PORTFOLIO LEYLA EL SAYED HUSSEIN [ selected works ] 2012-2017
ACADEMIC PROJECTS
[01]
[02]
[03]
MEROS
DECAY
PARK TOWER
Large City Architecture Graduate Thesis Project
Regenrating Zokak el Blat Undergraduate Thesis Project
Mixed Use Tower
MArch Architectural Design
BArch in Architecture and Design
*team members: R.Kaadan-A.Su-L.El Sayed Hussein
[04]
[05]
[06]
THE STRIP
GREEN EMERGENCE
CRAWLING ANIMAL
Recreational Center
Gardener’s House and Shop
Experimental Structure
PUBLISHED WORK
[07]
[08]
[09]
THE GAP
ERODED MORPHOLOGIES
THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE AND
First prize winner Eco-Quartier Competition
AA visiting School Architectural Association
14th Annual FEA Conference American University of Beirut
*team members: Z.Makki-H.Hadid-F.Zarzour-L.El Sayed Hussein
D LITERATURE IN AL ANDALUS
[01] MEROS MEROS is a large scale project that explores the role of artificial intelligence in creating large city architecture. From MEROS emerged mereology, the relation of parts and parts to whole. Here, I explore such a concept on the micro and macro level.
[01] MEROS The Design research method was based on the following steps: Extracting the spatial parthood conditions of the Hakka house / Simulating them in different field to prove that each parthood conditions yield a distinct field / integrate these fields together and simulate their interaction / build a large scale city system. Consequently, a developped digital method of reading and analyzing was developped to dissect and design the large system based on enclosures / circulation / masses and voids.
Step 1
Step 2
Choosing the Hakka House, a type of Step 2: Focusing on the wall fragments position of vernacular type of dwelling in China. the Hakka House. Analyzing the house in terms of walls conditions
Step 3 Step 3: Extracting its parthood conditions on the level of: spatial qualities / circulation / depth of navigation and developing an alphabet
Step 4
54
Step 4: Developing and simulating 2D and 3D fields of figurations and city plans based on the distinct nature of the part.
Step 5: Creating large city systems based on the automaton of the part, and consequently the automaton of the field
[01] MEROS
A developed digital method that allows to read the mereological types of enclosures and spatial qualities on the different cells and types of spaces
macro level
reading of micro -1-
reading of micro-2-
reading of micro-3-
type a type b type c
[01] MEROS This polychromatic digital method yields one color to one specific types of enclosures, allowing a specific reading to each type of space. Such images allows us to read the architectural spaces in terms of enclosures within enclosures, similar to the Hakka House acting as a house inside a house
[01] MEROS A top view of the mereological city, the city is made of hundreds of original prefabs, consequently of hundreds of fields of figurations interacting together to provide an infinite diversity of spatial possibilities on both the architectural and the urban level
[01] MEROS The mereological city proved to be a habitable environment with a diversity of architectural spaces. The human scale perspective of this city shows that designing a city, and designing a building are a highly linked series of processes that cannot be segregated. The autonomy of parts is still noticeable in the whole, a relation of part to whole is created when these parts resonate together. This city is an example of behaviors that are designed according to a new methodology of reading, designing and analyzing an architectural space.
[02] DECAY DECAY is an urban project that investigates the decay process of a Beiruti neighborhood, Zokak el Blat. It argues that decay alters death to create new forms of architecture. The project is a series of follies injected in old structure, and one main writing center connected to an existing decaying Beiruti house. The project is not a conservation process but a celebration of Decay to revive this neighborhood, which was once, Beirut’s cultural center.
Akar House, Decaying Beiruti House Main Access Point of the project. Acting as an exhibition on its own, the house is left to Decay in a contained steel structure
Main Library
Main Library acting as a transition space between the writing center and the decaying house
Writing Center Writing Center intended to revive the area as a cultural center, overlooking the memorial and connected to the library
Memorial Memorial intended to celebrate the acheivements of the main Beiruti public figures who lived and wrote in the neighberhood
[02] DECAY Developing and urban intervention of injecting each decaying structure with a folly that represents the life of the resident who lived in that place. These series of follies make a network that eventually leads to the main building, the writing center, connected to Akar’s house, a decaying structure on site.
[02] DECAY The memorial is a celebration of the events of these figures’ lives who lived and wrote in Zokak el-Blat. The memorial’s circulation is based on the past interactions between these figures’ lives rather than the chronological order. A dissected relation of friendship or antagonism was reflected in the memorial’s circulation
Section through the Memorial
Circulation through the Memorial
[03] Park Tower Park Tower is a mixed use tower that extends its public spaces from a nearby park. In order not to block the visibility of the park user that sits on a topography, the park was split and integrated physically and visually to the park.
