an introduction to islamic architecture and its influence on the west

An introduction to

Islamic Architecture and its influence on

the West.

As the European civilization grew and reached the Middle Ages, there was hardly a field of learning or form of art, be it science, literature or architecture, where there was not some influence of Islamic culture present.

Islamic learning became in this way part and parcel of Western civilization well into the advent of the Renaissance (where exchanges continued to be based on mutual intellectual respect despite historic differences), and on to the modern era.

This presentation provides a short account of the features that characterize what is referred to as Islamic architecture, and recalls some of the threads and common elements that bind it to historic and contemporary western architecture.

Islamic Culture: Diversity in Unity

Islamic culture reached out and

intermingled with large numbers of varied and distant peoples. In the course of 12 centuries, the cultures of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia were added to the Islam’s original areas of influence in the Middle East, North Africa, Persia and Turkey.

The uniting of so many diverse cultures under one religion had the effect of integrating and disseminating the latest and best discoveries to all parts of the realm.

Paper making from China, numerals from India, classical Greek science and philosophy translations, Byzantine and Coptic traditions were all shared. In medicine the Muslims enhanced Greek theory by practical observation and clinical experience.

One of the major achievements of the Islamic civilization is its architecture.

Its great masterpieces (from the Dome on the Rock in Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal in India to the Mosque of Cordoba in Spain) unite intricate spatial relationships, artistic illustration, remarkable structural technology and sensitive environmental harmony into magnificent displays.

Dome on the Rock, Jerusalem

Taj Mahal, India

Mosque of Cordoba

Mosque of Cordoba, Spain

Islamic Architectural Style

Over the years, Islamic architecture evolved from the first mosque built by the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, and from other pre-Islamic features adapted from churches, temples and synagogues into a highly refined and distinctive style.

The fundamental vocabulary of Islamic architecture was worked out relatively quickly during the first two centuries of the new faith, that is the 7th and 8th centuries.

It proved flexible enough to meet all the needs of Muslim life. Mosques, schools, markets, mausoleums, houses and public baths were built with a beautiful unified design system, embracing regional disparities and inventiveness.

The prime architectural elements that define Islamic style are:

Courtyard Minaret Dome Mihrab Iwan Arches and Vaults Geometric decorative patterns and

calligraphy

Islamic architectural elements in a typical mosque. Source: Encarta

the

Courtyard

Most mosques contain a courtyard (originally a feature of the Prophet's mosque) with a central fountain or pool, surrounded on all sides by an arcade.

A courtyard (sahn) in a mosque is used for performing ablutions, praying, meditation and socializing.

Grand Mosque, Aleppo Syria

An interior courtyard in a traditional house, on the other hand, is used for aesthetics and privacy.

It performs an important function as a modifier of climate in hot arid areas.

It allows outdoor activities with protection from the wind, dust and sun.

Interior courtyards serve both as light wells, in a building with limited exterior window openings, and as air wells into which the cool dense night air sinks.

During the day, the heated air rises, convection currents set up an airflow that, in conjunction with a fountain and pool, ventilates the house and keeps it cool.

Painting by: Filippo Baratti, 1872

the Minaret

Unique to Islamic architecture are the minarets. Their dual functions are to act as a landmark for mosque location; and to enable the call to prayer to be chanted high above the community for the faithful to hear.

Source: “Islam Art and Architecture”

Samarra Yemen Syria Seville Ottoman Taj Mahal

Source: “Islam Art and Architecture”

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Masjid El-Nabawi. Medina, Saudi Arabia

the Dome

Domes, a dominant feature, may

have been a development of early Christian sources.

The earliest Islamic use of the dome was in the eighth century mosque of Medina.

Some mosques will have multiple, often smaller domes in addition to the main large dome that resides at the central praying area

18th century panel representing the mosque of Medina in

Saudi Arabia.

