Reflecting Vernacular Islamic Architecture in Jeddah in Contemporary Art Museum - Coursework Example

Master in Interior & Spatial Design Practitioners’ statement Reflecting vernacular Islamic architecture in Jeddah in contemporary art museum Stage 1: My practical project for my master degree was based on the requirements of my design brief. Design is the search for solutions of a problem through a creative process. I recognized the problem of study when I moved from my country – where contemporary skyscrapers are the image of the city and historical buildings that reflect city vernacular architecture have been converted to a dead museum or useless buildings, to London – where traditional architecture still exists everywhere and major buildings are used as famous city museums. My practical work in my master’s study programme is to conduct a research on how to create a contemporary art museum that reflects vernacular architecture in Jeddah city through contemporary design. When completed, the project will create a compromise solution for the issue identified above. The aim of this study is to create a Renaissance in vernacular Jeddah architecture that was influenced by Islamic architecture. This work aims to solve the adoption of Western lifestyles and architecture that has diminished the traditional Jeddah architecture and culture. The master’s research project is also aimed at keeping the spirit of Islamic pattern and traditional sustainable Saudi architecture in a contemporary art museum. The outcomes of the project will help in teaching people about Islamic art and vernacular architecture in Jeddah city. The features of the contemporary art museum will be as follows. Light and shadow will be used as an architectural art element to reach the aim having a semblance of vernacular architecture. To achieve this, the interior and exterior design will reflect this traditional architecture by the use of contemporary materials and contemporary minimalist style. Contemporary materials such as metal and solar glass will be used as the contemporary design elements that will aid in giving the sense of contemporary design. The project is expected to receive a wide range of visitors. The users who are targeted to visit the building include citizens of Saudi Arabia, tourists and pilgrims of different ages. The problem identified above had to be solved through many stages in my master’s study. First of all, it started with literature reviews to find what other academics think about this issue. The review of literature figured out how other people discussed the issue and how they solved it. Finding the gap in previous articles guided the project’s aim because some authors (such as Abu-zaid 2013; Adas 2013) discussed the issue from historical part only. Others (e.g. Almurahhem 2008) focused on religion factors behind vernacular architecture in Jeddah city. However, there are authors such as El-Shorbagy (2010), Kamal (2014), Salloum (2013) and Taleb and Sharples (2011), who have discussed the sustainable parts of historical architecture in the city. On the other hand, no one thought of combining old with new in one design to keep the old and satisfy the new generation. The second aspect of the problem solving aspect was the use of case studies. I visited international museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery in London. Visiting such places and observing people’s reactions towards them as well as the space design creates a clear idea about people’s needs and space requirements. After the visits, I had to make other visits to museums in Jeddah city, which is my research target. This helped me to compare museums, leading to a clear vision about the issue ­of the dead museums that I found in Jeddah city. I found out that museums in Jeddah are affected by three issues: design, functions and location. Thus, rather than just focusing on design and architecture, which was my first observation before the visits, I decided to focus on these three issues. Since I could not find people to interview inside the museums in Jeddah, I had to start my second method. This taught me that a certain design method can guide the researcher to another method to collect research data. Another approach that I was expected to employ to in the research is the use of interviews. Interestingly, interviewing people is not a common research method in my country. Thus, I rejected this idea at the beginning when I was asked to do it by my tutor. However, I challenged myself to use this method, and I found that it is a significant method that all designers should adopt. According to Kvale (2003), the key model of the best research is the use of interview. This is because it allows researchers to interact with human beings, which is the main reason for obtaining the best research results (Kvale, 2003). This is also supported by a large number of studies such as those by Milto and Rodgers (2013), Myers and Newman (2007), Crouch and McKenzie (2006) and Opdenakker (2006). I realised that as an interior designer, I design buildings for people to enjoy and function well inside them. This makes interviews with space users so essential before any design even if they are just members of the public. The ideas given during interviews make designers aware of some hidden needs that people would prefer to have inside or outside a building, which cannot be found in books. Based on people’s requests, I had to create small models of my design with preliminary 3D Max Design for the exterior architecture of the building. I found the workshop very beneficial at this stage. It is during this stage that I was also able to use the knowledge that I gained in module 2 of the master’s programme coursework. I learned how to use machines and experiment with my design. Creating models was very beneficial for me. It made me rearrange and see details that I would not be aware of without building real models such as the exterior pattern and its relation to the main façade. After building the three small models, I realized that the main façade should reflect the main pattern in a different way. I took my models and showed them to people in Saudi Arabia, and they were very impressed with them. They mentioned that focusing on Islamic sustainable designs that were applied in vernacular Jeddah is a clever idea because it will create a renaissance for the traditional architecture in the city. Additionally, it will create an identity for the contemporary buildings that are spreading in the city with Western inspiration. Artists in Islamic designs said that the building design is a reflection of Islamic and Jeddah architecture in each of its details. However, they mentioned an important point that I was missing. The Roshan window should be exposed to be called Roshan. This made me change the design of the main façade to create a single exposed Roshan. At the end of my interview with Safia bin Zagr, she confirmed that