[03] PARK TOWER
name the plans
Circulation through the Memorial
Circulation through the Memorial
Circulation through the Memorial
[04] THE STRIP The project sits on a very steep mountain filled with herbs and wild greenery. It sits far from the center of the village, and offers the users a recreational place. The building consists of a strip that keeps folding according to the topography and allows a smooth transition for the users to go from a program to another. The concept was preceded by a detailed site analysis and urban mapping to understand the type of program to be implemented, the type of users, the site location and its relation to the project.
First Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
[04] THE STRIP
[05] GREEN EMERGENCE The project sits in a dense urban area with narrow streets and commercial shops. The infill projects sits in a 3 by 9 meters plot. The project is a herb gardener s house and shop in the lower floors, with planted slabs in the upper floor. The type of herbs were located on the slabs according to how much sun they need per day, accordingly the shape of the each slab was following the sun path diagram. The project is mainly a green emerging building spreading herbs smells in the neighborhood.
Conceptual Model - inspired from the site The narrow site translated into an underground structure that will later be transformed into a vertically elongated structure
Longitudinal Section
Ground Floor, Herbs Shop
First Floor, Gardener’s Residence
Second Floor, Gardener’s Residence
Third Floor, Planted Slabs
Floor Plans
[06] CRAWLING ANIMAL The project consisted of choosing an acrobatic structure, studying it and create a three dimensional structure out of it. The following structure is a shading device with a mechanical system in the base that allows a smooth rotation of the elements which allows multiple possibilities of shading.
Different Possibilities o
Acrobatic Structure
of the Structure
[07] THE GAP The site is a very thin strip surrounded by the highway of Charles el Helou and an adjacent neighborhood in the area of Gemayzeh. The project offers dierent linkages to each factor, providing a green promenade above the highway as well as a museum exhibiting the art works of the patients. The project acts as a gesture of presence to the city. It uses passive design strategies (wall slants, volumes areas and conguration, self-shading volumes) that minimize energy use and provide natural ventilation and lighting.
[07] THE GAP
Mass Plan
Third Floor
Second Floor
Entrance Level
Floor Plans
[08] ERODED MORPHOLOGIES
The site is a landscape in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The aim was to transform the landscape, the transformation was inspired by the ripple pattern naturally found on the site. The pattern is found at a micro and macro scale. It is a radial pattern, conveying the effect of the ripple motion. Each set of patterns has a specifc center. It consists of curves that are generated from a center with a radius varying when moving from one ripple to another. Through a script done on grasshopper that simulates the existing pattern and various inputs to the script, three types of spaces were formed: fully open, fully enclosed, and semi enclosed.
Wax Models under different temperatures / Physically Simulated Pattren
Low Point Attraction Force
Off Center Deformation
High Point Replusion Force
High and Low points
Generated Pattern
Identified Axis of Symmetry
Isolated Patch
Replicated Pattern
Off Center Deformation Openness / Enclosure Introverted Skin Horizontal sections Sunken Ground Retraced Surface Elongated Skin Low Point Attraction Force Cave Effect
Digitally Simulated Pattren and Landscape
Original Surface
Intensity I
Intensity II
Intensity III
Section AA
Section BB
Section CC
Open Pathway
Semi-enclosed Pathway
Enclosed Pathway
Digitally Simulated Final Model
[09] THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE AND LITERATURE IN AL ANDALUS A comparison and symbiotic relation between the poem of Abu-l-Baqa’ al-Rundi “Ya salib al-Qalb” and the dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters in AlHambra
10 // The Art of Architecture and Literature in Al-Andalus
The Art of Architecture and Literature in Al-Andalus
A comparison and symbiotic relation between the poem of Abū-l-Baqā’ al-Rundī “Ya salib al-Qalb” and the dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters in AlHambra
a p H
Leyla El Sayed Hussein
Department of Architecture and Design American University of Beirut P.O.Box 11-0236 leyla.s.hussein@gmail.com My research investigates processes of similarities between Arabic poetry and architecture. It tackles the concepts of poetics in architecture, and architecture in poetics. The first part will talk about the similarities from a wide perspective, discussing the multiple theories of both fields. The second part will apply these theories on a selected poem by the Sufi Andalusian poet Abū-lBaqā’ al-Rundī titled “Ya Salib al-Qalb”, and a selected architectural element from AlHambra which is the dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters. The comparison process aims to accentuate the link between poetry and architecture, and chose the notion of “symbiosis” as a key concept of the two fields.
I.
