “modification” or “adjustment”, referring to the process of adaptation of the Bedouin to the Sha’bi house.

At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, the home went through a series of modifications by the bedouin known as ta’dilāt to adapt to these changes.

Rather than being an aggressive transformation of the house, the bedouin began a delicate process of adaptation. Altering these western forms of housing into modes of living that better reflected their cultural values and norms.124 This sensitivity to modifying the home was not only a result of the ownership structure but also a result of the bedouin’s tribal reverence to leadership.

The homes, provided for free are only for the rights of use. As stated in Article 13; the “beneficiary” of a low-cost house has no authority or power to sell, let out or exchange the house and can only apply to become the owner after 10 years of living there. However, this ownership is conditional. The title of the ownership obtained after 10 years is only related to the house and doesn’t apply to the land which remains as government property. Therefore, as they are not the owners they are forbidden to carry out any major alterations in the interior or exterior of the home without the permission of both the Housing Minister and the Low-cost Housing Beneficiary Committee.125 A highly structured process whose aim is to minimise any significant modification to the homes.126 On the other hand, the strong tribal relationship with the state also defined the bedouins reluctance to completely transform the home. Seen as gifts from the state and an act of generosity, the bedouin did not want to be unappreciative and disrespectful. Therefore the process of ta’dilāt was an attempt to make these gifts work for their needs without completely redefining them, offering an alternative to preservation or demolition.127

Opposite Page: 25. Yasser El Sheshtawy, Sha’bi Houses, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 214-215. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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The focus on prefabricated elements and modularity of the Sha’bi home exhibited sufficient flexibility of the design. The formal qualities and the spatial distribution of these blocks left lots of empty space and adaptability for the residents to modify the house based on their needs. As a result, the Sha’bi house became a blank canvas and a basic framework within which the various elements of Bedouin life could be placed.128 The inhabitants become their own architects undergoing an incremental process of adaptation that redefines and alters their forms of living as their situations change.129 The shape and arrangement of the Sha’bi homes reflect the cultural history of the people who live in them.130 Over the history of the adapting Sha’bi home, the main space exposed to constant change is the courtyard/garden. A space of opportunity allowing the home to expand through the addition of various rooms and spaces. The courtyard also became the

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124. The National Archive, “EP 10: Inside The Emirati Sha’bi House”.

125. Al-Mansoori, “Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates”.

126. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries.”

127. Fred Scott, On Altering Architecture, (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2008).

128. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

129. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”.

130. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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ALTERED The case of the Sha’bi House in Murashed, Al Fujairah Located in Al Fujairah in a residential neighbourhood named Murashed, this Sha’bi house has been occupied since the early 1990s. Sitting on a 25 by 25 meter plot, the original design was a single-storey two-bedroom house with two majlis spaces – one for men, the other for women, a kitchen, two storerooms and three bathrooms, two of which were located near the bedrooms to be used by the family members and the other in the male majlis. As the house was occupied by an extended Bedouin family, a unit larger than that of the nuclear family generally composed of three generations and their animals, the original composition and layout of the home did not meet their needs and requirements. As a result, the house underwent a series of transformations by the owner as a form of adaptation to make the home fit for the family. The adaptations were carried out in three stages.

Upon moving into the home, the owner transformed both the interior and exterior parts of the home.

Externally, these changes involved improving the landscaping of the external courtyard, making it more suitable for the family’s animals. The owner dug a well, planted palm trees, and grass to feed his goats, built a pool to provide water for their livestock, wash dates and irrigate the plants. The owner also built a shed Original Plan

First Stage

for the animals to the east of the plot and increased the height of the boundary wall to 3 meters to improve the family’s privacy.

Internally, the layout of the house did not accommodate the Bedouin family’s larger size and values of privacy and hospitality. Therefore changes were made to the layout of the home. The men’s guest room located near the main door was transformed to become a women’s guest room, and a new men’s guest room was built as a separate block near the main gate of the home. Other layout changes involved the conversion of the women’s sitting room into the family’s living and dining room; the kitchen was moved to an external space to ensure that no cooking odours would enter the home, and the original kitchen was turned into a storeroom, while the main store became a separate bedroom for the girls, following the Islamic system that separates adult boys’ bedrooms from adult girls’ bedrooms.131 As stated by the Prophet Mohamed PBUH: “When the child reaches the age of seven years, arrange a separate bed for him.” –Makarim Al Akhlaq, volume 1, 256.132 After the marriage of the owners’ son, the second stage of changes was made to the house to accommo-

Second Stage

2.5

5.0

Third Stage

10 m

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Opposite Page: 26. Ali Al Amaireh, Different stages of changes and additions to the original plan of the cement house, in Ali Al Amaireh, The Bedouin tent in comparision with UAE Housing Provision (Open House internationl Vol 36, No.4, December 2011), 11. (Re-drawn

by Tamara Rasoul)

date him and his wife. This is because it is a tradition that the son lives with his parents. Therefore the original women’s sitting room became the married son’s bedroom and the storeroom became a women’s majlis space and a garage was added for his cars. However, as the family still required storage space a new room was added close to the animal shed.

The final and third stage of changes undergone by the sha’bi house was that the small store was turned into a bathroom, and all the existing bathrooms were annexed to the bedrooms.133

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131. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

132. “Chapter 71: The Gender Problems”, Principles of Upbringing Children, Ibrahim Amini, accessed April 3, 2022, https://www.al-islam.org/principles-upbringing-children-ibrah i m - a m i n i / c h a p t e r- 7 1 - g e n der-problems.

133. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

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key space in which the bedouin was able to maintain their strong relationship with animals and nature. Thus upon moving into the homes; this neglect by designers of the importance of domestic animals within the bedouin way of life was rectified by the inhabitants. Enclosures were created for the possession of their animals, wells were dug to secure regular irrigation for the plants, and pools were built to water animals and their produce.134 However, the courtyard was intentionally designed by the government for gardening purposes. The planting of trees was consistent with the state’s plans to enhance the environment by increasing the number of green spaces within the country.

Thus the inhabitants took advantage of this opportunity of space by placing an emphasis on landscaping.135 The planting of trees was seen as a way to humanise the environment, moderate the climate, keep alive the memory of the hair house era and improve their view.136 Trees also became a tool used by the bedouin to preserve their values of privacy. Through the excessive planting of trees, the house began to disappear behind the foliage.137

Hijab (noun). 1. A veil that covers the chest and head.

Worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers or males outside of their immediate family.

2. The religious code which governs the wearing of the hijab

Satr or the culture of covering was the main problem that many modifications were made to address.138 An Islamic practice not only confined to the veiling of women through wearing the hijab but extends to the privacy of the entire house or family.139 Overlooked by the designers of the home, who underestimated the sensitivity and importance of the privacy and sanctity of the family. Therefore, other than the use of trees to block views of the house measures were taken by the inhabitants to ensure their privacy.140 Boundary walls and exterior doors were extended from 2 to 3 meters high and the internal spatial organization of the house was redefined and restructured.141 Creating independent spaces for the family members, detaching rooms; such as the majlis and the kitchen142 and addressing concerns about the bathrooms; shared by both guests and the house residents.143 Thus the internal organization proposed by the designers became subject to the process of adaptation. The separation of the kitchen and the male majlis from the home was also one of the first changes made by the inhabitants. Their placement in such proximity to the domestic domain of the home imposed a large change on their ways of living and violated their values of privacy. Thus these spaces became independent units. The majlis moved from the front of the house to an independent room close to the exterior door and the kitchen became an independent space at the back of the plot. A more hygienic arrangement allowed to disperse of cooking smells but also separated the space of cooking from the home since most of the cooking was carried out by maids and cooks who are not part of the family.144 A result of the proliferation

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of domestic help in the 1970s.145

134. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

135. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

136. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

137. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

138. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

139. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”.

140. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

141. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

142. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

143. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

144. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

The concern for privacy extended to the scale of the neighbourhood. Upon moving in many settlers complained about the close proximity of adjacent homes. These issues adapted at the scale of the home through elevating the boundary wall or planting of trees were also addressed in the planning of successive neighbourhoods. The introduction of 6m gaps in between some units reduced the sharing of party walls and distanced homes from each other. These alleyways called sikkas, became a network of circulation connecting parts of the neighbourhood together and developed into a communal space appropriated by the families, where kids played and women socialised.

Proximity and privacy was also adapted by the government through the enlargement of the plot sizes. Through the growth of the plot, the home was able to be further set back from the boundary walls. This growth was also a solution to comforting the bedouins, who in response to being allocated a delimited area of the city began to develop a sense of confinement. As a result spaces of the home began to grow; a regular bedroom could be up to 7 by 10 meters and a master bedroom around 42 to 49 square meters.146 Another issue of the Sha’bi house taken into the hands of the Bedouin was the number of rooms and spaces within the home. Designed by foreigners, the home developed a typology for a nuclear family. The typology which proposed a form of living composed of two bedrooms and two bathrooms did not accommodate the bedouin who live with their extended families, where households could reach up to 10 people.147 Therefore the home didn’t reflect the network of family relations, daily practices and social values of those living there.148 To combat this issue and make the space of the housework, the bedouin took advantage of the empty space surrounding the built form of the Sha’bi house; the courtyard. Thus the house became constantly under construction. Adding rooms as the family grew and their needs increased. This expansion also began to section the plot dedicating a section of the home to each son upon his marriage.

This was the case of the Al Meqbali Family in a Sha’bi neighbourhood called Al Maqam in Al Ain. The family who occupied the home in 1978 have adapted to the growing and changing needs through the constant horizontal expansion and addition of rooms and spaces. The original floor plan of two rooms, a kitchen, majlis, dining room and garage with a large courtyard around it has expanded so much over the years that today the courtyard no longer takes up a majority of the plot and the fam-

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145. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

146. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

147. Koolhaas et al, Al Manakh Cont’d.

148. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”.