such a design will help us as artists to celebrate our art work because it will attract people to visit the building. The design processes that I was exposed to taught me that model making makes designers feel, understand and edit building designs during the experimentation stages. However, such things cannot be understood or found when using computer design programs. Additionally, it gave me the chance to progress and develop the design of my master’s project. Using the advanced workshop at the university allowed me to experiment with my design through many stages until I could express my final design that shows the project aim in a real model. Section 2: My project was influenced by a number of factors, notably real case studies of museum buildings and a number of research papers. The museum buildings that influenced my project include the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery in London. To start with, the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is an iconic building, acted as an ideal model for my project for many reasons. As a real case study in my research project, the Victoria and Albert Museum combines traditional and modern architecture. It provides visitors with a museum that has full functions that are needed in such a building. It also provides a space for new artists, designers and architects to display their creativity and hold seminars. In contrast, all of these features are missed in Jeddah city, where I came from. This is in spite of the fact that Jeddah city has many artists and creative people, who ironically cannot find a place to express their creativity except on the streets. Jeddah city also has some very important architecture that is inspired by Islamic architecture due to its history. The National Gallery was also important to my research project because it offers as much information as the Victoria and Albert Museum. The National Gallery has a special place in history because was built on the site that the King’s Mews formally stood. In addition, the Gallery was built using architectural concepts and construction methods that had been used to build the Mews (The National Gallery n.d.). The National Gallery has a special place in history not only because of the unique way in which it was built but also because of its location that is central and accessible. The location of the building ensured that everyone could be able to visit it and enjoy views of various iconic features galleries that it contains. This ensures that people of different backgrounds can visit the building freely, and that the gallery does not become a preserve of the rich people only. The design and operation of the National Gallery influenced me to think that there is need to have such a building in Jeddah, city, catering to the needs of people of diverse backgrounds given the nature of the city. Turning to research papers, there are several research articles that informed my project. This is due to the correlation between the different modules that I studied as part of the coursework at the university. The Research and Enquiry module helped me to start my research along the idea that I had identified. The first paper that informed my journey was “The transformation of residential neighbourhood: the emergence of new urbanism in Saudi Arabian culture” by Saleh (2002). In this paper, the author discussed a very major research that lead to the current architecture problem in the city which is architecture schools in Saudi universities. It is argued that practitioners used to focus on modernism as a major architecture needed in the country and around the world. This issue started to be recognised in the country since 1997 as noted by Abu-Ghazzeh (1997). I strongly agree with the concepts expressed in this paper. As an interior design tutor, I understand that education in this field used to focus on modern and contemporary architecture for a long time. However, in recent times, things started to change when the Prince Sultan Bin Salman Award for Urban Heritage was launched in 2006. This award provided an opportunity for university students to participate and cooperate to solve the issues around architecture and interior design in Saudi Arabia (Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, 2015). However, all of the projects that received awards remained on paper because of lack of a sponsor who could implement the ideas in practice. Another research paper that has informed the development of my research project is that by Abu-Ghazzeh (1997), titled “Vernacular architecture education in the Islamic society of Saudi Arabia: towards the development of an authentic contemporary built environment”. The purpose of this paper was to further explore the debate around the correlation between culture and architecture. Abu-Ghazzeh’s (1997) aim was to discuss a way of evaluating vernacular architecture in a cultural perspective and to elucidate the importance of teaching architecture students about the conceptions that are imbedded in the constructed heritage of their society as well as how these conceptions can be utilised in their process of solving problems. In the paper, Abu-Ghazzeh’s (1997) argues that in the modern architectural perspective of Saudi Arabia, there exists a predicament of dichotomisation of cultural awareness that results from the disconnection of the privileged business community from their cultural roots. Abu-Ghazzeh (1997) opines that the business elite have the tendency to express their ideas in the built environment using images of “progress” that are taken up from foreign, mostly Western countries. As well, according to Abu-Ghazzeh (1997), the people in the middle class also desire to construct buildings that resemble those built by the privileged business people. Consequently, as indicated by Abu-Ghazzeh (1997), the built heritage in Saudi Arabia is associated with the past and considered to be outdated. The traditional built environment in Saudi Arabia is also linked with poverty. On the contrary, the contemporary buildings that are coming up fail to respect the socio-cultural norms that have been passed from one generation to another in Saudi Arabia’s largely Islamic society (Abu-Ghazzeh 1997). There is no doubt the arguments made by Abu-Ghazzeh (1997) can be used to explain why the historical buildings that reflect vernacular architecture in Saudi Arabia and the city of Jeddah in particular are rapidly being replaced by contemporary skyscrapers. My project aims to counter this trajectory by developing a compromise design that would keep the Saudi Arabian heritage in a contemporary style that could attract sponsors. The aim of the art museum project is to provide a balance between heritage and modernity in the same building. Section 3: The relationship between the various modules that I have undertaken in my MA programme and the experiences that I have had as an interior designer and interior design tutor