INTRODUCTION
The first feeling that comes to the mind and heart when talking about Architecture and Poetics is love. When Jean-Luc de Marion was asked about love, he said: “We speak about love all the time, we often experience it, but we fail to understand it”. The Greeks might be the first civilization to translate the intangible concept of love into a tangible one, first by creating Eros, god of love, second by transforming the divine love and rituals into art, drama and tragedy. The research argues that the literature is neither the primary mover - the reason of the architectural results – nor does the architecture define a reason of the literature process. Both factors seems to fall in the same category, they are two reasons for the same mean, and two means for the same reason. From this point comes the term “symbiotic relation” or symbiosis, which in biological science means the co-existence and the strong bond between two, or more than two factors. When one factor ceases to exist, the other faces the same fate. In such relations, there is no “primary” or “secondary” factor, but two factors, two means and two reasons. Erwin Panofsky said that comparative styles of thinking and doing started between architecture and Arabic poetry with the early Islam era. He discussed the relations relations between Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism under the notion of “mental habits” which is applicable on the two creative processes on poetry and architecture. Panofsky denies the cause-effect relation, and sees a “diffusion” relation on the level of mental habits between works of art. In the following paragraphs this “diffusion” relation between architecture and poetry will be further demonstrated.
II.
AL-JĀḤIẒ , KITAB AL BAYAN WA AL TABYIN
“Architecture functions in a poetical mode - Poetry functions in an architectural mode” – Mohammed Hamdouni Alami As an introduction to this statement, we need to go back to the time of Al-Jāḥiẓ . Abū ʿUthmān ʿAmr ibn Baḥr alJāḥiẓ who was born in 776 and died in 868, he was an Islamic theologian, intellect, and one of the most influential authors who worked on the Arabic prose. He was one of the major intellects admitted in the Mu’tazili circles, an Islamic school of philosophy where the elites hold their major intellectual debates of the time1. In his book, Kitab al bayan wa al tabyin, Al-Jāḥiẓ tackles the skills of language, the skills of Khutba and the art of poetry, this book has been considered one of the earliest works in the field of Arabic literary theory2. The relevant parts to our paper are the earliest examples of today’s common operation methods of both architecture and poetry, such as: structure, harmony, state, rhythm, and combination. The system of Al Bayan is a system by which “signification, communication, information, manifestation and expression” happen all at once. Al bayan is divided into five main categories: three of them are not highly related to architecture and are: al lafz (speech), al ishara (gesture), al khat (writing). The latter can be used in architecture, but not as a basic component, it acts as an added element. By contrast the other two components of al bayan are highly connected to the nature of architecture: Al-hal (state, condition) and al-‘aqd (calculation). Al hal is the state of the forms and elements of architecture that reflects a certain inner condition, a specific situation that needs to be expressed. Al ‘aqd, represents a more tangible architectural factor, the two reasons why al ‘aqd is an architectural element of al bayan are: the fact that al ka’ba is a simple square, and that Arabs in the Jahiliya era would call any square monument al ka’ba, in addition to the notion of complex numbers in architectural monument, like the importance of the square root of two in many tombs and madrasas. The numbers and geometries in a certain Qasida or monument become directly connected to a divine love )(اﻟﺤﺐ اإﻟﻠﮭﻲ, or to an inner psyche, a feeling. 1 Hamdouni alami, Mohammed. Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition. Aesthetics, Politics and Desire in Early Islam. P.36 2 Van Gelder, G. J. H. (1982), Beyond the Line: Classical Arabic Literary Critics on the Coherence and Unity of the Poem, Brill Publishers, pp. 1-2
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Both architecture and poetry are a subject of formal rules and precise calculations. These two states when combined can produce according to the architect, researcher and historian Hamdouni Alami, a meaning to any building description3. III.
