The JAE Best Article Award is given annually for the most outstanding article published in the Journal of Architectural Education during the preceding academic year. Further information on the award can be found at the following website: www.acsa-arch.org.

The article can be found in the following issue:
The Ambiguous Veil: On Transparency, Mashrabiyas and Architecture. Journal of Architectural Education. 56:4, 17-25.

Abstract of the Article: Transparency without a glazed medium can be found in the Middle Eastern device of the mashrabiyya. Promoted by Orientalism as a typical Eastern motif, it has slowly become a mark of subjugation and confinement. The logic of the mashrabiyya permits other interpretations, however. By trying to etymologically and historically link it to weaving and holiness, to the veil and its uplifting, to the gaze and its subtleties, an attempt is made here to liberate this device from excessive interpretations and to present it as an architectural motif which involves a motivated perception of different spatial locations, a viewpoint, a stand and an intention. Thus, the mashrabiyya becomes closely linked to phenomenological transparency.

Contributed by Yasser Elsheshtawy