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ily has rented a majlis space from their neighbours. The horizontal expansion of the home rather than vertically stems from the house being designed to accommodate bedouin culture. This meant mostly ground floor and outdoor domestic activity.149 The adaptation of this western form of living to accommodate bedouin culture was an important aspect of this process. This monotonous and repetitive housing typology lacked identity and didn’t respond to bedouin cultural values.150 The introduction of a fully furnished and equipped dining room within Sha’bi homes was an example of this. The room was evidence of the ignorance and disregard of the designers for the bedouins culture and eating habits. The dining room, dining tables and chairs were unnecessary additions to the home as the bedouins used to always eat in a sitting position on the floor. Therefore as a response to this ignorance, the room was transformed into an empty space for seating the whole family on the ground during meal times. A spatial arrangement inspired by the Bedouin tents.

The memory of the tent and their traditional way of life has been very influential in the bedouins adaptation of the Sha’bi house. The tent, which represented their style of life culturally, socially, and religiously became a tool in which the bedouin preserved aspects of their former living habits. Thus the practice of setting up and using a tent side by side with the cement house inside the courtyard became the most significant addition. 151 “These are our old homes and we cannot leave them or give them up. You should not forget that they were made by us and at the hands of our women. These houses are light and we can carry them on the back of this small pulley (camel). If we felt like leaving the city, we can use them. These tents can be used now to cover part of the garden of the house as a shield from the sun and we can also use them as furniture.”

– Nostalgia for Tents, Al Ittihad, March 2 1977 152

Opposite Page: 27. One of the villas in the al Sha’biyyah al Qarmadah area in Liwā. Tents are constructed by the inhabitants immediately outside the premises on the unpaved street, in Salma Samar Damluji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates (Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd, 2006), 41.

Accessed November 3, 2021.

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Through the settlement of the bedouin in housing schemes, the tent has adapted from a form of shelter to a complementary extension of the new concrete housing.

Becoming a space where local heritage is preserved.153 The importance of the preservation of identity extended further than the relationship of the bedouin to the tent. Aesthetically, the modern, homogenous homes lacking any decorative features felt detached from who they are. Therefore, the bedouin responded by adapting the homes into expressions of themselves and their culture.154

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149. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

150. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

151. Al Amaireh, “The Bedouin Tent in Comparison with UAE Housing Provision”.

152. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

153. Damlūji, The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates.

154. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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EXPANDED The case of the Al Meqbali House, Al Maqam, Al Ain Occupied in 1978, the Meqbali house is located in one of the earliest national housing neighbourhoods, Al Maqam in Al Ain. Originally one storey, two-bedroom house, the house was transformed multiple times over the years to adapt to the changes in the size of the family and their needs.

The original structure occupied the centre of the plot and was composed of two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a garage, a storeroom, a majlis, a living room and a kitchen. These rooms all opened directly onto Dekka (noun).

A traditional space of an Emirati home for sitting.

the exterior. The block of the home was surrounded by an open area used for planting and an open area for sitting called a Dekka.

In 1983, a few years after the family moved in, the first set of changes was made to both the interior and exterior parts of the home. In the garden, trees were planted, a well was dug and an outdoor courtyard called a huwī was created. Internally, a lot of layout changes were made. The kitchen was detached from the main space of the home, the majlis connected to the family living room, and a bedroom and bathroom were added to the home.

The second set of changes involved further rearranging the layout of the home. A new bedroom was allocated to the grandfather, a bedroom near the majlis was transformed into a dining room, the garage was

Huwi (noun). A traditional space of an Emirati home; the outdoor courtyard.

extended to make room for more cars and the kitchen became its own independent block. Furthermore, an animal shed, one-bedroom and a family living room were added.

Over time, as the family grew, a third set of changes were undertaken by the Al Meqbali’s. These changes involved the addition of a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a room that had no specified use.

Since then the house has grown exponentially, through the addition of rooms such as; several maids rooms, a washing and laundry room, a dining room, a women’s majlis, through the extension of the kitchen, but has also expanded further than the limits of the boundary wall in order to accommodate the growth of the family. Seen through the need to rent a room from the adjacent house to provide a gathering space for the teenagers. Today the house is subdivided into different sections, each for one son in the family and has become a “bridge” between the grandmother’s traditions and her grandchildren’s expectations for modern commodities.

Opposite Page: 28. Yasser El Sheshtawy, Exterior view of the Al Meqbali house, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 246-247. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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Since its original occupation, the house has grown only horizontally. When Makhlouf Al Meqbali – one of the family members – was asked why the family never contemplated vertically expanding the home through the addition of levels, he mentioned that the house was designed to accommodate bedouin culture, a culture deeply rooted in the landscape, which meant mostly ground floor and outdoor domestic activities.

155

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155. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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29. The Al Meqbali House, Transformation Floor Plans & Diagrams , in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 244. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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30. The Al Meqbali House, Detailed Plan, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 246-247. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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Thus doors were colourfully painted with indigenous symbols; such as local plants, flowers and birds, outside gates were redesigned according to Islamic artistic styles; like arches, crescents, starts and domes156 and the neutral colours of the homes were repainted into vivid colours.157 These additions and changes weren’t only a process of individualisation, customisation and distinction but were important symbolic elements strengthening local, national and socio-religious values.

Modification has become the basic characteristic of the Sha’bi house.158 A typology that since its introduction in the 1970s has adapted significantly to contradict the modern and western forms of living imposed onto them by the state.159 These modifications have created a new hybridised form of housing, where the western forms of living are adapted to integrate local traditions and values. This hybridisation has informed how homes are designed today. Today, the contemporary villas of the UAE still maintain the same spatial organisations and values of the adapted Sha’bi houses such as including majlis spaces, detached kitchen spaces and are all enclosed within boundary walls.

Therefore, the harvesting, transplanting and adapting of the Bedouin population within Sha’bi homes highlights architecture as a mirror of society.160 Showing how Emirati families have transformed with their country and as a result how the country transformed because of its citizens.161

Opposite Page: 31. Saeed Al Meqbali in his yard, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 228-229. Accessed December 13, 2021.

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156. el-Aswad, “Social and Spatial Organization Patterns in the Traditional House: A Case Study of Al Ain, a City in the UAE”.

157. Amaireh, Ali Hussein.

“COLOR IN THE UAE PUBLIC HOUSES”. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 23, no. 1 (2006): 27–42. http://www. jstor.org/stable/43030757.

158. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

159. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries.”

160. Khoubrou and Koolhaas, Al Manakh.

161. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

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TRANSFORMED “Was sind schon Städte, gebaut, ohne die Weisheit des Volkes.”

(What are cities, built, without the wisdom of its citizens) – Bertolt Brecht, 1953 162

In the case of the United Arab Emirates, the country as it is today could not have been built without the wisdom of its citizens. Founded and established by tribal rulers, it has always been a country rooted in bedouin values and ways of life. However, beyond their important role in unifying tribes to form a state, the bedouin has shaped social landscapes and transformed the way people live through the evolution of morphological attributes of the home.

Thus the evolution and transformation of the Sha’bi house is a rare form of adaptation and resistance to state policies and visions imposed on the bedouin. By taking matters into their own hands and transforming the space of their homes, the inhabitants became active participants in the production of urban space; shaping the housing landscape of the city.163 The houses today are still occupied by extended families, preserve the separation of the kitchen and majlis spaces, and continue to follow the internal social organization pattern of gender segregation.164 Their arrangement within the urban fabric remains composed of regimented and introverted housing strips, defined by private plots, enclosed by bland boundary walls, hidden behind a forest of trees planted on the edge of the plots and separated by 6-meter alleyways. Therefore, residents – whether Emirati nationals or not - have continued to live in and build homes and neighbourhoods that follow the values and draw their spatial layout from the Sha’bi home. The adapted typology embraces modernity while contemporizing certain aspects of the traditional way of bedouin life.165

Opposite Page: 32. Tamara Husam Rasoul, Sha’biyat Al Shurta, Dubai, December, 2017

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By retaining a traditional layout and social organization within an individual plot, this contemporary Bedouin lifestyle has introverted tribal ways of living. Instead of being separated and used by tribal members, spaces such as the kitchen, the majlis, the well, and commodities like plants and livestock became privatised and owned by individual tribal members. Spaces like the kitchen remained separated from the living space but were removed from the public realm. The movement of family members, which once coincided with and relied on the movement of other tribal families’, became confined to the closed space of the individual plot. Therefore, this

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162. Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope.

163. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

164. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

165. Koolhaas et al, Al Manakh Cont’d.

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contemporary bedouin lifestyle maintained the tribal community’s social organization and layout but introduced disconnection and independence through the state’s implementation of solid boundary walls.

State subsidised houses continue to be constructed and provided to Emirati families today. Under the Sheikh Zayed Housing Program, the policies and vision of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan have continued to provide tens of thousands of new homes for Emirati nationals.166 Based on the fact that providing adequate housing for Emirati citizens is necessary to achieve progress and development in the United Arab Emirates. This housing program provides grants and housing loans for the construction, completion, building maintenance, and additions to housing or government housing within integrated residential neighbourhoods for Emirati citizens. Specifically, breadwinners of the family who do not have the necessary means to provide that family with a comfortable home. Whether for financial reasons, medical reasons, age, or being orphaned.167 Learning from the previous shortcomings of the state in accommodating the bedouins’ spatial requirements in their design, state-subsidised houses today offer Emirati nationals high-quality villas that follow the spatial and formal arrangement of the adapted Sha’bi house. Each family is provided with a house of three to four ensuite bedrooms, a kitchen and service space, higher boundary walls, and decentralised and separate spaces such as the majlis and bedrooms to create a certain degree of separation between family members and guests.