THE MODUS OPERANDI OF ARABIC POETICS AND ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
Modus operandi is a Latin term which means the modes of operation. This term was usually associated to the behavior of a certain animal; a very deep understanding of a living mechanism. Once we apply such a term to Arabic poetics and Islamic architecture, we indirectly agree that both fields “breath” the same, “grow” the same, and “live” the same. According to Hamdouni, the poetical aspect of architecture is the necessary one to reveal the ambiguity of Islamic architecture. Such a statement can be proved in many ways. First, some of the main architectural Islamic elements were a reflection of an Islamic thought. Second, many early Islamic architecture elements that were based on geometricisism (‘aqd) and ambiguity, are in a structural relationship with the principles of Arabic theory of language, as developed in the theory of permutations, by al-khalil in kitab al ain (author of the first Arabic dictionary, and creator of the science of the poetic versification (al-‘arud). Third, the mental processes of poetry and early Islamic architecture seem to be highly connected, and highly similar4. The latter element can be considered the most important one, since it is not bounded to a timeframe, and can be applicable to any sort of poetry, in parallel to any sort of architecture. A. The Training Process as a first Modus Operandi Memory->Forgetting->Residue->Re-arrangement (combination and probabilities) An interesting example of the mental process training is the famous story of Abu Nuwas (756-814). When he decided that he wanted to practice poetry, and write his own verses, his teacher Khalaf al Ahmar gave him one thousand classical verses to memorize by heart, when Abu Nuwas recited the verses by heart, Khalaf asked him to forget all the verses he memorized previously, only then, he would be ready to write poetry. But what was the goal of memorizing and forgetting? According to Hamdouni, it is the “basic poetic form” common in all thousands verses that is left in Abu Nuwas5. Similarly the process can be applied to the architectural course. The architectural process can be seen as a rearrangement of old residues, what is left from what we see as architectural elements, is at some point in the sleeping stage, the forgetting phase is necessary for memories to be evoked again, in a different state, reduced to its core, to be used in a new arrangement. In brief, it’s a process of combination, infinite
number of probabilities of multiple memories to produce a new poetic or architectural element. This process of rearrangement creates one of the strongest bonds between poetry and architecture: harmony. B. Harmony as asecond Modus Operandi “Once Umar Ibn Laja’I said to another poet: “I am a better poet than you’ the other asked: “what makes your poetry better than mine?” and Umar answered: “It is because I say a verse and go on with its “brother” and you say a verse and go on with its “cousin”6. The fact that another verse can be the brother of the former indicates that the harmony is a core element in a poem; similarly the elements of Islamic architecture cannot be “cousins” but has to be “brothers” first. It is these “brother” verses that create the unity and harmony of a poem, and these “brother” elements that create the unity of an architectural object. The principle of harmony and unity within variety is a tie bond between poetry and architecture that one cannot deny. The other version of the concept of harmony lies within the word itself. Harmonia, in Greek, originally meant “joining”, a crucial element in the works of Vitruvius and the Renaissance; however the Greek harmonia in its origin was a bit far from mathematics and had one ultimate aim: love. The interesting feature of the “Islamic” harmonia in both poetry and architecture that it combines both, love and mathematics, or what al--Ɨতi called them: Al-hal wal ‘akd. One of the main elements of harmony is the fact that in both, Islamic motifs and Arabic verses, the importance of the relation between the elements overcomes the importance of the elements themselves7. The musicality of a verse lies in the verse itself, but the musicality of a poem lies in the multiple verse’s musicality in relation to each other, similarly the musicality or visual pleasure lies in the movement of the eye from a motif to another, a procession of how each motif meets its “brother”. Another common point between the architect and the poet is that both decide the limits of extensions in a group of motifs, or in a poem. The poet can add verses as much as he wants; he has an infinite of possibilities, as well as the architect, whether in a pattern with a radial or symmetrical growth, the decision of where to stop is very similar in the poet’s and architect’s mental processes.
3
Hamdouni alami, Mohammed. Art and Architecture in the IslamicTradition. Aesthetics, Politics and Desire in Early Islam. P.59 4 Idem, p.77 5 Idem, p.81
6 7
Idem, p.91 Idem, p.96
Published Work
10 // The Art of Architecture and Literature in Al-Andalus C. The Division Process as a third Modus Operandi Another common point is Al Taqti’ )(اﻟﺘﻘﻄﯿﻊ, which according to Hamdouni is applicable to architectural plans. However the Taqti’ principle can be applied also to a smaller architectural scale, which is the motif. He sees this principle the reason of poetic musicality, the successive subdivisions of poems into verses, and verses into metric feet, then subdivided into smaller parts (awtad – asbab \ )اوﺗﺎد واﺳﺒﺎبwhich in turn can be divided into Huruf. These successive divisions are highly apparent in Islamic architectural planning, as well as architectural motifs.
major themes: the spiritual symbolism and the structure. Each theme will tackle multiple sub-themes explaining why the aforementioned poem and dome were chosen to go through this symbiotic process. The sub-themes of the structure will tackle the structural similarities of the dome and the poem, starting from the foundation, going through the organizational elements and reaching their unification at the top of the dome, as well as, at the end of the poem; while the sub-themes falling under the “spiritual symbolism” will tackle the outward reaching of the cosmos, as well as the divine manifestation, known as “Al-Tajallī”. A. Structure A.1 The base of the dome and the rule of mutual love
D. Ambiguity as a fourth Modus Operandi In the Islamic world, decoration plays the role of showing and hiding meaning, a reflection of the apparent and the latent in the poetic meaning of a certain poem or sentence. This intertwining play creates a higher sense of ambiguity, a term very common in Islamic concepts, therefore the Islamic architecture and art have a function more than a “pleasure inducer” as Hamdouni calls them, they become an invitation to “day dream”8. Both poetics and architecture can take the user out of this world, and both use a very tangible method to reach a very intangible purpose. IV.
