modernist architecture was based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel and reinforced concrete and emphasized on the idea of functionalism. I have always had a deep connection for modern architecture and appreciated innovative ideas and minimal approaches to ornamentation although the modern architecture movement never formed or was known about due to the Middle East being very technologically behind at time and countries still forming. By the time modern architecture became a trend in the Middle East architects would copy existing modern architecture styles and therefore the Middle East had no identity in modern architecture because it tried so hard to replicate what has already been created in the west.
This essay is an attempt to find architecture in the Middle East that incapsulated all the elements of modernism and also conforms to the stylistic and geometric elements of middle eastern/Islamic architecture. Furthermore, I will do study cases on architecture that I believe encapsulates reflect these both of these trends. In my analysis I will also keep in mind how the architecture puts function as a priority and if architecture can still have the stylistic elements of middle eastern architecture without the use of ornamentation.
I will try to be aware and include architecture from the many different climates and make sure I have a good representation of the different cultures of the Middle East. The case studies that I will choose must show strategies and must respond to either the physical environment in the Arab world or the many different segregated social climates that have existed in the Middle East for centuries. One must also consider that all of the modern architecture generated elsewhere meant that modernization came in finished form and there was no need for personalization. An example of that is how there are almost two of each space(e.g women’s and men’s living room$ in each building because of the gender segregation that exists between the sexes. Another thing that always existed in traditional Muslim households was that the house and the mosque would always be an extension of each other whereas modernity changed the way those two spaces were separated and treats a mosque as if it was a different space.
It is with restrictions and existing stylistic features like these that exist in the Arab world is where I start to question if there is an example of modern Arab architecture and what is a good example that encapsulates the culture, native design and stay in the world of modernism.