Opposite Page: 33. Mohamed Bin Rashed Housing Est., Construction of Emirati National Housing in Hatta/Makan, 2020, https://www.mbrhe.gov.ae/ Projects/2020-Hatta-Makan.

Accessed March 10, 2022.

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However, through the standardisation of homes, the tribal provision of housing that combined top-down decision making in land distribution with the bottom-up responsibility through the self-organization of the distributed land was replaced with a fully top-down provision of homes. As a result, families no longer held the power to shape and self-organise their allocated plots, offered pre-defined and regimented housing strips, and inhabitants could no longer make changes within their plots without approval from the state. This lack of independent decision making was a governmental strategy to control the image of the national identity of the local Emirati as a contemporary and “civilised” population through the maximum uniformity of the neighbourhood. These standardised state-subsidised housing schemes replicated and duplicated until today are known as “Emirati neighbourhoods”. They have transformed the communal forms of tribal living into isolated, interiorised suburban visions of 200 to 500 identical villas, served by neighbourhood schools, mosques and supermarkets.

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166. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

167. “Sheikh Zayed Housing Program”, Szhp.Gov.Ae, accessed December 2, 2021, https:// www.szhp.gov.ae/Default.aspx

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This introversion of both the neighbourhood and the home was a consequence of the bedouin’s adaptation to the Sha’bi house as well as the introduction of piping and electricity. As members of the family no longer needed to leave the house to perform their daily tasks due to the new standards in hygiene and living, the home only grew up to the limits of the boundary wall through the addition of spaces. These spaces led to once shared and communal spaces, such as the majlis, the kitchen and the well to become lost to the private realm of the house. Disconnecting members of the community from one another.

Today Sha’bi homes have become an endangered typology. Increasingly pressured by urban redevelopment and transformation and forced out by state powers to make way for the new, the extent to which these neighbourhoods are present within the urban fabric is rare.168 Originally conceived as part of a wide strategy of national identity preservation and used to establish a class structure within the bedouin classless society through the provision of high quality standardised homes. The Sha’bi houses that once controlled and placed the national population: the minority, within the upper class, as a result of their outdated nature compared to the more contemporary, luxurious and larger homes, have developed into a stigma, currently representing the lower to the middle working class. In 2016, a survey about Sha’bi neighbourhoods conducted in preparation for the UAE’s participation in the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale found that a vast majority of Sha’bi homes have fallen into disrepair and are occupied by immigrant labourers or poorer Emiratis who don’t have the financial means or ability to move into larger or newer homes.169

Opposite Page: 34. Asim Khanal, Khalid Alawadi, Contrasting urbanism: Traditional housing fabrics in the foreground, and contemporary downtown dubai in the background, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 124-125.

Accessed December 13, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

The Sha’bi house is still prevalent in the Emirati society and urban fabric today.

Despite the fact that it has become a dying typology replaced by lavish villas and tall skyscrapers, its social values, spatial arrangements and identity remain embedded within the current housing landscape. Therefore, throughout the history of the development of the United Arab Emirates, social housing has played a larger role than the settlement, domestication and sedentarisation of the bedouin. Through its symbiotic relationship with the inhabitant, it became the space in which national identity was formed through the balancing of tradition and modernity.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

168. Aravena et al, Transformations : The Emirati National House.

169. Elsheshtawy, “The Emirati Sha ‘bī House: On Transformations, Adaptation and Modernist Imaginaries”.

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A DICTIONARY OF TRANSFORMATION “The nomad has a territory; he follows customary paths; he goes from one point to another; he is not ignorant of points (water points, dwelling points, assembly points, etc.) But the question is what in nomad life is a principle and what is only a consequence. To begin with, although the points determine paths, they are strictly subordinated to the paths they determine, the reverse of what happens with the sedentary.

The water point is reached only in order to be left behind; every point is a relay and exists only as a relay. A path is always between two points, but the in-between has taken on all the consistency and enjoys both an autonomy and a direction of its own.

The life of the nomad is the intermezzo. Even the elements of his dwelling are conceived in terms of the trajectory that is forever mobilizing them.”

- 1227: Treatise on Nomadology - The War Machine170

The urban narrative of the Bedouin and the Sha’bi house is not a story of loss and subordination of the nomad to the powerful state, but tells a story of their resilience and influence on a condition imposed on them; it teaches a lesson on the dynamic adaptation of architecture and its role to define, transform and shape the urban fabric.

Despite the state’s ambition to harvest, transplant and adapt the nomad to western and “more civilised” modes of living, the Bedouin could not be fully subjected to a way of life determined by someone else - even by the ruler of their tribe. Following their nomadic instincts to learn from, grow with, and adapt to their context, they began to mobilise the space gifted and forced upon them, taking on the role of the designer: adding, removing and disconnecting the spaces of the home, they shifted the role and power of architecture to construct and choreograph the movement back to the inhabitant, reversing the roles of the influencer and the influenced. As a result, rather than the government determining a new national identity and form of living for the nomad, it was them who, through their need to make their context work, defined and changed state policies and the shape of the urban fabric.

Opposite Page: 35. Gérard Klijn, National housing in Abu Dhabi, early 1970’s, in Yasser El Sheshtawy, Transformations: The Emirati National House (UAE: National Pavilion UAE, 2016), 75. Accessed December 12, 2021.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Actions and reactions were not only two-directional between the Bedouin and the State, but were multifaceted. They were not limited to harvesting, transplanting and adapting, but became a series of multiple operations, changes and adjustments, in which both entities learnt and benefitted from each another. Therefore rather than the government or bedouin adapting to the other, they merged, resulting in a hybridised identity and urban form.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

170. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), 445.

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The actions, reactions and adjustments performed in the sedentarisation of the Bedouin population become more important than the historical account of their settlement. They offer a dictionary of the transformations that have informed the mutual adjustment of the concrete house, the city, and its inhabitants.

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A Note: All definitions taken from Oxford Dictionary.171 Highlights by Author.

Accommodate verb (with object) 1. (Of a building or other area) provide lodging or sufficient space for: the layout of the house did not accommodate the bedouin family’s larger size and values of privacy and hospitality.

2. Fit in with the wishes or needs of: After the marriage of the owners’ son, the second stage of changes were made to the house to accommodate him and his wife.

1970’s and beginning of the 1980’s, the Sha’bi home went through a series of modifications by the bedouin known as ta’dilāt to adapt to these changes.

Achieve verb (with object) 1. Successfully bring about or reach (a desired objective or result) by effort, skill, or courage: Housing ensured the full integration of the bedouin with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner to achieve nationhood and development.

Address verb (with object) 1. Think about and begin to deal with (an issue or problem): Satr or the culture of covering was a main problem that many modifications were made to address.

Act verb (no object) 1. behave in the way specified: Their continuation as leaders results from their ability to reconcile conflicts within the tribe and their ability to act as the representative of the tribe with the outside world. noun 2. a thing done; a deed: The Sha’bi houses were seen as gifts from the state and an act of generosity.

Adapt verb (with object) 1. make (something) suitable for a new use of purpose; modify: At the end of the

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Add verb (with object) 1. Put in (an additional element, ingredient, etc).: Many families began to add outdoor extensions such as outdoor garage spaces constructed from corrugated metal sheets or outdoor majlis spaces.

Adopt verb (with object) 1. Choose to take up, follow or use: Since then, “Settling” the bedouin through housing to establish a modern state has been adopted by many other Arab Governments.

Aid verb (with object) 1. Help or support (someone or something) in the achievement of something: This altruistic governmental approach stems from the Islamic principle that the poor members of a community should be protected and aided.

Allocate verb (with object) 1. Distribute (resources or duties) for a particular

purpose: As a result, families no longer held the power to shape and self-organise their allocated plots.

Allow verb (with object) 1. Let (someone) have or do something: Allowing the government through their resettlement into urbanisation to strengthen population numbers and create a more homogenous landscape.

2. Give the necessary time or opportunity for: This openness of the plot also allowed the typology to be open to the notion of adaptability.

Alter verb 1. Change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way: The inhabitants become their own architects undergoing an incremental process of adaptation that redefines and alters their forms of living as their situations change.

Anticipate verb (with object) 1. Regard as probable; expect or predict: The fully state subsidised homes were greatly anticipated by the bedouin.

Appear verb (no object) 1. Come into sight; become visible or noticeable, especially without apparent cause: The bedouin; a fluid entity appearing and disappearing within the desert.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

171. Oxford Dictionaries, Paperback Oxford English Dictionary, (United Kingdom: OUP Oxford, 2012).

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B Are verb 1. Second person singular present and first, second third person plural of be: the nomads make the desert no less than they are made by it.

Arrange verb (with object) 1. Put (things) in a neat, attractive, or required order: Arranged in several parallel rows the neighbourhood clusters did not exceed 20 houses.

Ask verb 1. say something in order to obtain an answer or some information: when asked why the family never contemplated vertically expanding the home through the addition of levels, he mentioned that the house was designed to accommodate bedouin culture.

Assist verb 1. Help (someone), typically by doing a share of the work: the nationals are proud that they have created a country where brothers assist brothers not only materially but also through their bedouin methods of mediation and advice.

Attachverb (with object) 1. Join or fasten (something) to something else: The tents temporal materiality allows the unit of the household to become an autonomous, independent entity of the tribe, attaching and detaching as demanded by the landscape.