“YA SALIB AL-QALB” OF ABŪ-L-BAQĀ’ AL-RUNDĪ AND THE DOME OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS IN ALHAMBRA
Oleg Grabar argues in many of his writings that in the building of the Islamic world, there is always something like a “Fairytale”. According to Hamdouni, the fairytale dimension Section AA of architecture is the most important factor that will determine the success and the future of a certain monument9. Therefore one cannot disregard the poetic, spiritual and cosmos related dimension of the Islamic architecture. As an application to the aforementioned theories, the choice fell on the two famous masterpieces: The poem of “Ya Salib Al Qalb (Oh, you heart Section BB stealer)” of the Andalusian Sufi poet Abū-l-Baqā’ al-Rundī, and the dome of the Hall of the two sisters of Alhambra de Granada. "Everything here appears calculated to inspire kind and happy feelings, for everything is delicate and beautiful. The very light falls tenderly from above, through the lantern of a dome tinted and wrought as if by fairy hands." - Washington Irving, Tales of the Alhambra AlHambra has always been the set of scenes of many novels and poems, especially for Irving, the American author, who took the castle of Alhambra as a major location for his fairytales. Alhambra de Granada, built between 1238 and 1358 in the Era of Al-andalus (711 and 1492). The symbiotic relation between the dome and the poem will be based on two 8 9
Idem, p.88 Idem, p.190
One of the main rules of the spiritual relationship between God and human beings is that there should be love between the two. Abu Nasr as-Sarraj says that Sufis prefer God above all, and God prefers them above all else10. Preference here exists for both parties, but not in the same levels. Love expressed by both parties is evident in all the verses of the chosen poem. The prerequisite of preference or love can be compared with the first prerequisite for the dome, which is the fixed base. The base of the dome is an octagon, i.e. two squares intersecting at an angle of 45 degrees. The reflection of the intersection of the two squares on the same line in Andalusian mystical poems is a prerequisite for the meeting of the soul of the poet with that of God, and their merging on the same line. The right intersection is when the center of each square meets as follows: Figure 1. Diagrams of the two squares-mutual love interlocking
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The prerequisite of mutual love in the poem is represented in the first three verses: اأﻟول اﻟﻣرﺑﻊ First square Soul of روح the writer Second square Soul اﻟﻜﺎﺗﺐ المربع اﻟﺛﺎﻧﻲ روح ھﻠﻼ of God Common center of اﻟروحين/ﺑﯾن المربعﯾن the two squares/souls ﻧﻘطﺔ الوﺳط اﻟمشﺗركة Oh You heart stealer, when You looked at me, Your love for me left me impatient and blind, Do not ask me today what my heart suffered In the first two verses, al-Rundi declares that God loves him. In the third, he declares his love for God, then goes on to describe this love. This structure signifies his previous declaration of the
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As-Sarrāj. Abū Nașr. Kitāb al-lumaʿ fiʾt-tașawwuf., p.25
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prerequisite of love in the beginning of the poem, as if he wants to say that without this prerequisite, the poem would not have been. Similarly, without the octagonal base in which the two squares intersect, the dome would not have been. A.2 The Impossible Triangle and the Impossibility of the Total Revelation Castera drew detailed sketches of the dome, and dedicated long hours to analyzing the way the five thousand Muqarnas were installed. He found that the dome in small areas showed disparities in the Muqarnas, so that the craftsman had to change the shape of the Muqarnas to follow the dome's perfect plan. The sketch drawn by Castera proves that it is impossible to construct the dome as planned, as the architect could not lock in the seventeen triangles which make up the dome. To lock in the dome and make it as symmetric as possible from all sides, the engineer had to change the order of the Muqarnas in the seventeenth, and last, triangle. Castera called the seventeenth triangle the impossible triangle11. If we were to explain the symbolism of this structure, we can relate it to the impossibility of total revelation in al-Rundi's poem. Should there be total revelation, the lover would be shocked and fade away (the ninth and tenth verses of the poem). The
aforementioned theory of Aljahiz concerning al ‘aqd wal hal (calculation and state) makes perfect sense in this case, a detailed and accurate amount of calculations the architect had to produce in order for the mutual Hal of God and Al rundi (mutual state) to take place. The ‘aqd was the tool of the spacetime frame, or the container, of the Hal. The three components: God (or the beloved), Al-rundi (the lover) and the dome (timespace frame) were the translation of the Greek concept of Eros.
