Do you think that there is a strong relation between culture and architecture. In other words; does the change in culture and knowledge affect the way people react with the built enviroment (especially if it is a historical place ie. Darb el Ahmar)
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Dear Mai Amin,
Yes, indeed. Architecture is an expression of culture. While knowledge of science and technology provides us with know-how to select materials and choose construction techniques, culture provides us the guidance of what we should aim at and how to achieve the aim.
It tells us what to do and what not to do. It guides us how to and why to do. It informs us where to do and when to do! It tells us what we are! Culture in its broadest sense incorporates the essence of all aspects of human endeavour. The awareness, wisdom and knowledge in various fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, environmental sciences, habitat studies,architecture, engineering, law, politics etc. are synthesised in a way of life that is reflected in culture.
In this way it is culture that shapes architecture. During different periods of evolution architecture has recorded the impact and influences of culture of its time and place and thus architecture provides us a great source of reference to the culture of different societies and nations.
While most people agree with the idea of a strong relationship between culture and architecture, there are some who do not believe in this premise. They proclaim that architecture has nothing to do with culture! They consider themselves as liberators of sorts! They think they are breaking free from the shackles of culture (of the by-gone era), but aren't they unwittingly contributing to and promoting a different kind of culture (of the present times or near future)?
As long as human architecture remains an activity of human beings, it can not but be influenced by culture of human socieites. Culture is ever evolving and in the process it provides inspiration to architecture to evolve to its higher creative expression and synthesis.
with best wishes,
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Dear Mai
Hi there,
Well " ture
" is the relation :-)
Let's talk seriously, of course
there's a direct relationship between culture and architecture, and I may say -
from my point of view - that architecture is the container in which the
different environmental aspects (physically, culturally...etc) reacts together
to give us the physical product which's the building/complex.... or that what
should be.
In other words, the Cultural Input -
if this term is right - differs from the well developed countries, passing by
the developed countries reaching to the poor countries and even the primitive
ones (like The Bedouins, The Gipsy), thus the output - architecture - differs,
that's on the major scale (global/international).
On the minor scale (local), the
cultural input also differs, from city to country, and inside each one, you can
find also sub-divisions for the culture - again if this term is right - which I
mean for a district for example, so maybe that's why people reacts differently
from one place to another.
So the goal of
Architecture/Urbanization is to find the way to understand what people wants,
and to fulfill this by us - architects/planners - in the final end-user product,
which is the building/complex.
[ Government/Local Authority,
Architect/Planner & People ] are the main members in the chain of this process,
so there must be a medium in which People can translate their
thoughts/hopes/needs to both the other members, and I think this medium is the
NGO's which makes the important Socio-Cultural studies to understand what people
wants, and transfer it to us.
You might ask HOW?
Well I think that this cooperation
between NGO's & architects/planners can takes place through establishing what's
called " Community Meetings / Workshops " in which representatives from People,
architect/planner & NGO's meets at 1st to understand what people wants and make
regular sessions of feedback to reach the final design/upgrade plan.
Establishing minor social activity
projects to upgrade the people - specially while upgrading the historic area of
a city - is very important, as it's not only a matter of
conservation/restoration of a building or place.
Also the Local Authority must takes
place in those kind of meetings, but in a way that could make no conflict
between the members, as Local Authority has the legal/economic power, and as we
all know, the trust is semi-missed or semi-absent in the developing countries.
In addition, it's good for the architect/planner to fund some kind of " external
fund ", which help the Local Authority to contribute better, as they pay less,
and also people.
Finally,
There's an important thing I must
make it clear: People are not always stupid, and we - architects/planners - are
not always the brilliant.