Attempt verb (with object) 1. Make an effort to achieve or complete (something difficult): The first formal attempt to settle the bedouin within the Arabian Peninsula was long before the discovery of oil.

Apply verb 1. (No object) make a formal application or request: As stated in Article 13; the “beneficiary” of a low-cost house has no authority or power to sell, let out or exchange the house and can only apply to become the owner after 10 years of living there.

2. (No object) be applicable or relevant: The title of the ownership obtained after 10 years is only related to the house and doesn’t apply to the land which remains as government property.

3. (with object) bring or put into operation or use: In the 1960s, Sheikh Zayed began to apply his ethos through the establishment of state-subsidised housing schemes.

Appropriate verb (with object) 1. take (something) for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission: These alleyways called sikkas, developed into a communal space appropriated by the families, where kids played and women socialised.

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Balance verb (with object) 1. Offset of compare the value of (one thing) to another: Through its symbiotic relationship with the inhabitant, it became the space in which national identity was formed through the balancing of tradition and modernity.

Base verb (with object) 1. (Base something on) use (something specified) as the foundation or starting point for something: The design of the tents was based on three aspects of their life; hospitality, herding and the value of the family.

Bear verb (with object) 1. Formal or literary, have or display as a visible mark or feature: The home; which one of the earliest typologies was designed and constructed by German architects; Wolfgang Braun and Peter Säckl, bears resemblance to the patio house more than the traditional courtyard home.

Become verb (no object) 1. begin to be: The United Arab Emirates could have become a centralised state.

Begin verb (with object) 1. perform or undergo the first part of (an action or activity): Rather than being an aggressive transformation of the house, the bedouin began a delicate process of adaptation.

C Bring verb 1. Cause (someone or something) to be in a particular state or condition: His fear stemmed from his belief that modernisation would only bring more distress than benefits.

Call verb (with object) 1. Announce or decide that (an event) is to happen: They along with various organisations of the newly created UN began to call for the sedentarisation of the bedouin.

Build verb 1. Construct (something) by putting parts or material together: Therefore, rather than moving the tribes or attempting to attract them to major cities, neighbourhoods were built in the areas in which the tribe settled.

2. Establish and develop (a business or situation) over a period of time: Upon realising that no political structure could be built on nomadism and uncertain tribal loyalties.

Carry verb (with object) 1. Support and move (someone or something) from one place to another: These houses are light and we can carry them on the back of this small pulley (camel).

Centred adjective 1. Placed or situated in the centre: Thus the typology of the Sha’bi house rather than being domestic spaces centred around various courtyards can be defined as patio homes.

Change verb (with object) 1. Make (someone or something) different; alter or modify: Consequently, the home didn’t only change through its permanence but also through its layout.

Choose verb (with object) 1. Pick out (someone or something) as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives: Not only did they choose Sheikh Zayed; who himself was originally a bedouin from the tribe Beni Yas, but have also helped in creating a country who’s political structure learns from their tribal past.

Chronicle verb (with object) 1. Record (a series of events) in a factual and detailed way: Focusing on state subsidised housing schemes in the United Arab Emirates and chronicling the process of political frictions becoming spatial, communities becoming isolated, extended families becoming nuclear and movement becoming settlement.

Cluster verb (no object) 1. Form a cluster or clusters: The neighbourhoods were designed with the aim to modernise the layout of the tribal community spaces, while keeping the basic structure of their tribal society intact – emphasising dwelling privacy, clustering of families and social interactions.

Combat verb (with object) 1. Take action to reduce or prevent (something bad or undesirable): To combat this issue and make the space of the house work, the bedouin took advantage of the empty space surrounding the built form of the Sha’bi house; the courtyard.

Compensate verb (no object) 1. Reduce or counteract (something unwelcome or unpleasant) by extorting an opposite force or effect: Thus, other than becoming a way for the government to compensate for years of

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D economic hardship, these houses became a tool of nation building through the sedentarisation of the bedouin.

Complain verb 1. (Reporting verb) express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something: Upon moving in many settlers complained about the close proximity of adjacent homes.

Conform verb (no object) 1. Comply with rules, standards or laws: Thus this uncontrollable force terrified the state and had to be “dealt” with and reshaped and trained to conform to the western ideas of “civilised”.

Considered adjective 1. Having been though about carefully: the original 24-meter by 24-meter plot, which for international standards is quite reasonable, was considered small.

Consist verb (no object) 1. Be composed or made up of: The internal domain consisted of the spaces where the daily domestic life of the family took place.

Constitute verb (with object) 1. Be (a part) of a whole: Familial ties thus constitute the basis of the social organization of the tribe.

Construct verb (with object) 1. Build or make (something, typically a building): Constructed in 1978, Al Maqam is one of the earliest national housing neighbourhoods in the UAE. Constrast verb (no object) 1. Differ strinkingly: These new homes, made of more permanent and durable materials contrasted greatly with the local forms of living.

Cover verb 1. Put something on top of or in front of (something), especially in order to protect or conceal it: These tents can be used now to cover part of the garden of the house.

Createverb 1. (With object) bring (something) into existence: they also separated spaces such as the majlis and bedrooms to create a degree of separation between family members and guests.

Criticised verb (with object) 1. Indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way: the Sha’bi homes were criticised a few months after people moved in.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Deal verb (no object) 1. Take measures concerning (someone or something), especially with the intention of putting something right: the sedentarisation of the bedouin was not only seen as a way to deal with a backward entity and problem of nation building.

Dedicate verb (with object) 1. Devote (time or effort) to a particular task or purpose: This expansion also began to section the plot dedicating a section of the home to each son upon his marriage.

Define verb (with object) 1. Make up or established the character or essence of: The transformation of these homes have become defining elements of the housing landscape of the UAE today.

2. Mark out the boundary or limits of: The boundary wall also acts as a territorial claim to the land through defining the plots area.

Demand verb (with object) 1. Require; need: Enabling it to operate in line with the environment, attaching and detaching from the tribe as demanded by the landscape.

Demarcate verb (with object) 1. Set the boundaries or limits of: Unlike rooms in modern forms of living the spaces in tents are not fixed, demarcated spaces that permanently exist.

Depend verb (no object) 1. Be controlled or determined by: The nationals depending on their eco-cultural zone were living in homes made out palm leaves or tents made from camel hair.

Describe verb (with object) 1. Give a detailed account in words of: During the conference words such as ‘civilised’ were used to describe the objective of settling and changing the bedouin.

Design verb (with object) 1. Decide upon the look and functioning of (a building or other object), by making a detailed drawing of it: The design of the homes was based on modernising the bedouin lifestyle.

Detachverb (with object) 1. Disengange (something or a part of something) and remove it: Creating independent spaces for the family members, detaching rooms; such as the majlis and the kitchen.

2. (Detach oneself from) leave or separate oneself from (a group or place): The bedouins, become an autonomous unit, attaching and detaching from the tribe as demanded by the landscape.

Develop verb (no object) 1. Start to exist, experience, or possess: This growth was also a solution to comforting the bedouins, who in response of being allocated

a delimited area of the city began to develop a sense of confinement.

Dictating verb (with object) 1. State or order authoritatively: Tribal leaders rule by persuasion and not by threatening and dictating.

Dilute verb (with obkect) 1. Make (something) weaker in force, content, or value by modification or the addition of other elements: Allowing the government to strengthen population numbers, dilute territorial and tribal divisions and create a more homogenous landscape.

Disappear verb (no object) 1. Cease to be visible: Through the excessive planting of trees the house began to disappear behind the foliage.

Discover verb (with object) 1. Find unexpectedly or during a search: Attracted by the prospects of the newly discovered oil-rich country.

Discussverb (with object) 1. Talk about (something with a person or people: The settlement of the Bedouin population was first discussed when the Arab League was created.

Displace verb (with object) 1. Move (something) from its proper or usual position: This led to a disconnection between members of the neighbourhood and displaced the importance of outdoor life, gathering and congregation.

Disregard verb (with object) 1. Pay no attention to; ignore: The dining room was evidence of the ignorance and disregard of the designers for the bedouins culture and eating habits.

Diversify verb (no object) 1. Make or become more diverse or varied: Transforming it into a productive agricultural landscape, improving the standards of living and diversifying the economy away from its oil revenue base.

Dig verb (no object) 1. Break up and move earth with a tool or machine, or with hands, etc. : A hearth is dug out when coffee is needed.

Disperse verb (with object) 1. Distribute or spread over a wide area: The separation of the kitchen from the home allowed to disperse cooking smells.

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E Ease verb (with object) 1. make (something unpleasant or intense) less serious or severe: The lack of furniture not only allows for the ease of movement of the bedouin.

Educate verb (with object) 1. Give intellectual, moral, and social intrusion to (someone): This scheme aimed to encourage the bedouin community to settle in permanent dwellings and educate their kids.

Elaborate verb (with object) 1. Develop or present (a theory, policy, or system) in further detail: This form of living innovated, constructed and elaborated by the bedouin themselves met the desires and needs suiting the nature of their nomadic lifestyle.

Elevate verb (with object) 1. raise or lift (something) to a higher position: These issues adapted at the scale of the home through elevating the boundary wall or planting of trees were also addressed in the planning of successive neighbourhoods.

Embed verb (with object) 1. fix (an object) firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass: Despite the fact that it has become a dying typology replaced by lavish villas and tall skyscrapers, its social values, spatial arrangements and identity remain embedded within the current housing landscape.

F Embody verb (with object) 1. be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality, or feeling): Embodying the basic unit and core of the social structure of the bedouin community; the tent represents the extended family or the household.

