Orientalist Architecture

The dissemination of Owen Jones’ studies of the Alhambra and his color theory has been
increasingly well understood as a cornerstone of the later Alhambresque style. And yet, curiously,
Jones offers at once an accurate appreciation of the Alhambra and a basis for a striking divergence
from Nasrid design in Alhambresque interiors. This article examines that discrepancy. It begins with
a review of the aesthetics of the Alhambra in view of the eleventh-century optics of Ibn al-
Haytham, supported by conservation work that has confirmed Jones’ vibrant colors. The aesthetic
key to the Alhambra is not color alone, however, but a principle of visual harmony integrating color
and geometry. The Nasrid builders applied color in conjunction with principles of proportionate
geometric relationships and measurable visual properties—height, distance, size, depth—in the
architectural and decorative design. They also manipulated color through their consideration of
the materiality of the polychromed surfaces, whose reflective and refractive potentials allowed for
differing optical effects. By balancing attention between color, as transmitted through the innovative
technique of chromolithography, and the drawings of plans and elevations, this article strengthens
the understanding of Jones’ grasp of the visual harmony of the Alhambra. Second, it demonstrates
the ways in which Jones’ plates of various ornament were often privileged over, or simply divorced
from, his architectural drawings in Alhambresque interiors: e.g., the Salón árabe (1847-1851) in the
Royal Palace of Aranjuez (Spain), the Salotto Turco in the Villa Mimbelli (1865-1870) in Livorno (Italy),
and the Moorish Bath (1850-1854) at Schloss Albrechtsberg in Dresden (Germany). In conclusion,
this article proposes that, in contrast to the Alhambra, a loss of visual harmony is a significant
characteristic of the Alhambresque, or, otherwise stated, that the Alhambresque interiors feature a
disproportionate emphasis on color, consistent with the ideological burden of Orientalism.

Due to the importance of the works he realized at the turn of the century , XIX - XX  century, especially in Egypt the architect Antonio Lasciac (Gorizia 1856- Cairo 1946) plays a relevant role for the cross-border area of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, now divided by an administrative boundary between Italy and Slovenia, but compounding a whole territory during his professional experience.
Here in 1912, over the hills of Rafut, the architect Lasciac realized his house, which is particularly remarkable for the choice of its architectural language  influenced by the Mamluk tradition, rendered through the modern construction techniques within the revival of the neo-Islamic style. A a style that is marked by the references to the khedival Egypt that he brought back to his hometown, to testify his productive and fortunate Egyptian period, which is evidenced by his numerous works in Cairo, Alexandria and along the Bosphorus.
The Rafut hills, where his villa is located, is a place that has recently changed nationalities: an Austrian territory in Lasciac’s lifetime, it later became Italian, and then was divided between the Italian and Yugoslavian Republics. And only recently, after the entrance of Slovenia in the European Community, it is officially part of the Europe.
In order to emphasize the role of this important, the PhD Program of the Integrated Design of Architecture and Civil Engineering of the School of Engineering Sciences of the University of Trieste, organizes a two days’ International Conference, 10 and 11 December, gathering scholars belonging to the different countries involved by Lasciac’s works, Mercedes Volait (Paris), Bogo Zupančič (Ljubljana), Breda Mihelič (Ljubljana), Marjana Lutman (Ljubljana), Ezio Godoli (Firenze), Bernard O’Kane (Cairo) Milva Giacomelli (Firenze) Edino Valcovich (Trieste), Diana Barillari (Trieste), Alberto Sdegno (Trieste), Alessandra Marin (Trieste), Diego Kuzmin (Gorizia), Andrea Nerozzi (Milano).
The conference is sponsored and organized by the PhD Program of Engineering and Architecture, in collaboration with the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste.  Patronage: the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Province of Gorizia, the Municipality of Gorizia, the Municipality of  Nova Gorica, the CaRiGo Foundation, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Superintendence of  the Archives, the State Archives of Gorizia, the Provincial Historical Archive and the Isontina State Library in Gorizia, the Professional Association of Architects of Gorizia, the Professional Association of Architects of Nova Gorica, the Institute for Central European Cultural Meetings, the International Institute of Sociology.

De stedenbouwkundige en architecturale ontwikkeling van Gent in de 19de eeuw is onlosmakelijk verbonden met de opmars van de industrie. De Arteveldestad gooide in die periode haar ancien régime-gewaad af en groeide uit tot een plek waar de moderne textielnijverheid de economische hoofdrol opeiste. Dat deze bedrijvigheid stevig haar stempel drukte op de aanblik van de binnenstad en het leven dat er zich afspeelde, leidde echter al snel tot tegenreacties, ook architecturaal. Het exotisme en meer in het bijzonder het oriëntalisme deden in de stedelijke bouwkunst hun intrede, in een poging oases te creëren op plekken waar grauwheid en pollutie onontkoombaar leken. Ontleningen aan de vormentaal van de islamitische architecturen werden daartoe vermengd met een scheut westerse fantasie. In deze tekst wordt dit verschijnsel aan de hand van een aantal casi onder de loep genomen.