Communication with Architectural Heritage in a Contemporary Style in the Islamic Region of Saudi Arabia

Year 2020, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 161 - 183, 30.07.2020

Mahmoud Mohamed

Abstract

Communication with the architectural heritage in the Islamic world at present is mostly limited to be inspired only by the formal or decorative aspects, without identifying the conditions and references that formulated their current forms. The study aims to present a new concept for communicating with the architectural heritage in a contemporary style and employing it as an effective tool in architectural development and creativity. The content of seventeen publications related to heritage values and its visual characteristics that can be revived has been selected and analyzed. This was important to develop solutions of employing these heritage characteristics the contemporary local architecture in Al Baha heritage villages in Saudi Arabia as a heritage model in the Islamic region that served as a case study for this article. In the end it was concluded that the works of the past were not a simply tradition nor randomly occurred but rather were original creative works that have their reasons and came as a natural process in following the developments and requirements that were introduced in the particular era. The research also concluded that the development of the architectural heritage requires renewable continuity that comes to preserve the cultural constants and to employ the heritage in contemporary architecture. Understand also its characteristics and develop it in a way that suits the Contemporary requirements.

Keywords

architectural heritage, decorative aspects, solutions of employing, cultural constants, contemporary architecture

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