Embrace verb (with object) 1.include or contain (something) as a constituent part: The adapted typology embraces modernity while contemporizing certain aspects of the traditional way of bedouin life.

Emphasise verb (with object) 1. give special importance or value to (something) in speaking or writing: the neighbourhoods were designed with the aim to modernise the layout of the tribal community spaces, while keeping the basic structure of their tribal society intact – emphasising dwelling privacy, clustering of families and social interactions.

Encourage verb (with object) 1. give support, confidence, or hope to (someone): healthy and modern homes to encourage the bedouin community to settle in permanent dwellings.

Enhace verb (with object) 1. intensify, increase, or further improve the quality,

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value, or extent of: This strict separation between the members of the household and the public was further enhanced through the inclusion of two separate entrance spaces.

Ensure verb (with object) 1. make certain that (something) will occur or be the case: The centrality of the home not only created larger setbacks which ensured further privacy, but also gave the bedouin a lot of natural space surrounding their homes.

Equip verb (with object) 1. supply with the necessary items for a particular purpose: The introduction of a fully furnished and equipped dining room within Sha’bi homes.

Establish verb (with object) 1. Set up on a firm and permanent basis: the philanthropic project of social housing in the UAE established a class structure within a classless society.

2. Show (something) to be true or certain by determining the facts: for it has been established that the nomads make the desert no less than they are made by it.

Exercise verb (with object) 1. Use or apply (a faculty, right, or process): While the external domain represented the spaces in which the values of hospitality were exercised; the majlis and

elements that allowed for the preservation of privacy; the boundary walls and entrances.

Exhibit verb (with object) 1. Manifest clearly (a quality or a type of behaviour) : The focus on prefabricated elements and modularity of the Sha’bi home exhibited sufficient flexibility of the design.

Expand verb (with object) 1. Become or make larger or more extensive: The original floor plan has expanded so much over the years that today the courtyard no longer takes up a majority of the plot and the family has rented a majlis space from their neighbours.

Extendverb (with object) 1. Cause to cover a wider area; make larger: The houses today are still occupied by extended families.

Face verb (with object) 1. be positioned with the face front towards (someone or something): In Sha’biyaat Al Maqam the houses, organised in two rows of four homes open up onto sandy areas and also face communal outdoor green spaces where members of the community can socialise and children play.

2. Confront and deal with or accept a difficult or unpleasant task, fact, or situation: Sheikh Shakbut’s fear stemmed from his belief that the harsh old world of Arabia couldn’t face the modern world.

Fall verb (no object) 1. Move from a higher to a lower level, typically rapidly and without control: A vast majority of Sha’bi homes have fallen into disrepair.

Follow verb (with object) 1. act according to (an instruction or precept): State-subsidised houses today offer Emirati nationals high-quality villas that follow the spatial and formal arrangement of the adapted Sha’bi house.

Force verb (with object) 1. Make (someone) do something against their will: Increasingly pressured by urban redevelopment and transformation and forced out by state powers to make way for the new.

Forget verb (with object) 1. Fail to remember: You should not forget that they were made by us and at the hands of our women.

Form verb (with object) 1. Bring together parts or combine to create (something): The tribal confederation of the United Arab Emirates was formed in 1971.

Found verb (with object) 1. establish or originate (an institution or organization): Founded and established by tribal rulers, it has always been a country rooted in bedouin values and ways of life.

2. (usually be founded on/ upon) base (something) on a particular principle, idea, or feeling: The nomad and the landscape is a relationship founded and built upon the earthbound philosophy adopted by all indigenous populations.

Function verb (no object) 1. Work or operate in a proper or particular way: This equality between the members of the tribe and the tribal leader stems from the household maintaining its ability to function as an independent socio-economic unit.

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Gathering verb (no object) 1. Come together; assemble or accumulate: This led to a disconnection between members of the neighbourhood and displaced the importance of outdoor life, gathering and congregation.

Harvest verb (with object) 1. gather (a crop) as a harvest: In the case of the Arabian Peninsula, the desert and its inhabitants were harvested and encouraged to change for various reasons.

Generate verb (with object) 1. Produce or create: The UAE could have become a centralised state providing inhabitants with equal rights and equal entitlement to the wealth generated in any part of the country.

Give verb (with two objects) 1. Cause or allow (someone or something) to have or experience (something); provide with: The lack of furniture gives the space fluidity and versatility allowing it to be used in a variety of ways.

Grow verb 1. (Of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically: As landscapes grow and are transformed their inhabitants change as well, pushing traditional practices aside to make way for more modern forms of living.

2. Become larger or greater over a period of time; increase: the home only grew up to the limits of the boundary wall through the addition of spaces

Have verb (with object) 1. Possess, own, or hold: Sha’bi homes are occupied by immigrant labourers or poorer Emiratis who don’t have the financial means.

2. Experience; undergo: In 2016, a survey about Sha’bi neighbourhoods conducted in preparation for the UAE’s participation in the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale found that a vast majority of Sha’bi homes have fallen into disrepair.

Hold verb 1. Have or occupy (a position): However, women’s physical isolation from the public life of their community does not mean that they hold an inferior position to men.

2. have (a belief or opinion): As a result, families no longer held the power to shape and self-organise their allocated plots.

3. regard (someone or something) in a specified way: bedouins hold the reverence of leadership as an important value in their way of life.

Herd verb (with object) 1. Keep or look after (livestock): The design of the tents was based on three

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I aspects of their life; hospitality, herding and the value of the family.

Hide verb (with object) 1. Put or keep out of sight: Subdivided by curtains and partition walls which not only hid and protected the domestic spaces of the home but also allowed the tent to become a flexible space transforming based on how it was used.

Highlight verb (with object) 1. Draw special attention to: Which highlighted the extent to which the country and its people needed to urbanise and modernise to build the nation.

Hosting verb (with object) 1. Act as host at (an event): A typically male-dominated space where the values of hospitality and generosity are practised through the entertainment and hosting of guests through the offering of a place to sit, food and coffee.

Humanise verb (with object) 1. Give (something) a human character: The planting of trees was seen as a way to humanise the environment, moderate the climate.

Implement verb (with object) 1. put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect: The discovery of oil implemented a contemporary ideology strongly against the continuation of nomadism.

Impose verb (with object) 1. force (an unwelcome decision or ruling) on someone: The evolution and transformation of the Sha’bi house is a rare form of adaptation and resistance to state policies and visions imposed on the bedouin.

Improve verb 1. Make or become better: the owner also increased the height of the boundary wall to 3 meters to improve the family’s privacy.

Incorporate verb (with object) 1. Take in or contain (something) as part of a whole; include: State-subsidised housing was seen as a way incorporate technological advancements within the region.

Increase verb 1. Become or make greater in size, amount, or degree: The 20th century had an increase in the desire for the settlement of the Bedouin population.

Influence verb (with object) 1. Have influence on: Through their modification to the Sha’bi House, the

Bedouin influenced state policies, neighbourhood planning and the urban fabric.

Initiated verb 1. cause (a process or action) to begin: In 1958, the second agricultural bedouin settlement plan was initiated in Wadi Sirhan as a relief measure for the bedouins who lost the majority of their herds.

Include verb (with object) 1. Comprise or contain as part of a whole: The al-nous also includes culturally unique spaces.

Innovate verb (no object) 1. make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products: This form of living innovated, constructed and elaborated by the bedouin themselves.

Instill verb (with object) 1. Gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude) in a person’s mind: This tribal link between the inhabitants of the country and the rulers has instilled a lot of pride within the nation.

Integrate verb (with object) 1. Combine (one thing) with another to form a whole: These modifications have created a new hybridised form of housing, where the western forms of living are adapted to integrate local traditions and values.

2. bring (people or groups with particular characteristics or needs) into equal participation in or membership of a social group or institution:Where housing is seen as an infrastructure that integrates the bedouin fully with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner.

Introduce verb (with object) 1. bring (something, especially a product, measure, or concept) into use or operation for the first time: the tribe and their nomadic ways of living were beginning to strongly contrast the new, modern lifestyle introduced by colonial powers in the Middle East.

Involve verb (with object) 1. have or include (something) as a necessary or integral part or result: The second set of changes involved further rearranging the layout of the home.

Irrigate verb (with object) 1. supply water to (land or crops) to help growth, typically by means of channels: However in 1971 after the site was levelled, irrigated and paved none of the permanent structures of housing for the villages had been built.

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Keep verb (with object) 1. Cause to continue in a specified condition, position, course etc. : The planting of trees was seen as a way to humanise the environment, moderate the climate, keep alive the memory of the hair house era and improve their view.

Lacked verb (with object) 1. Be without or deficient in: the governmental schemes lacked knowledge of the tribal ways of life and were too big and ambitious.

Knock verb (with object) 1. Demolish the barriers between (rooms or buildings): The house seemed to be permanently under construction; whenever another down-and-out family member needs a place to sleep, they just knocked the walls out to add a back room.

Last verb (no object) 1. (of a process, activity, or state) continue for a specified period of time: This political movement which lasted from 1912 to 1930 resulted in over 200 bedouin settlements being constructed around Saudi Arabia.

Learn verb (with object) 1. Gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught: Not only did they choose Sheikh Zayed, but have also helped in creating a country whose political structure learns from their tribal past.

Leave verb (with object) 1. Go away from: Thus, the introduction of water through piping transformed the home into an autonomous unit and created an introverted society where members no longer needed to leave the house to perform daily tasks.

Lead verb (with object) 1. (usually lead to) be a route or means of access to a particular place or in a particular direction: the inclusion of two separate entrance spaces; one for the family which led to the domestic parts of the home and

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M another for guests which led to the majlis.