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A.3 the Particles of the Dome Scattered in One Space and the Atoms of al Rundi’s Shattered Soul inGod’s Space Owen's theory that the dome is similar to the Big Bang is comparable to theory that the dome is divided into small molecules, organized in a complex way. However, like the universe, it grows and stays in place by the will of the Creator 12 . This structure is reflected in al-Rundi's poem as follows: God is responsible for al-Rundi's destruction; He is the reason and the doer. However, He can collect al-Rundi's pieces and by His will put him back in place. A.4 The Rotation of the Dome and the Cycle of Love This continuous cycle of recollection of atoms, and their vertical ascension to the Creator, then their destruction and recollection, highlights the idea of the Creator who contains all the scattered atoms which match the circular shape of the dome. This represents the infinite cycle which lovers go through for their beloved. This cycle is reflected in al-Rundi's poem as follows: From the first verse to the verse before the last (1 -11), al-Rundi talks about the destruction of his soul for his beloved, and about his suffering from this love. It is as if he is refusing to be drawn back to this cycle again. However, in the last verse, al-Rundi indirectly declares that he is willing to through this cycle again, especially when he asks God to have mercy on his soul. A.5 The dome's vertical movement and love's vertical movement “The act of love starts on its heathenish way to end up blessed by a transfixing spans from the world beyond.” Malcolm de Chazal, Sens-Plastique Castera says that the importance of the Hall of the Two Sisters lies in the symbolism of the alchemist passage from the square of the room (representing the physical world where human beings live) to the dome and its center (representing the sky or God's soul). This passage constitutes a vertical, ascending path of movement from the individual conscience to the universal conscience as follows:
Figure 2. Analysis of the dimensionns: the impossible triangle. Jean Marc Castera Figure 3. The Sp aces Under the Dome Castera, Jean-Marc Castera. The Muqarnas Dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters in the Alhambra in Granada p.6 11
12
Tabbaa, Yasser. The Muqarnas Dome: Its Origin and Meaning, p.71
10 // The Art of Architecture and Literature in Al-Andalus
space
–
The Dome – the big
To the octagon – the ascension phase The square of the room – the physical world
– –
This ascension is reflected in the poem in the levels of love towards the beloved, as follows: Oh You heart stealer, when You looked at me, Your love for me left me impatient and blind, Do not ask me today what my heart suffered If only farewell and love did not come to be The first four verses are a clear declaration of love by al-Rundi towards his beloved. This love is centered in the heart. Although the latter reflects a non-tangible love, al-Rundi described this love from a physical perspective, even if its indications were not perceptible. We can place these aspects at the bottom of the vertical line, and affirm that al -Rundi's love is still tied to the small space. The first level of this love is reflected in the square room in the Hall of the Two Sisters (under the dome) It was not voluntarily that I tasted love again It was the fates that intervened In my love which brought about my destruction I was like a moth drawn to flame until it got burned In the fifth verse, al-Rundi declares that he did not choose to fall in love and therefore cannot stop loving. In the sixth verse, this love turns out to be the work of fate, elevating the level of love from human to universal. In the seventh and eighth verses, al-Rundi talks about his suffering from this love, as if he were a moth drawn to a flame. Schimmel considers that mystics love the suffering of love, and consider it a trial by God to test their endurance of pain for the sake of their beloved 13 . Therefore, al-Rundi's burning does not constitute an end to the vertical ascension of love, but rather a transitional phase towards higher levels. This level of love is reflected in the octagon, the halfway point between the square room and the dome. Oh You who revealed Yourself to me in secret, crumbling me to pieces And struck my heart when You took me by surprise Look at me, for the soul is destroyed Have mercy on the soul, for the soul is weary 13
. Schimmel, AnneMarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam.p.6
In the ninth verse, al-Rundi declares that revelation occurred, and starts describing what happened because of this revelation, until the last verse. The reader expects that al-Rundi would not be ready to repeat this cycle, because his soul, as he says in the eleventh verse, is destroyed and incapable of loving again. The last verse dismisses this deduction. Al-Rundi asks from the beloved to have mercy on his soul, as if he is shyly going back on what he had said, and declares his readiness to enter this cycle again. In the last four verses, al-Rundi does not use any indications of physical love, or the love related to the individual conscience that Castera has talked about, but uses terms related to the universal conscience (secret, soul) This level of love is reflected in the dome itself, and the black hole represents the destruction of the soul. We can imagine al-Rundi standing under the dome, with his head raised upward, leaving his body in the square room, and his soul raised towards the top of the dome. It is the last phase of the ascending love.
