Gad's Residence

Transformations: The Emirati National House

Abu Dhabi’s urban fabric, as represented through its architecture, has drastically changed since its nascent stages of urbanization. Much of the built city has undergone complete erasure and transformation fueled by large scale government development and more recently, a growing real estate market in Abu Dhabi. Amidst its rapidly changing urban atmosphere are Abu Dhabi’s original national houses or Sha‘biyat, which illustrate the story between Abu Dhabi’s urban past and present. Sha‘biyat, a colloquial Arabic word meaning “popular,” were Abu Dhabi’s first modern residential buildings developed by the government. Abu Dhabi’s 1968 mass-housing plan, designed by urban planner and architect Abdelrahman Makhlouf, called for the development of 2,000 family units. Initially, the Sha‘biyat were meant to house Bedouin families who had been living a nomadic lifestyle. Though the houses were meant to bring a sense of residential permanence to Abu Dhabi, the Sha’biyat were not designed to be rigid. They were to be modular and easily expanded throughout time. Some of Abu Dhabi’s earliest national housing can be found 150 kilometers outside of Downtown Abu Dhabi in the Maqam district of Al Ain. I arrived at Maqam, as an American urban design student, with preconceived notions about the failure of government housing. However the public housing in Maqam is successful because it is able to adapt and provides each family with a sense of ownership. I was welcomed into a Sha‘biyat by a family of four generations who were granted the house in the 1970’s. Each family member had a different story and attachment to the home. For the grandmother, the house was her first introduction to a sedentary life style. For her daughter, the house was a bridge between her mother’s traditions and her own children’s expectations for modern commodities. The daughter had expanded the house as her family grew over the years. The Sha‘biyat were designed not only to fill a housing gap, but to also continuously adapt to the needs of each Emirati household. Each Sha‘biyat is no longer confined to its original layout. The neighborhood scheme in Maqam has now matured into a mix of expanded, low-rise Sha‘biyat houses and upgraded villas. Maqam's evolving architecture continues to illustrate each family’s distinct case of Emirati modernity.

2015

Islam is a way of life, and this has been reaffirmed through Al-Qur’an (the Word of God) and Al-Sunnah (the behavior & speech of Prophet Mohammad –peace upon him); so the early traditional Muslims house follows certain Islamic principles as guidelines in architectural design. As a way of life, then the house should provide a complete living web that reflects the lifestyle of Muslims. An “Islamic house” means a house with the values of Islam which is started from good intentions, clear philosophy and then conceptualized until the completion and construction of the building. Referring to the history of Islamic architecture in the Islamic world, different styles could be seen in different regions as each particular region used its own indigenous regional from which was influenced by the interchange of culture traits, ideas of authority figures, administration and intermarriage. Indeed, even the vernacular techniques, climate and local materials, also influenced the form of Islamic hous...

ijens.org

Islamic planning principles offer guidance for designing home spaces. Islam as a code of life provides view points for designing houses and human interaction within these dwellings. The teachings of Sunnah and Shari'ah help in creating righteous and healthy individual, community and ultimately creating a healthy society. All such grooming principles originate from a home, whereas the structure and design of a house is given a form by considering local context, and human needs and different phases of planning and designing. One can observe many distinguishing examples of customary architecture of Islamic houses, in different Muslim and Arab countries. The objective of this research is to study the assimilation of Islamic housing concepts in different cultural settings by analyzing the contemporary house designs in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The research methodology is based on literature review and typological analysis of house designs of similar dwelling type. The analysis has further divided into different sections of house planning and design in light of Islamic teachings and cultural backgrounds. The paper scrutinizes the presence of architectural expression of Islamic perspective which administrated the design concept of the Muslim houses in said countries. Furthermore, it highlights the unique Islamic characteristics of residential designto provide a complete picture of current housing pattern adopted by Muslims of different geographical context.

The Mosque: A Cross-cultural Building-Book of Abstracts, 2022

Book of Abstracts

The Muslim diaspora manifests utopian yearnings for an ideal life. The dynamic of immigration is one of hope, and in the United States engages a nuanced narrative of the "American dream." This paper focuses on mosques and prayer spaces in two major urban centers, Boston and Detroit, and will examine several of the diverse layers of Muslim-American place. Three levels of analysis will articulate how mosques engage the idea of architectural prototype, the dynamics of restricted spatial codes, and the realities of hybrid interaction. Subtle methodological shifts therefore make the Western mosque a richer and more discursive field of study.

The Jordanian Family House as a Bourgeois Manifesto will focus on the establishment, formation, and evolution of the vernacular architecture of the family house in Jordan, and specifically the capital city, Amman. By understanding the history of the region and the country, an attempt to draw conclusions based on historical events will seek to establish the particular style and aesthetic that began to form in modern times. By covering and outlining Jordanian history in the past two millennia, the aim is to establish a thorough understanding for quick referencing later in the case studies part of this essay. In the brief historical account, I will diverge, in some cases, from residential architecture to give a broader understanding of the influence a civilization had on Jordan, and by extension, Amman. Materiality undoubtedly is a dominating factor that forms a huge part of the Jordanian urban landscape; the white limestones that are used in an overwhelming majority of the architecture in Jordan paint the landscape in homogeneous radiance. The stone-like nature of the houses are further exaggerated in the bourgeois family homes; each white stone is handmade and carved uniquely and individually. These homes often incorporate modern and contemporary styles of architecture, but still retain the traditional white stone finish. The evolution and development of the houses of the elite is unique. Each house represents the family that inhabits it; their social standing, religion, wealth, and taste in architecture. Jordan’s modern architecture is reflected by its status as a developing country with huge potential, and its modern housing vernacular is being introduced through various generations of architects, and their endeavour to amalgamate and incorporate traditional aesthetics with new and modern ideas, much like the country’s political endeavour. This essay aims to start with the historical architectural values of Jordan, and end with architecture as it is visualised and realised today, and its purpose is to reveal how the single family house in Jordan came to be, and what role the bourgeois played in its formation.

Academia Letters, 2021

Speculum 94/2, 599-602, 2024