Levelled verb (with object) 1. give a flat and even surface to: However in 1971 after the site was levelled, irrigated and paved none of the permanent structures of housing for the villages had been built.

Light verb (with object) 1. Make (something) start burning; ignite: People who come from afar tell us we shouldn’t light a fire inside the houses.

Locate verb (with object) 1. Discover the exact place or position of: The majlis is strategically located within the tent.

Lose verb (with object) 1. be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something): Through the transplantation of the bedouin into these neighbourhoods, the tribal community lost contact and interaction with one another and were constrained to a limited public life.

Make verb (with object) 1. Form (something) by putting parts together or combining substances; create: The Bedouin tribe: made up of autonomous independent units of extended families.

2. Cause (something) to exist or come about; bring about: To combat this issue and make the space of the house work, the bedouin took advantage of the empty space surrounding the built form of the Sha’bi house.

Maintain verb (with object) 1. Cause or enable (a condition or situation) to continue: Sitting at the periphery to maintain the privacy of the family but also located near the dining area and the hearth to ease the process of being hospitable.

Manage verb (with object) 1. be in charge of (a business, organization, or undertaking); run: These schemes designed, managed and advised by foreigners lacked communication with the nomadic population.

Materialise verb (no object) 1. Become actual fact; happen: this “settlement” was materialised in a variety of state-subsidised housing schemes.

Mean verb (with object) 1. Intend to convey or refer to (a particular thing); signify: The preference for horizontal over vertical expansion stemmed from

the bedouins previous way of life in the desert which meant mostly ground floor and outdoor domestic activity.

Meet verb (with object) 1. arrange or happen to come into the presence or company of (someone): The homes advertised as “Zayed’s Gift to the People” were met with lots of gratitude.

2. Fulfil or satisfy (a need, requirement, or condition): The original composition of the home did not meet their needs and requirements.

Minimise verb (with object) 1. reduce (something, especially something undesirable) to the smallest possible amount or degree: A highly structured process whose aim is to minimise any significant modification to the homes.

people needed to urbanise and modernise to build the nation.

Modify verb (with object) 1. make partial or minor changes to (something): The spatial distribution of these blocks left lots of empty space and adaptability for the residents to modify the house based on their needs.

Move verb (no object) 1. go in a specified direction or manner; change position: The introduction of new building materials such as concrete allowed the construction industry to move past the confinements of using the limited resources of locally available materials.

Mobilise verb (with object) 1. Make (something) moveable or capable of movement: Even the elements of the nomads dwelling are conceived in terms of the trajectory that is forever mobilising them.

Modernise verb (with object) 1. adapt (something) to modern needs or habits, typically by installing modern equipment or adopting modern ideas or methods: Which highlighted the extent to which the country and its

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

84

85

N

O

P

Name verb (no object) 1. Give a name to: Hijar were named after the migration model of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina.

Obtainverb (with object) 1. Get, acquire, or secure (something): The title of the ownership obtained after 10 years is only related to the house.

Participate verb (no object) 1. Take part in an action or endeavour: This scheme aimed to encourage the Bedouin community to participate in the development of the new state.

Neglect verb (with object) 1. fail to care for properly: Thus upon moving into the homes; this neglect by designers of the importance of domestic animals within the bedouin way of life was rectified by the inhabitants.

Originate verb (no object) 1. Have a specified beginning: Tribes are generally named after the family they originate from.

Overlooked verb (with object) 1. Fail to notice: Overlooked by the designers of the home, who underestimated the importance of the privacy.

Own verb (with object) 1. have (something) as one’s own; possess: “I own this house and thanks to God first who has given us Zayed and second thanks to Zayed, who gave us comfort and happiness.”

Paved verb (with object) 1. Cover (a piece of ground) with flat stones or bricks; lay paving over: However in 1971 after the site was levelled, irrigated and paved none of the permanent structures of housing for the villages had been built.

Placed verb (with object) 1. Put in a particular position: the Sha’bi house became a blank canvas within which the various elements of Bedouin life could be placed.

2. Find a home for: The Sha’bi houses which once controlled and placed the national population: the minority, within the upper class.

Planverb (with object) 1. Decide on and make arrangements for in advance: Between the 1940s and 1970s, several state-sponsored settlement projects and programs were planned and implemented within the region.

Plant verb (with object) 1. Put (a seed, bulb, or plant) in the ground so that it can grow: The planting of trees was seen as a way to humanise the environment.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

Privatise verb (with object) 1. Transfer (a business, industry, or service) from public to private ownership and control: spaces such as the kitchen and the majlis became privatised and owned by individual tribal members.

Play verb (no object) 1. Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose: These alleyways called sikkas, developed into a communal space appropriated by the families, where kids played and women socialised.

Portray verb (with object) 1. Describe (someone or something) in a particular way: Portraying the state and the ruler as the protector of the people.

Practice verb (with object) 1. carry out or perform (a particular activity, method, or custom) habitually or regularly: “permanent public housing in which the sons of the desert will begin to practice a normal life” Preserve verb (with object) 1. Maintain (something) in its original or existing state: the tents are arranged in a scattered manner with each tent slightly distanced from the other to preserve values of privacy.

Pressure verb (with object) 1. attempt to persuade or coerce (someone) into doing something: Increasingly pressured by urban redevelopment and transformation and forced out by state powers to make way for the new, the extent to which these neighbourhoods are present within the urban fabric is rare.

Process verb (with object) 1. perform a series of mechanical or chemical operations on (something) in order to change or preserve it: the majlis was located near the dining area and the hearth to ease the process of being hospitable Produce verb (with object) 1. make or manufacture from components or raw materials: State subsidised houses continue to be produced today.

Promote verb (with object) 1. support or actively encourage (a cause, venture, etc.); further the progress of: The achievement of close co-operation between the Emirates for their common benefit in realising these aims and in promoting their prosperity and progress in all fields.

Proposed verb (with object) 1. put forward (a plan or suggestion) for consideration by others: These German architects were probably inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s patio homes designed, proposed and constructed during the same period.

Provide verb (with object) 1. Make available for use; supply: State-subsidesed housing was a way to provide new opportunities within the region.

Pursue verb (with object) 1. continue or proceed along (a path or route): These powers pursued modernisation based on western models.

Pushing verb (with object) 1. compel or urge (someone) to do something, especially to work hard: As landscapes grow and are transformed their inhabitants change as well, pushing traditional practices aside to make way for more modern forms of living.

Prosper verb (no object) 1. succeed in material terms; be financially successful: the discovery of oil brought with it colonial powers who became strong influences on the government - who prospered from this newfound source of wealth.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

86

Q

R

Questions verb (with object) 1. ask (someone) questions, especially in an official context: The opportunity to horizontally expand the home as the result of its spatial arrangement questions the definition of the typology by the government as a courtyard home.

Raise verb (with object) 1. Lift or move to a higher position or level: state-subsidised housing aimed to raise the standards of living.

Realise verb (with object) 1. become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly: Upon realising that no political structure could be built on nomadism and uncertain tribal loyalties.

Recall verb (with object) 1. bring (a fact, event, or situation) back into one’s mind; remember: not only in order to keep warm but also to create light in the tent, and to recall the early days.

Reclaim verb (with object) 1. Retrieve or recover (something previously lost, given, or paid); obtain the return of: King Faisal settlement project looked at reclaiming 40,000 hectares of the desert to settle at least 1000 Bedouin families.

Reconcile verb (with object) 1. make or show to be compatible: transforming the introverted courtyard house into extroverted detached houses characterised by external gardens or patios, which reconciled urban living and nature through the internalisation of the gardens and the containment of the site within boundary walls.

Tamara Husam Rasoul

87

Redefine verb (with object) 1. Define again or differently: the Sha’bi house imposed a lot of changes onto the bedouins who had to redefine their ways of living.

Redesign verb (with object) 1. design (something) again or in a different way: Thus doors were colourfully painted with indigenous symbols; such as local plants, flowers and birds, outside gates were redesigned according to Islamic artistic styles.

Reduce verb (with object) 1. Make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size: The introduction of 6m gaps in between some units reduced the sharing of party walls and distanced homes from each other.

Reflect verb (with object) 1. embody or represent (something) in a faithful or appropriate way: Physically reflected in the division of the interior space, the tent was divided into two sections; the space for the family; al-nous and the space of hospitality; the majlis.

Regard verb (with object) 1. consider or think of in a specified way: Thus these influences started to create frictions with the nomadic way of life. A lifestyle regarded as uncivilised in comparison.

Remain verb (no object) 1. continue to exist, especially after other similar people or things have ceased to do so: Within the camps, even though each household remains an autonomous unit, the division of labour is shared between the members of the tribe 2. be left over or outstanding after others or other parts have been completed, used, or dealt with: Today all that remains of both projects are the agricultural fields.

Repaint verb (with object) 1. cover with a new coat of paint: the neutral colours of the homes were repainted into vivid colours.

Replace verb (with object) 1. Take the place of: the Bedouin have not been erased and replaced by the city.

2. Put (something) back in a previous place of position: the tribal provision of housing which combined top-down decision making in land distribution with the bottom-up responsibility through the self-organization of the distributed land was replaced with a fully topdown provision of homes.

Represent verb (with object) 1. Be a symbol or embodiment of: “permanent public housing in which the sons of the desert will begin to practice a normal life, and which represent the first step on the

path of civilisation.”

Resettle verb (with object) 1. Settle or cause to settle in a different place: Allowing the government through their resettlement into urbanisation to strengthen population numbers, dilute territorial and tribal divisions and create a more homogenous landscape.

Reshape verb (with object) 1. shape or form (something) differently or again: Thus this uncontrollable force terrified the state and had to be “dealt” with and reshaped and trained to conform to the western ideas of “civilised”.