Figure 4. The Vertical Movement of Love and its Corresponding Spaces
Destruction in love Vast space Love with the soul (Ascending movement) The octagon Love with the body (Heart) Small space
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A.6 The diminishing distance between the diameters of the dome and the diminishing distance between the soul of the lover and the soul of the beloved The distance between the diameters of the dome diminishes during the vertical movement. The closer the distance to the dome is, the smaller the circle. We can liken the diminishing diameter to the diminishing distance between the soul of the lover and the soul of the beloved in the poem. AlRundi's love starts to take shape in the physical world, and ends up in the mystical world the closer he gets to the beloved, until the diameter becomes a black point. At this point, the space between the two souls is gone and the revelation process begins, or the destruction process of al-Rundi. B. Spiritual Symbolism B.1 The dome and the poem reflect the same divine purpose Grabar says that the Hall of the Two Sisters did not have a specific function like all the other halls in Alhambra, which were dedicated for meetings, visitation or invitations. He also says that Alhambra possesses two truths, the first material, targeting the senses, and the second metaphysical, targeting the mind and the heart. Grabar links the first truth with the desires and senses, and the second with the cosmos, or anything that transcends small space14. Given that the hall serves no specific function, we can consider it a free, open space for those seeking the second truth about which Grabar has talked, i.e. the metaphysical truth that al-Rundi craves in his poem. Al-Rundi addresses God in his poem, asking Him to look at him. The call is obvious at the end of the poem when he says, "Look at me, for the soul is shattered – ". Al-Rundi wants God to look at him, or to choose him from among all other lovers. Al-Rundi placed this verse at the end of the poem, as it represents the highest levels of love, or the ultimate wish of a lover, which is for God to look at him. Is it possible that this hall serves a spiritual function for al-Rundi or for other poets imploring God? Could it be that the center of the dome is the window through which God gazes down on his lovers? B.2 Absence of Divine Transfiguration, or Theophany (Attajal li - ) The dome reflects an important mystical concept: the impossibility of the divine theophany. In her book “Mystical Dimensions of Islam,” Schimmel states that the term mysticism in Greek, "myein," means "to close the eyes" and
"absence of vision". In English, the term "mysticism" is derived from "mystic" and "mystery" 15. If we look at the dome (Figure 1), we clearly see the reflection of induced light penetration on the Muqarnas. It gradually fades away from the wider diameter of the dome towards the center, which is the highest point. Visibility dissipates in the middle, and the center of the dome looks like a link between all that is under the dome, or miniature space, and all the vast space that is outside, a link of the “microcosm” to the “macrocosm”. The first phase of this transition is letting go of the material world, and moving from the small space to the wider space16. This is a bit evident in al-Rundi's poem, in which there are no signs of his attachment to the material world, for he only talks about weariness and divine love. The absence of divine visibility may be a common factor between the dome, which is amplified by the muqarnas, and the poem. The similarity of this indication in al-Rundi's poem lies in the method of revelation, which is not at the visual level, but the mystical one. Al-Rundi says, "Oh You who revealed Yourself to me in secret, crumbling me to pieces" (verse 10). This verse refuted revelation at the visual level, or at other sensory levels. It indicates that there has to be an absence of visibility, for if it were to happen, it would crumble lovers to pieces, driving them into non-existence. We came across this idea in the following Quranic verse: "And when Moses arrived at our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, ‘My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.’ [ Allah ] said, ‘You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.’ But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, ‘Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers.’" (AlAaraf 143) The relationship between al-Rundi and God appears as follows: God is the creator and al-Rundi is the creature. There is clear level difference between al-Rundi's soul and God's soul. Unlike other mystical schools, which reflect the union between God's soul and that of human beings, it seems that al-Rundi follows the early mystical schools which 17 Schimmel mentioned in her book . This difference in the poem is reflected in the dome and center. The center of the dome does not blend with the other Muqarnas, but appears clearly in the middle.The origin this relation between the lovers and the space of love can go back to the Greek mythology, “the concept of Eros as lack callsfor three structural components: the lover, the beloved, and the space-time that comes between
Schimmel, AnneMarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam, introduction Idem, p.4 17 Idem,p.22 15
14 Grabar, Oleg. From Dome of Heaven to Pleasure Dome, p.17
16
Published Work
10 // The Art of Architecture and Literature in Al-Andalus them.”18 Here, the dome plays the main role in combining the lover and the beloved into one entity.
