YM AIA ME 2016 Presentation

AIA Middle East 2016 AIA Middle East International Conference November 17, 2016 in Cairo, Egypt

From Concept to Completion: How Architects & Urban Planners are shaping the Middle East

Theme:: Architecture & Sustainability

The Expression of SocioCultural Identity in ME Architecture

Presenter:

Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Adjunct Professor of Architecture, AUC

Learning Objectives • Understand the expression of identity as part of socio-cultural sustainability • Identify the different types and levels of identity expressions • Discuss examples of projects incorporating socio-cultural identity in the design

The Middle East â–şThe Middle East is a subcontinent with no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East.

The Middle East â–ş The term "Middle East" was popularized around 1900 in the United Kingdom; it has a loose definition traditionally encompassing countries or regions in Western Asia and parts of North Africa.

UK North America

Europe Asia Near East Middle East North Africa

India

Far East

South East Asia Africa South America

Middle East Architecture

Middle East Modern Architecture

Middle East Modern Architecture

The Middle East Geography

The Middle East History

The Middle East Traditional Architecture

The Middle East Contemporary

Architecture in the Middle East

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Architecture in the Middle East

Beirut, Lebanon

Architecture in the Middle East

Tehran, Iran

Architecture in the Middle East

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Architecture in the Middle East

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Architecture in the Middle East

Cairo, Egypt

Architecture in the Middle East

Dubai, UAE

Architecture in the Middle East

Abu Dhabu, UAE

Architecture in the Middle East

Kuwait

The Middle East

Confllict Oil

Straits Traffic Unrest

Introduction • The phenomenon of expressing cultural identity in architecture is recognized in many parts of the world. • It started after the spread of the international style, during the second half of the 20th century, and intensified as a result of the spread of globalization as a dominating world view at the end of the century.

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Introduction • The phenomenon of expressing cultural identity in architecture is recognized in many parts of the world. • It started after the spread of the international style, during the second half of the 20th century, and intensified as a result of the spread of globalization as a dominating world view at the end of the century.

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Introduction • The phenomenon of expressing cultural identity in architecture is recognized in many parts of the world. • It started after the spread of the international style, during the second half of the 20th century, and intensified as a result of the spread of globalization as a dominating world view at the end of the century.

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Manuel Castells Manuel Castells states that “the construction of identities is fundamental to the dynamic of societies” and that “cultural identity is the process by which social actors build their own meaning according to cultural attributes.”

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Charles Correa Charles Correa defines identity as a process, and not a found object. “The search for identity is a by-product of looking at our real problems, rather than self-consciously trying to find identity as an end in itself.�

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Economic

Historical

Political

Identity Cultural

Social

Urban

ME Rapid Change

ME Rapid Change • The ME region has experienced rapid political, economic, physical and technological change during the second half of the 20th century.

Doha Skyline Development

Doha 1960

Doha 2005

Doha 2007

Doha 2010

Socio-Cultural Change • These mega projects were based on 20th century planning and architectural design theories that focused mainly on modern and technological advances.

Super Projects • This change was introduced through super projects including urban master plans, infrastructure projects and individual buildings.

Kuwait

Doha

Neighborhood

Extended Family

Individual Houses

Key Aspects of Change • A mixture of expensive materials • A range of surface treatments in terms of environmental control, • Arbitrary expression of internal functions • Range of forms • Lack of cohesion.

Doha

Dubai

Kuwait

From Alleys to Streets

People

Cars

From Alleys to Streets

People

Cars

From Vernacular to Modern

From Vernacular Houses to Modern Villas

From Vernacular Houses to Modern Villas

Social

Individual

From Traditional to Modern Interiors

Traditional

Modern

Modern vs Vernacular: Climatic Responses

Sustainability

Concerns • • • • • • •

1960’s 1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s 2010’s 2015

Vernacular Energy Environment Sustainable (Economic, Environment, Equity) Green Integrated Sustainability Systems (Smart Strategies) Resilient (Change)

1960’s

1970’s

1980’s

1990’s

2000’s

2010

Vernacular

Energy

Environment

Sustainable

Green

Integrated

2015 Resilience

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Sustainability • Sustainability as 3Es: Economic, Environmental and Equity (Sociocultural).

Sustainability • Most projects focus on economic and environmental sustainability.

Sustainability • They usually ignore sociocultural sustainability due to lack of knowledge and strategies. • This is due to the difficulty to identify and design for specific people, society and culture.

Sustainable Building Design

Socio-Economic

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Levels of Socio-Cultural Aspects

Identity

Culture

Society

Family

Personal

Levels of Understanding

Levels of Socio-Cultural Aspects

Identity is constructed from the person through family, society and culture. This understanding will help architects and planners design better environments that correspond to social and cultural needs.

Levels of Socio-Cultural Aspects

• Several levels of understanding should be addressed to study and design for a specific society or culture: 1. Personal level includes the position of individual in society and culture, and privacy requirements based on gender and age.

2. Family level: includes immediate and extended family members and family members relationships and obligations.

3. Society level includes relationships between men, women, children, society, ethnicity, kinship, and nationality.

4. Cultural level includes history, language, religion, sacred and profane, traditions, customs, and costumes.

5. Identity level includes personal, social and cultural identity.

Socio-Cultural Change

Socio-Cultural Change • This transformation influenced many cultural aspects of societies through the introduction of the villa in place of the traditional courtyard houses.

Cultural Constants and Variables • The problem of current approaches to sociocultural applications is that they view culture as constant relating it to the past only and not as a variable that relates to the present and the future.

Socio-Cultural Change • Change is an integral characteristic of culture, yet cultural change is slower than techno-physical change.

CORE

PERIPHERAL

“Culture is variable, designed environments respond to variable definitions of needs and priorities as expressed in varying schemata: environments are culture specific.”

Rapaport

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

The Middle East Contemporary Culture

Understanding Socio-Cultural Aspects Traditional Contemporary

Culture Built Environment

Core Peripheral

Global

Islamic State/Official Arab Governmental Gulf Institutional Socio-cultural Public Technical Semi-Public Economic

Private Iconic Pragmatic

Canonic Analogic

Metaphoric Symbolic

Identity Global

Scale Islamic

State/Official

Arab

Governmental

Gulf

Institutional

Cultural Public

Technical Semi-Public

Economic

Private

Approach Iconic Pragmatic

Metaphoric

Canonic Analogic

Symbolic

Design

Purpose and Function in Design • Design of built environments should address equally the socio-cultural and techno-physical aspects of spaces. • There is a deficiency in the flow of information during the design process that tends to ignore socio-cultural aspects in favor of techno-physical aspects.

Design Considerations SocioCultural

Programmatic

Design

Formal

Technical

Design Considerations • Design methods and process should address the three dimensions equally; the techno-physical, the visual-aesthetic, and the socio-cultural.

Sociocultural

Visualaesthetic

Technophysical

The Built Environment Interior Design Architecture Landscape Urban Design Urban Planning

Architecture is not enough!

From Livable to Lovable Environments • This approach will achieve the goal of transforming Gulf cities from only Livable to also Lovable environments.

From Livable To Lovable

Expressions

THANK YOU.