Reside verb (no object) 1. have one’s permanent home in a particular place: Upon realising that no political structure could be built on nomadism and uncertain tribal loyalties, ‘Abd Al Aziz Al Saud; the founding monarch of Saudi Arabia began to influence the bedouin to reside in agricultural settlements through the spread of reformist Islam.

Restructure verb (with object) 1. Organize differently: the internal spatial organization of the house was redefined and restructured.

Resultverb (no object) 1. occur or follow as the consequence of something: This political movement which lasted from 1912 to 1930 resulted in over 200 bedouin settlements being constructed.

Revolve verb (no object) 1. Treat as the most important element: the Sha’bi house does not revolve around a singular courtyard space.

Rootverb (with object) 1. Establish deeply and firmly: the house was designed to accommodate bedouin culture, a culture deeply rooted in the landscape.

Rule verb (with object) 1. exercise ultimate power or authority over (an area and its people): Tribal leaders rule by persuasion

Respond verb (no object) 1. do something as a reaction to someone or something: This monotonous and repetitive housing typology lacked identity and didn’t respond to bedouin cultural values.

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

88

89

S Sit verb (no object) 1. be or remain in a particular position or state: Each unit sat on a 576 m2 plot.

Seem verb (no object) 1. give the impression of being something or having a particular quality: The house seemed to be permanently under construction.

See verb (with object) 1. view or predict as a possibility; envisage: Housing was seen as an infrastructure of detibalisation.

Secure verb (with object) 1. succeed in obtaining (something), especially with difficulty: wells were dug to secure regular irrigation for the plants.

Select verb (with object) 1. carefully choose as being the best or most suitable: Peter Säckl and Wolfgang Braun; were selected for this project due to their advancements in pre-fabrication construction.

Selling verb (with object) 1. give or hand over (something) in exchange for money: the equality gives every member the power of decision making such as in the selling of herd animals.

Separate verb (with object) 1. Divide into constituent or distinct elements: On the other side of the curtain wall separating the majlis is the largest and most important

section of the tent.

Serve verb (with object) 1. perform duties or services for (another person or an organization): “Money is worth nothing if it is not dedicated to serving the people”.

Settle verb (no object) 1. adopt a more steady or secure style of life, especially in a permanent job and home: The first formal attempt to settle the bedouin within the Arabian Peninsula was long before the discovery of oil.

Shape verb (with object) 1. Give a particular shape or form to: the inhabitants became active participants in the production of urban space; shaping the housing landscape of the city.

Share verb (with object) 1. have a portion of (something) with another or others: The trust between the members of the tribe, sharing and pooling of resources that gives every member the power of decision making.

Shift verb 1. move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance: whose focus shifted towards incorporating traditional elements within the architecture of the home.

Spend verb (with object) 1. give (money) to pay for

Tamara Husam Rasoul

goods, services, or so as to benefit someone or something: Sheikh Shakhbut was hesitant of spending it on the development of the country.

Spread verb (no object) 1. Extend over a large or increasing area: the founding monarch of Saudi Arabia began to influence the bedouin to reside in agricultural settlements through the spread of reformist Islam.

Staggered verb (with object) 1. arrange (objects or parts) in a zigzag formation or so that they are not in line: Defined through the connection of open garden space to the different rooms which are staggered around the plot.

Stand verb (no object) 1. be in a specified state or condition: The Bedouin constituted a problem that stood in the way of national progress.

Stem verb (no object) 1. Originate in or be caused by: Their respect and attachment to their context stems from their recognition of all it has offered them.

Strengthen verb (with object) 1. Make or become stronger: Allowing the government through their resettlement into urbanisation to strengthen population numbers.

Stress verb (with object)

1. give particular emphasis or importance to (a point, statement, or idea) made in speech or writing: the aim of the “provision of a better life for all citizens together” stress the importance of the individual citizen as the main concern of the new state.

Subdivided verb (with object) 1. divide (something that has already been divided or that is a separate unit): Subdivided by curtains and partition walls which not only hid the domestic spaces of the home but allowed the tent to become a flexible space.

Support verb (with object) 1. give assistance to, especially financially: several state-sponsored settlement were often financially and technically supported by international agencies.

Symbolise verb (with object) 1. be a symbol of: Symbolising the inhabitants migration to an enlightened sedentary life tied to agriculture.

T

U

Take verb (with object) 1. Capture: Taking its name from its location.

2. Occupy (a place or position): the space where all living, working and sleeping takes place.

Un-coerced verb (with object) 1. Being willing to do something without persuasion: As a result the process of sedentarisation rather than being an aggressive imposition was a voluntary un-coerced shift.

Tell verb 1. communicate information to someone in spoken or written words: People tell us we shouldn’t light a fire inside the houses.

Terrify verb (with object) 1. Cause to feel extreme fear: this uncontrollable force terrified the state.

Tie verb (with object) 1. Connect; link: Symbolising the inhabitants migration to an enlightened sedentary life tied to agriculture.

Transform verb (with object) 1. make a marked change in the form, nature, or appearance of: As landscapes grow and are transformed their inhabitants change as well.

Translate verb (with object) 1. express the sense of (words or text) in another language: Sha’bi translates to “folk” or “traditional”.

Transplant verb (with object) 1. move or transfer (someone or something) to another place or situation: The bedouin were transplanted into Sha’bi homes.

Underestimate/Underestimated verb (with object) 1. estimate (something) to be smaller or less important than it really is: Overlooked by the designers of the home, who underestimated the sensitivity and importance of the privacy and sanctity of the family.

Undergo/Undergoing verb (with object) 1. Experience or be subjected to (something, typically something unpleasant or arduous): The inhabitants become their own architects undergoing an incremental process of adaptation that redefines and alters their forms of living as their situations change.

Unify/Unifying verb 1. Make or become united, uniform, or whole: However, beyond their important role in unifying tribes to form a state, the bedouin has shaped social landscapes and transformed the way people live through the evolution of morphological attributes of the home.

Upgrade verb (with object) 1. Raise (something) to a

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

90

higher standard: Similar to social housing schemes in the west; whose goals are to upgrade the working class to the middle class.

Urbanise verb (with object) 1. Make or become urban in character: Which highlighted the extent to which the country and its people needed to urbanise and modernise to build the nation.

V

W

Values verb (with object) 1. consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high opinion of: Typologically, the rooms of traditional courtyard houses are clustered around a central courtyard. Creating an interiorised home that values the seclusion and the privacy of the family.

Weave/Woven verb (with object) 1. form (fabric or a fabric item) by interlacing long threads passing in one direction with others at a right angle to them: In the desert this would have been easy - weave another flap, add another meter to the tent.

TRANSLATED Note: Definition of Arabic Terms used in the thesis.

Abaya (noun). A long robe, worn over clothes to cover a woman’s body a part. Typical worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers or males outside of their immediate family.

Al’a’ilah (noun). Arabic word for the family, generally referring to 3 generations of the extended family.

Vanished verb (no object) 1. Disappear suddenly and completely: Outdoor living, community and gathering vanished from the street and alleyways to the private home.

Al-Harim (noun). An Arabic word referring to the institution of the women. Either referring to a section of the home reserved for the female members of a household or to the female members of the family themselves. Including but not limited to: mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and servants.172

Violate/Violated verb (with object) 1. Break or fail to comply with (a rule or formal agreement): Their placement in such proximity to the home’s domestic domain violated their values of privacy.

‫ﻋﺒﺎﯾﺔ‬ +‫اﻟﻌﺎﺋ‬ Tamara Husam Rasoul

‫ﻋﻋﺒﺒﺎﺎﯾﯾﺔﺔ‬ +++‫اااﻟﻟﻟﻌﻌﻌﺎﺎﺎﺋﺋﺋ‬ ‫ﺔ‬+‫اﻟﻌﺎﻋﺋﺒﺎﯾ‬ ‫اﳊﻋﺒﺮﺎﯾﱘﺔ‬ ‫ااﳊﳊﺮﺮﱘﱘ‬ +‫ا اﳊﻋﻟﺒﻌﺮﺎﯾﺋﱘﺔ‬ +‫ﺺ‬ ‫اﻟﻨاﻟﻌﺎﺋ‬ ‫ﺺ‬ ‫ااﻟﻟﻨﻨ‬ ‫ﺺ‬ ‫ﱘ‬+‫ﺺﺮ‬ ‫اﻟﻨاﻟﻌﳊ‬ ‫ﺋ‬ ‫ﺎ‬ ‫ﺑ اﺪوﳊﺮﱘ‬ ‫ﺑﺑﺪﺪوو‬ ‫ﺺ‬ ‫ﺑ اﺪاﻟﻟﻨوﻨﳊﺮﺺﱘ‬ ‫ﺮﺮﻗﻗﻊﻊ‬44 ‫ﺮﺮﻗﻗﻊ‬44 ‫ﻊ‬ ‫ﺑاﺑﻟﻨﺪﺪووﺺ‬ ‫ددﻛﻛﺔﺔ‬ ‫ددﻛﻛﺔ‬ ‫ﺔ‬ ‫ﺪﺮﻗوﻊ‬4‫ﺑ‬ ‫ﻊ‬ ‫ﻗ‬ ‫ﺮ‬ 4 ٕ ‫ﰐ‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ر‬ ‫ﺎ‬ ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ٕإاﻣﻣﺎﺎراراﰐﰐ‬ ‫ﺎدﺮﻗرﻛاﻊﺔﰐ‬4‫ٕاﻣ‬ ‫اﳌدﻮﻗﻛﺪﺔ‬

Al-Nous (noun). Arabic term meaning “middle”; refers to the family section of the tent where all living, working and sleeping takes place.