Related ArchNet Discussions
Wishing you all the best
Salam
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Alsalam alekom:
Well, actually I found this discussion very interesting and important, as recently there were many debates about the contextual architecture and how the context and culture play an important role in architecture and shaping the built environment. Sure, Mai there is a very strong relation between culture and architecture, but what I want to ask is do you mean by culture the culture of the architect or the place or people he is working for? Because really I think both are very important and affects the architecture ,as you see nowadays many countries like Saudi Arabia for example are hiring many foreign architects to design important buildings for them, those architects may differ in culture; context than people for whom they are designing, but they could not simply neglect the culture of the country and the people their depending only on their own culture, but they introduced their new thoughts or their culture to those people.
Infact I agree with Hisham alot about how culture input differs and that this is very related to architecture, I agree with him also about the importance of upgrading the people while working in historical areas, I can see how important is this as I am making my graduation project of Fatimid Cairo and I have touched the need for people their for upgrading programms, really one can be astonished Mai if you visit like these areas and you will see by your self how people differ in culture and even that the obviouse cultural value of such places doesnt felt by those who even live there not away, and how the "cultural input" as a reason of lacking the sense of these values is very clear.
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Well,
I mean the relation between the people living in historical places like el Darb el Asfar and the ancient buildings.The way they treat those buildings, they don't care about them. What could really make them care? What could make them participate in the upgrading process. Is it all economical or is it cultural problems that they have. Please share your opinion.
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There is a book entitled "House form and culture",by Thomas Repoport. May be it can be of some interest for you.
Regards
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Dear Mai,
My reflection to the statement is yes and no. It's relation [architecture] to culture truly depends on how a certain culture is being practiced or executed in the community. In other words, it all boils down to how you perceive 'culture' itself. It depends on the epistimological stand and the system of belief that is practiced by certain community/ groups. It If you look closely into the sociological theory, there are three different ways in looking at culture:
1. Social consensus theory
This is the theory where culture is seen as the determinant of how we react in a group. The champion of this theory is Emile Durkheim
2. Social Conflict Theory
This is based on the theory of inequality. Culture is perceived to be created by the elites as a way to dominate others. Check the writings by Karl Marx on this.
and finally
3. Action theory
This is where culture is determined by the individual nad not the massses. Refer to the writings of Marx Weber for further elaboration of this theory.
I feel that the statement [ recap: culture and knowledge affect the way people react with the built environment] will be true if architecture is refered to the first and second theory of sociology but not with the third.
This is an interesting topic and I wish that we could further this discussion in the nearest future. I hope that this statement will open up new avanues in the discussion.
Good luck
Azlaini Abdul Aziz
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I think that there is a strong relation between architecture and culture,and naturally the environment and climatology.It is one of the subjects on my site about a small oasis in the south of Oran in Algeria : the Ksar of BOUSSEMGHOUN,see pictures of architecture of the ksar and its restoration at this url :http://membres.lycos.fr/samghun/architecture/index.htm
Thank you for visiting it.
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see the relation between culture and architecture of the ksar of Boussemghoun at this url :
http://membres.lycos.fr/samghun/architecture/index.htm
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"Do you think that there is a strong relation between culture and architecture...
In other words; Does the change in culture and knowledge affect the way peolple react with...".
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I hope you don't get offended by what I am about to say:
The creator put us on this plain for one purpose and we all know that.and that is to "WORSHIP HIM ".So, we should'nt get too cary-away with this relationship between culture and architecture. Just a reminder, when you live in Roman's world,you have to follow their rules.And when you live in the world of the CREATOR, you must follow his rules.
"""Ahmad M.
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Dear Ahmed,
I hope that you are not confusing why we were created with why we were sent to earth.
However i think the question was restated as how to make people act toward their historic enviroment.
these are the key words for it. social development, social regeneration, and emplanting social awareness of the heritage. You can write papers, as a lot of people did, about each of these subjects.
Understanding the society living in such an area is always the start of development and generation of this area.
I hope that i shed some light on the subject mai and feel free to write about any specifics you would like to add.
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Thanx Ahmed for your help.. You made my point clear.