has created an insight of what I intend to do in my career in the future. The MA course and in particular the research project has acted as a stepping stone to my future plans. In the future, I would like to advance my skills in order to increase the knowledge that I impart in students, help my clients better, and increase my earnings through job promotions and my undertakings in entrepreneurial ventures. In the future, I also intend to start a consultancy firm to help investors in Saudi Arabia to value aspects of vernacular architecture even as they construct contemporary buildings in the country. More importantly, my research project has opened an opportunity for me to conduct further research in the same field by enrolling for a doctorate (PhD) programme. Again, this will help in increasing the knowledge and skills that I have acquired in the field of interior design. During my MA course, I have had an opportunity to do various courses and to travel across many countries. Course modules such as Module 1 enabled me to learn how to review literature during a research project and how to find gaps in literature so as to find an area of study. Module 2 of the course enabled me to learn how the methodology that can be used for carrying out different types of research. I must say that these components of the coursework have expanded my view of various phenomena in the fields of interior design and architecture. For instance, I have realised that it is only by doing research that one can understand how and why the built environment in Saudi Arabia and many Arab countries has changed from vernacular architecture to contemporary buildings that do not reflect Arab culture. Without reading widely, I would not have seen the need to come up with a design that reflects both vernacular and contemporary aspects of architecture in Jeddah. The skills that I have gained in the course of dong my master’s project will help a great deal when it comes to doing my PhD programme, which is largely research-oriented. The various tasks that I have undertaken as part of the master’s course have also shaped my school of thought in regard to how I view the past, the present and the future. For instance, before I enrolled for the master’s programme, I was one of the people who held the view that all old buildings in Saudi Arabia need to be demolished and replaced with modern skyscrapers. I believed that old buildings were an embodiment of backwardness and that the new tall and shiny buildings that are coming up symbolised modernity. That was before I travelled to London and realised that old buildings such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery are highly cherished. It is then that I realised that even as cities modernise, they need to keep aspects of their history by having buildings that exhibit their vernacular architecture. Since the master’s course has necessitated me to read widely, I have read many materials such as the articles written by Abu-Ghazzeh (1997), Al-Naim (2008), Tipnis (2012), Almatawa, Elmualim and Essah (2013), Al-Qawasmi (2014), and Alaidarous (2015). One theme that appears to be common in all these sources is that features of traditional architecture are being lost as contemporary buildings are built in Saudi Arabia. According to Almatawa, Elmualim and Essah (2013), vernacular architecture advocates the use of local resources to meet local needs while at the same time reflecting the cultural, historical, and environmental consideration. Based on the reviews of literature, it is apparent that the rush to adopt ‘modernity’ is causing many people to come up with building designs that do not take vernacular designs into consideration. For instance, Alaidarous (2015, p. 17) has noted that Saudi Arabia‘s conventional architecture seems to be vanishing from the practices adopted currently in residential construction because of the adoption of building techniques and materials that are based on practices of industrialised nations. What this implies is that if the trend continues, Saudi Arabia will have modern building that will not have any features of the kingdom’s history and culture. The master’s course that I have undertaken and my research project have put me on the right course to solve current and future problems in interior design and architecture in Jeddah and Saudi Arabia at large. Notably, it has been argued that future planners and architects need to keep their mind on the historical heritage so as to develop knowledge and principles that will aid in crafting an integration between the traditional and the modern (Alaidarous 2015, p. 17). However, according to Al-Qawasmi (2014, p. 233), the literature that is currently available shows a lack of research that touches on contemporary vernacular and its connection with vernacular traditions as well as formal or modern architecture. My current research project, which will be further advanced when I undertake my PhD programme, will undoubtedly help in addressing the identified gap in knowledge. Through the knowledge that I have gained and that which I will acquire in future, I tend to become a resource person when it comes to preserving the traditional aspects of Saudi Arabian culture and the values of such cities as Jeddah. By continuing to disseminate knowledge in interior design through my tutoring career, I hope to help my students to appreciate the traditional aspects of Saudi Arabian culture and to embrace them in their future building careers. I also hope to open a consultancy firm whose objective will be to provide clients with designs that reflect contemporary and traditional Saudi Arabian architectural concepts such as the model that I have come up with in my master’s research project. This will ensure that the Saudi Arabian society embraces modernity while also preserving traditional concepts and identity for the future generations to see. References Abu-Ghazzeh, TM 1997, ‘Vernacular architecture education in the Islamic society of Saudi Arabia: Towards the development of an authentic contemporary built environment’, Habitat International, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 229–253 Alaidarous, AA 2015, ‘The documentation and analysis of the earthen architecture in Saudi Arabia’, in C Mileto, F Vegas, L Garcia & V Cristini (eds), in Earthen architecture: past, present and future, Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 17-24. Almatawa, MS, Elmualim, AA & Essah, EA 2013, ‘Passive and active hybrid approach to building design in Saudi Arabia’, in CA Brebbia (ed), Eco-architecture IV: harmonisation between architecture and nature, WIT Press, Southampton, pp. 163-174. Al-Naim, MA 2008, ‘Riyadh: a city of ‘institutional architecture’, in Y Elsheshtawy (eds), The evolving Arab city: tradition, modernity and urban development, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Routledge, pp. 118-152. 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