architecture essay
Dora_Chen
Islamic Architecture Day 2
Wednesday is Movie Day: please watch the “City of Mud”
Aerial view, Great Mosque of Cordoba, begun, 785 by Abd al-Rahman I
Plan with enlargements, third enlargement, al- Hakam II
Ceiling of the Great Mosque: note the Ablaq
Dome over bay in front of the mihrab: added 965 during reign of al-Hakan II
Arches of the Maqsura, Cordoba
First Drawing: Dome above the
Maqsura
Great Mosque at Djenné, Mali, 1906-7
Djenne mosque, Djenne, Mali, (current structure built in 1907)
Map of Mali
Ancient site of Jenne-Jeno
Map of Djenne (contemporary period)
Aerial view of Djenne during the dry season, surrounded by a flood plain
Djenne mosque, Djenne, Mali, (current structure built in 1907) Djinguerber mosque, Timbuktu, Mali, 1327
Tomb of Askia Muhammad, Gao, Mali, 15th century
Postcard of a Djenne house, Edmond Fortier, 1906
Standard potige (house façade)
Ostrich egg placed at the top of a roof pinnacle
Earthen pillars at the entrance to a Tallensi compound, northern
Ghana, 1965
Altars to male and female powers, Dissankoy, Ivory Coast,
mid 20th century
Mansa (king) Kanku Musa, a celebrated 14th-century Malian ruler who converted to Islam and undertook one of the first royal pilgrimmages to Mecca
Great Mosque at Djenne and model of earlier version
Great Mosque, Djenne, Mali, reconstructed in 1907, north face, qibla wall
Plan and Aerial View
Djenne Mosque, roof with ventilation
Northern face, Djenne mosque, Djenne, Mali, c. 1907 Antelope mask, Dogon people, Mali
N’tomo mask, Bamana peoples, MaliNorthern face, Djenne mosque, Djenne, Mali
Interior views
(top) Mason repairing a pinnacle (right) Community masons replastering the
Great Mosque (bottom) mud bricks drying in the sun
Annual re-plastering of the Great
Mosque
Earth As Building Material ‘Like Mother Earth in other cultures, it is the source of well-being, of prosperity, of fertility and the continuity of life. It is the abode of the ancestors and the past, which validate the existence of the present and the anticipation of the future. Thus, all things formed and shaped by the earth carry, inherent in them, an expressive quality and a symbolic message.’ (Labelle Prussin)
Site plan, Taj Mahal
Tomb of devotion or a symbol of absolute power, mirroring God’s beauty?
Entrance Gate, Taj Mahal Architects: Ahmad Lahawari, ‘Abd al- Karim Ma’mur Khan and Makramat Khan, Agra, India, 1631-47
Second Drawing: “If there is a Paradise on earth, It is Here, it is Here, it is Here!”
Nominally built to honor late wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal
Taj Mahal
• Calligraphy on entrance gate, calligrapher, Amanat Khan Shirazi
Central arch, upper portion
Detail of tomb platform
Tombs in the Taj Mahal, of Mumtaz-Mahal and Shah- Jahan
Women’s spaces in Mosques
Traditional domestic
Islamic architecture
Semi-public spaces for
men
Traditional Domestic architecture in Saudi Arabia
“All the women and children’s quarters, including family room and kitchen, are private. The deeper into the house, or the higher up, the more private spaces become.” (Ragette, p. 77)
end
“As the veil itself hides the bearer but hardly restricts her vision, pains are taken to provide for the women’s participation by seeing and hearing through screens.”(Friedrich Ragette p. 76)