All what I need is all the opinions concerning How people think?? How their education and culture affect the way they act towards historical buildings.. Like in Down Town (cairo) for example; peolple paint their buildings (which is considered heritage) with awful colours which affect the value of those buildings...
On the other hand in Paris for example you can see that the whole downtown district is like a photo of homogenius buildings that attracts your eye with their classic features and colours..
Cairo downtown district was meant to be Paris in the Middle East.. What happened?? Was it the people?? Was it the law?? Education, Culture,... What?
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Dear Mai,
Hello again.
Well, Ahmed Muhammad is right to
somehow as many architects are just looking for their own worship because if an
architect find himself in a society that encourage this attitude by focusing on
self benefit at the 1st place for example, regarding many other factors.
But - as Ahmed Sabry said - this
doesn't mean its right because the other factors ( environmental - social -
cultural - economical Â…etc ) must be taken in consideration in every project
either it's in a historic place or any other regular place, and to make this
point in the mind of every architect/planner.
I think that the best way is to start
from the design studio: I mean when students - like me - understand that having
a degree in our career is not only to have a $uitable income/money i$$ue, but
also to improve - as much as we can - how we live in the built environment, and
this is a big issue as it deals with how the whole community acts and thinks.
About the case of Downtown it is much
related to the economical/financial factors - like Land Use price - comes in the
1st place, because the Cairo's downtown is categorized under what's called
City
Business District ( CBD ) which means it's the core/hub for many financial
activities and thus you'll find the people who are reacting with the built
environment there have their own influence on it according to their cultural
background, educationÂ….etc.
But this doesn't mean I agree with
what happening there, because Downtown is a very rich & valuable
architectural/urban heritage, not only the Historic Cairo ( the old Cairo city )
which manly deals with the Islamic period.
In very few words, after the French
Campaign ( 1798-1801 ) and the renaissance of Modern Egypt started by Mohammed Aly ( 1801-1842 ) we can see that the influence of European architects began to
appear during the decade ( 1850-1950 ), or what's called Khedivial Cairo and
thus we see Khedive Ismail had decided to upgrade Cairo and make it suitable for
the ceremony celebrating the opening of Suez canal, so he had an ambitious
upgrading plan to make it like Paris - due to his European education - so he
used to hire Haussman - the famous French Architect - to plan this area.
So that this decade had the most
European influence of Architecture/Urbanism of Modern Cairo through the work of
many European and Egyptian architects, and an example for this: the work of (
Alexander Marcel & Ernest Jaspar ) in construction of Heliopolis suburb between
( 1904-1914 ).
Finally, I'd highlight on
al-Azhar
Urban Park, a project of Aga Khan Trust for Culture ( AKTC ) via the
Historic
Cairo Support Programme ( HCSP ). This project is a good example not only
because it'll add a 30 hectare of green area and facilities adjacent to the hub
of historic Cairo - darb al-Ahmar district - but also for the contribution
between People, Authority, NGOs and the built environment ( urban - environment
- social - cultural - economic - heritage ) while dealing with upgrading the
historic area of a city.
Related
Websites
Wishing you all the best,
Good Luck,
Salam.
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Brother Ahmed Sabry:Asalamu Alaikum!.You said:
"I hope that you are not confusing why we were created with why we were sent to earth.
However i think the question was restated as how to make people act toward their historic enviroment.
these are the key words for it. social development, social regeneration, and emplanting social awareness of the heritage".
o.k!,let me ask you this:Do you know the difference between "Human" and Human-being"?.If you have the strength to say positively-yes!,Sub-hana-Allah.If you should say-no!,then masha-Allah.
Ma salam.
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hi all;
i think that thre is a strong relation ship between architecture and the culture but u have to understand the culture first u just can't take historic elements of building and put them in anyway in your design saying that you have reached a point in which you kept your culture you have to understand why these element were put in the first place considering the ways of construction and the need in that time...so you have to study the culture first and try to understand theneeds of the people you are designing to because people will surely reject anything thats totally wierda and the thing that they don't understand
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