Bedouin/Bedu (noun). Term derived from Arabic word badawī translating to “desert dweller”

‫ﺑﺪو‬ ‫ﺮﻗﺮﺮﻗﻗﻊﻊﻊ‬444 ‫ﺮﻗﻊ‬4 ‫دددﻛﻛﻛﺔﺔﺔ‬ ‫دﻛﺔ‬ ‫ٕإاﻣﻣﺎﺎراراﰐ‬ ‫ﰐ‬ ‫ٕاﻣﺎراﰐ‬ ‫ٕاﻣﺎراﰐ‬ ‫اااﳌﳌﳌﻮﻮﻗﻮﻗﻗﺪﺪﺪ‬ ‫اﳌﻮﻗﺪ‬ ‫ﲩﲩﺎﺎب‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ﲩﺎب‬ ‫ﲩﺎب‬

91

‫ﺎﺎرر‬BB‫ﻫﻫ‬ ‫ﻫﻫﻫﻮﻮﻮييي‬ ‫يﺎر‬B‫ﻫﻮﻫ‬ ‫ﺎنر‬B‫ﻫﺪا‬D ‫ﺪﺪاانن‬DD ‫ﻮﺎنيير‬B‫ﻫﻫﺪاﻮ‬D ‫ﺲ‬ ‫ﻠ‬ ‫ﳎ‬ ‫ﺲ‬ ‫ﳎﳎﻠﻠ‬ ‫ﺲ‬ ‫ﺲين‬ ‫ﻮﺪا‬D‫ﳎﻠﻫ‬ ‫انن‬J‫ﺪﺪ‬DI‫ﻣ‬ ‫نن‬JJ‫ﺪﺪ‬II‫ﻣﻣ‬ ‫ان‬J‫ﺪﳎﻠﺪ‬DI‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺲ‬ ‫ﺲن‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎﳎبﻠ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ﻧﻧﻘﻘﺎﺎ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ﺲن‬ J‫ﻠبﺪ‬I‫ﻧﻘﺎﻣﳎ‬ ‫ن‬J‫ﱰﺪ‬I‫ﺳﻣ‬ ‫ﺳﺳﱰﱰ‬ ‫بن‬ J‫ﺎﺎﱰﺪب‬I‫ﻧﺳﻧﻣﻘﻘ‬ ‫ﱯ‬ ‫ﻌ‬ ‫ﺷ‬ ‫ﺷﺷﻌﻌﱯﱯ‬ ‫ﻧﺷﻘﻌﺎﺳ‬ ‫ﱯﱰب‬ ‫ﱰ‬ ‫ﺳ‬ ‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬

Burqa’ (noun). A mask worn

by Emirati women as more covered version of the hijab.

Huwī (noun). A traditional space of an Emirati home; the outdoor courtyard.

Dekka (noun). A traditional space of an Emirati home for sitting.

Khidan (noun). Most private space of the tent; a sleeping area for the parents or married son.

Emirati (noun). A person who is from the United Arab Emirates.

Hearth (noun). Hand-dug hole in the sand where the cooking, baking and coffee making is done.

Hijab (noun/verb). 1. A veil that covers the chest and head. Worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers or males outside of their immediate family. 174 2. The religious code which governs the wearing of the hijab174

‫ﺎر‬B‫ﻫ‬

Hijar (noun). Bedouin settlements constructed around Saudi Arabia during 1912 to 1930. Named after the Prophet Mohamed PBUH migration model from Mecca to Medina called hijra.

Majlis (noun). Arabic term meaning “a place of sitting”.

It refers to the most public space where guests are received and entertained.

Mendaban (noun). Space within a tent where food is stored.

Niqāb (noun). A garment that covers the face but leaves the area of the eye uncovered. Usually, it is worn with a headscarf. Worn by muslim women as part of the hijab.175

Satr (noun/verb). Arabic term referring to the act of hiding something or something that is hidden or should be hidden.176

‫ﻫﻮي‬

Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted

‫ن‬J‫ﺪ‬I‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﻧﻧﻘﻘﺎﺎب‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎب‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎب‬ ‫ﺳﺳﺳﱰﱰﱰ‬ ‫ﺳﱰ‬ ‫ﺷﺷﻌﻌﱯ‬ ‫ﱯ‬ ‫ﺷﻌﱯ‬ ‫ﺷﻌﱯ‬ ‫ﺷﺷﻌﻌﺒﺒﯿﯿﺎﺎت‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬ ‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬ ‫ﯿﯿﯿﺦﺦﺦ‬SS‫ﺷﺷ‬S‫ﺷ‬ ‫ﯿﺦ‬S‫ﺷ‬ +‫ﯿ‬S‫ﺷ‬ ‫ﺳﻜﺔ‬

‫ت‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ت‬

‫ﻼت‬ ‫ﻼت‬

‫ﻼت‬

‫دﻛﺔ‬ ‫دﻛﺔ‬

‫ٕاﻣﺎراﰐ‬ ‫ٕاﻣﺎراﰐ‬

‫اﳌﻮﻗﺪ‬ ‫اﳌﻮﻗﺪ‬

‫ﲩﺎب‬ ‫ﲩﺎب‬

‫ﺎر‬B‫ﻫ‬ ‫ﺎر‬B‫ﻫ‬ ‫ﻫﻮي‬ ‫ﻫﻮي‬ ‫ﺪان‬D ‫ﺪان‬D ‫ﳎﻠﺲ‬ ‫ﳎﻠﺲ‬

‫ﻫﻮي‬

‫ﺳﱰ‬ ‫ﺳﱰ‬

92

‫ﺳﻜﺔ‬

93

BIBLIOGRAPHY

‫ﺪان‬D ‫ﳎﻠﺲ‬

‫ﺷﻌﱯ‬ ‫ﺷﻌﱯ‬

Sha’bi (noun). Arabic term meaning “folk” or “traditional”. State subsidised housing schemes in the UAE were termed as Sha’bi homes.

‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬ ‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬

‫ﺗﻌﺪﯾﻼت‬

Ta’dilāt (noun). Arabic term meaning “modification” or “adjustment”, referring to the process of adaptation of the Bedouin to the Sha’bi house..

Sha’biyaat (noun). Arabic term referring to the Sha’bi house neighbourhoods.

‫ن‬J‫ﺪ‬I‫ﻣ‬

‫ﯿﺦ‬S‫ﺷ‬ ‫ﯿﺦ‬S‫ﺷ‬

Sheikh (noun). The Arabic word for a leader in a Muslim community or organization.177

+‫ﯿ‬S‫ﺷ‬ +‫ﯿ‬S‫ﺷ‬ ‫ﺳﻜﺔ‬ ‫ﺳﱰ‬ ‫ﺳﻜﺔ‬ ‫ﺗﻌﺪﯾﻼت ﺷﻌﱯ‬ ‫ﺗﻌﺪﯾﻼت‬ ‫ﺷﻌﺒﯿﺎت‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎب‬

Sheila (noun). A veil that covers the chest and head.

Worn by Muslim women in the presence of strangers of males outside their immediate family.178 Typically a black thin fabric worn as a hijab by women from the Arabian Gulf.

Sikka (noun). Arabic term meaning “alleyway”, referring to the 6m gaps which exist between villas in residential neighbourhoods in the UAE.

i.

172. “Harim”, Free Dictionary, Accessed April 3, 2022, https:// www.thefreedictionary.com/ Harim.

173. “Explainer: Hijab, Niqab, Burqa, the different Islamic clothing for women”, WION Web team, Published February 09, 2022, https://www. wionews.com/world/explainer-hijab-niqab-burqa-the-different-islamic-clothing-for-women-451678.

174. Oxford Dictionaries, Paperback Oxford English Dictionary, (United Kingdom: OUP Oxford, 2012).

175. “Explainer: Hijab, Niqab, Burqa, the different Islamic clothing for women”, WION Web team, Published February 09, 2022, https://www. wionews.com/world/explainer-hijab-niqab-burqa-the-different-islamic-clothing-for-women-451678.

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Books

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Cole, Donald Powell. Bedouins of the Empty Quarter. N.p.: Taylor & Francis, 2017.

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Elsheshtawy, Yasser. Dubai: Behind an urban spectacle. Routledge, 2009.

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Sebugwaawo, Ismail. “UAE: 11,000 New Housing Units Being Built For Citizens”. Khaleej Times. (2021). Accessed January 12, 2022. https:// www.khaleejtimes.com/news/uae-11000-new-housing-units-being-built-for-citizens.

Frohburg, Jan. 2015. “Regarding Mies’s courtyard houses”. Architectural Research Quarterly 19 (3). v. Websites

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Films

Aramco. “Era of Discovery (1984)”. Video. Uploaded June 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHh6wY2ua08&list=FLxurKMWJkcZ Xzl0 xqv1aA&index=1.

Arar, Mohamed. “H H Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Words of Wisdom”. Uploaded May 2016.

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Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the UAE. “Vernacular Architecture in the UAE 2014”. Uploaded May 2017. Video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cadWemJ-tjo.

National Archives . “Farewell Arabia (1968)”. Uploaded May 2012. Video. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KnPrI2fc vo&list=FLxurKMWJkcZ Xzl0 xqv1aA&index=3&t=2374s.

Travel Film Archive. “Arabia, 1930s”. Uploaded July 2010. Video. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tms5BA141Tk. ix. Podcasts The National Archive. “EP 10: Inside The Emirati Sha’bi House”. The National Archive. 2016. Podcast. https://audioboom.com/posts/4617015-ep-10-inside-the-emirati-sha-bi-house.

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Magazine Articles

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