/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-UAE: Architecture Blends Tradition and Modern Conveniences

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Meena Janardhan

DUBAI, Dec 18 2001 (IPS) - A 20-year passion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to preserve its impressive old buildings has provided cities here with a face that is a harmonious blend of its traditional and modern architecture.

Take Dubai for instance. The oldest surviving structure in this city of new buildings which ape western highrises with steel panelling and glass fronts, is the splendid Al Fahidi Fort built in 1799 – a perfectexample of the determination of UAE authorities to keep alive old architectural monuments.

“Preservation of the architectural heritage in the UAE was first undertaken in 1971,” says Rashad Mohammed Bukhash, head of theHistorical Building Section, which was set up in 1984.

“Our first target was to restore the Al Fahidi Fort till 2001. We have completed restoration work on 72 buildings in Dubai. We plan to finish 120 more buildings by 2008,” he added.

But this quest has led to an architectural spin-off — contemporary architects drawing from the aesthetic spirit of the older buildings when designing the homes sprouting across the emirates today.

Most of the buildings have been influenced by Islamic architecture, says Bukhash. “(The) traditional courtyard houses are an aspect ofIslamic architecture and are well suited to the local climate.”

“These designs, made from locally available construction material, are now coming back as I see residents nowadays preferring to build houses that follow the pattern of olden days. The construction materials are new, but the style is traditional,” he explains.

The UAE’s traditional architectural style was dominated by three characteristics. First, as in most Islamic cities, buildings were constructed close to each other, creating narrow alleys, running north to south and ending at a creek. Hence people could escape from the sun and enjoy the prevailing north winds, the velocity of which increased due to the narrowness of the alleys.

Second was the courtyard house where most of the rooms face inward, with covered verandas that overlooked the courtyard. The courtyard generated wind movements by allowing hot air to rise and be replaced by cooler air from the surrounding rooms.

Finally, there were the wind towers – a unique and elegant style. These towers acted as conduits for trapped air to be directed to the rooms beneath. Usually bed and seating areas were situated directly under the wind tower for the cool air that came through.

Currently, the rise of new houses shaped by ideas of the past across the suburbs in the Emirates stand as a stark contrast to the modern, multi-storey buildings that dominate the city skylines.

Most of these houses are coming up in suburbs like Al Riqqa and Al Mamzar, and in places like Hatta. They are now going back to the courtyard and wind tower styles, though not in the same degree as in the past.

The trend is to build sprawling independent villas that shy away from the box apartments of high-rises, with overhanging balconies with trellis railings and covered passages. But the shift from stark modern concrete and glass buildings is obvious.

Mustafa Al Habibi, a local from Dubai, stays in one of the innumerable highrises that dot the Dubai skyline, but is modelling the house that he is building on past designs.

He says: “Modern lifestyle is all fine, it’s stylish and utilitarian. But the more elaborate construction styles of the past have lasting grandeur. All one needs to do is to merge this elegance with utility.

And that is what I aim to do in my house — equip it with all the modern amenities, use innovative construction materials, and yet design it like my forefathers did so that I can be proud that I am sustaining the traditions that

they handed down to me.”

But in some of the rarely visited UAE villages, the old aesthetic spirit — wind towers and shaded passages — has prevailed over time, where the stark landscapes are dotted with typical stone houses and small cattle sheds and where camels, cows and sheep graze on scrubs nearby.

“It’s true that the cities offer better lifestyles with modern conveniences. But this is where our forefathers lived and we would like to continue that tradition,” says Fatima Saleh, who runs her farm in the suburb of Al Mizhar on the outskirts of Dubai.

“We grew up here among this peace and calm and we don’t think we can leave it behind.”

Mohammed Al Saleh, a UAE national and a resident of Sharjah, loves wandering around the heritage areas of the emirate, glancing around in wonder at the graceful and, at the same time, utilitarian constructions of the earlier generations.

“It is indeed a credit to our forefathers that they conceived such beautiful designs that suited the climatic conditions here so wonderfully,” he says.

“I wonder if we realise the importance of preserving and continuing these traditions. I am sure that if they are combined with modern technologies, we could come up with ideas that would be new and cost-effective styles that would conserve our heritage at the same time.”

Visit the Dubai museum and you realise that this blend of the old and the new is being encouraged in a country that can trace its history back to the second millennium B.C.

Located in the restored Al Fahaidi Fort, the museum seeks to preserve for all time the conventional and time-honoured lifestyles of the past, which determined the architectural styles then.

The very fact that it is located in the restored fort speaks of its mission. For it seeks to remind the modern day generation of the past traditions and their relevance to the region.

As one walks through the rooms, one gets to see how the traditional houses looked like from inside, with the traditional wind tower and the wooden water tanks.

One comes across a traditional café in a little lane that is lined with shops as it used to be in the past before the supermarkets took over.

The museum keeps alive thru its displays the harshness of the desert and the measures that were adopted for survival, the passion for falconry that remains unchanged till today, and the archeological discoveries that date back to the second millennium B.C.