when bounded to an “erotic” space as Gomez names it. The erotic space is both the physical space and the thought. However, what is certain that in architecture and poetry the B.3 The Source of Divine Love in the Dome and in Al- primary mover is love, the primary tool of “recognition” and Rundi's Poem “representation”, and the primary infuser is the human use. The inter-relation of poetry and architecture is the perfect example The center of the dome looks like a black hole that of biological symbiosis among breathing elements. represents the transition from the physical world to the cosmos. Black holes are infinite energies of attraction, and therefore the REFERENCES in combining the when bounded to an “erotic” space as Gomez names it. The cause of the magnetic attraction phase. This is evident in the [1] From Dome of Heaven to Pleasure Dome. Oleg Grabar. Journal of the erotic space is both the physical space and the thought. Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 49, No. 1, March 1990. first verseHowever, of the poem "Oh You heart stealer." It is as if it were what is certain that in architecture and poetry the [2] The Muqarnas Dome: Its Origin and Meaning. Yasser Tabbaa. Muqarnas, the black holeis in thethe dome, who his heart, and Vol. 3 pp. 61-74, 1985. he Dome andGod, in Al- or primary mover love, primary toolstole of “recognition” and was the main driver of this giveninfuser God’sisinfinite attraction. [3] Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Annemarie Schimmel. The University of “representation”, and love, the primary the human use. The North Carolina Press, April 1978. inter-relation of poetry and architecture is the Owen draws similarities between the Hall of theperfect Two example Sisters [4] Islamic Arts From Spain. Mariam Rosser-Owen. Victoria and Albert a black hole biological breathing elements. Museum Publishing, 2010. andthat the of Big Bang19symbiosis . Indeed, among the dome is made of more than world to the cosmos. [5] The Poetics of Space. Gaston Bachelard, 1958. Presses Universitaires de 5,000 Muqarnas, so Owen's simile makes sense. The small France. Translated by Maria Jolas, 1994. n, and therefore the patterns and the pointed, molecular tips give off the impression [6] Kitāb al-lumaʿ fiʾt-tașawwuf. Abū Nașr as-Sarrāj. Edited by Reynold is is evident in the A.Nicholson. Leiden and London, 1914. r." It is as if similar it were to a universe, as if a star exploded and stardust [7] The Muqarnas Dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters in the Alhambra in dispersed over the surface of the dome. We can compare this Granada. stole his heart, and [8] Jean-Marc Castera. The work of Jules Goury and Owen Jones. Springer, simile to the moment of revelation in al-Rundi's poem. It is as s infinite attraction. 2007. of the Two ifSisters an explosion rocked his very soul so hard that he was [9] Splendors of Islam, Architecture Decoration and Design. Dominique Clevenot and Gerard Degeorge. The Vendome Press, 2003. made of more than to pieces and faded away. scattered [10] Built Upon Love. Perez Gomez. MIT Press, 2008. s sense. The small Bachelard said, “Many are the intimate dreams represented e off the impression [11] Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition. Aesthetics, Politics and in this domed ceiling. Love is always reflected in the center of Desire in Early Islam. Mohammed Hamdouni Alami. I. B. Tauris; oded and stardust Reprint edition, 2013. 20 the dome.” The center of the dome not only represents none can compare this [12] Beyond the Line: Classical Arabic Literary Critics on the Coherence and Unity of the Poem. Geert Jan van Gelder. Brill Publishers, 1982. but also the epitome of intimacy between God ndi's poem. manifestation, It is as and human beings. This factor being in the middle goes along hard that he was with the following verse: "Do not ask me today what my heart dreams represented suffered." With the heart being the source of love for al-Rundi, ted in the center thereofis no doubt that the dome and the heart are the center of nly representsmutual non- love between the lover and the beloved.
tecture and Literature in Al-Andalus
macy between God middle goes along day what my heart V. CONCLUSION f love for al-Rundi, rt are the centerThe of fact that the relationships aforementioned belong to two ed. works of art done in different years proves that the mental
processes of the poet and the architect breath from each other, and that the prevailing atmosphere in Andalusia back then affected the poet, as much as it affected the architect. oned belong to two Hamdouni states that the authors of the architectural spaces of es that the mental Islamic world did not need to be poets to be influenced by th from eachthe other, poetic ndalusia back then sensibilities “as important and learned men, architectural ted the architect. planners were regularly in contact with poets and poetry, they hitectural spaces wereof also probably aware of the craft of poetry, and were o be influenced by sensitive to poetic form 21 . The modes of operation of both d men, architectural architecture and poetry are highly clear to the eye and soul
ts and poetry, they poetry, and were operation of18 Gomez, both Perez. Built upon Love, p.32 Mariam Islamic Arts From Spain, p.57 the eye and19 Rosser-Owen, soul 20 21
Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space, p.40 Gomez, Perez. Built upon Love, p.105