Khoja Ahmad Yasawi Mausoleum,

Turkistan 14th century

Photo: “Islam, Art and Architecture”

Sultan Mosque, Singapore, 1826

bearing multiple domes

the Mihrab

The most important element in any mosque is the mihrab, the niche that indicates the direction of Mecca. Because it functions as the focal point in prayer ritual, its decoration was executed with great skill and devotion

Mihrab in the tomb of Sultan Iltutmish, Delhi, 1236

Mihrab, 14th century Isfahan, Iran

the Iwan

An Iwan is a vaulted hall or space, used to intermediate between different sections.

There are usually four around the courtyard.

Sultan Hassan mosque, Egypt

Arches and Vaults

To the early architects of the mosque we may attribute the development of the horseshoe and pointed arch and brick vaulted arcades

Gardens

The Muslims developed the concept of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation, harmoniously integrated with the building layout.

Islamic gardens were typically designed as a sort of escape or peaceful seclusion from the outside world.

Alhambra Gardens, 12 Century

Golestan Palace garden , Tehran, Iran, 16th century

Ornamentation

The brilliant use of

decorative schemes, geometric shapes and repetitive patterns are a hallmark of Islamic architecture .

Tiles. Iran, 14th century.State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Herat Mosque in Afghanistan

Photo: “Architecture of the Islamic World”

Madar-i-Shah, Isfahan, Iran, 18th century

Photo: “Architecture De L’Islam”

Plaster, brickwork, glazed brick and tile were used as decorative media .

Dome on the Rock, Jerusalem

Photo: “Architecture De L’Islam”

Stalactites (Muqarnas) Vast numbers of small

squinches were used as a decorative motif , built in overlapping layers creating a magical cave of satellites.

They were first used to cover pendentives , spherical triangles which act as a transition between a circular dome and a square or polygonal hall on which the dome is set.

Photo: “Architecture De L’Islam”

Stalactites were later employed as a decorative features in door heads, columns capitals and on walls.

Painting by M.

Rifaat, 2006

The use of Ornamental Arabic Calligraphy

Because the Muslim faith discourages pictorial representation, the extensive use of calligraphy evolved into a highly sophisticated decorative medium. Its role in recording the word of God renders it one of the most important forms of Islamic art.

Like all Islamic decoration, calligraphy is closely linked to geometry. The proportions of the letters are all governed by mathematics. Inscriptions are most often used as a frame along and around main elements of a building like portals and cornices.

Friday Mosque, Isfahan, Iran

Many Islamic buildings have surface inscriptions in stone, stucco, marble, mosaic and/or painting. The inscription might be a verse from the Koran, lines of poetry, or names and dates.

Friday Mosque, Yazid, Iran

Islamic Architectural Style Transfer to the West

Many of the outstanding medieval buildings of the West are indebted to the techniques of Islamic architecture. In fact, it can be said that the great medieval European architectural tradition is one of the elements of Western civilization most directly linked to the Islamic world.

Bargello Musium, Florence, 13th century

The Role of Spain

From its power house in Mecca, Islam flashed through North Africa and brought to Spain in the 8th century the architectural heritage of the Middle East.

It was energetically superimposed on the dormant Roman-Romanesque traditions of the time, culminating in highly imaginative and structurally ingenious design techniques; gradually making their way all across Europe.

Comparison of these two minarets reveals design features carried through over eight centuries, from the 8th century Great Mosque in Damascus (left) to the 16th century Aragon Cathedral in Spain

Horseshoe arcades dominate the 10th Great Mosque of Cordoba (left), and the 15th century Church of Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo.

Astonishing similarities between the stalactites ( Muquanas) and wall calligraphy on the walls of the 14th century Sultan Hassan Mausoleum in Cairo (left), and those of the 15th century Church of Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo

Great Mosque, Damascus, 8th century Royal Palace, Zisa, Palermo, 12th century

Basilica Nuestra Señora del Pilar, 17th century Sultan Hassan Mosque, 14th century

Zaragoza, Spain Cairo, Egypt

According to Thomas Goldstein (“The Dawn of Modern Science”), the cities of Spain were “urban, commercial, sophisticated, exotic, and cosmopolitan”.

They developed into great international centers of cultural advancement and enterprise, and served as models for the urbanization of Europe. Cities like Cordova, Seville, Toledo and Grenada became centers of knowledge dissemination for five centuries.

10th century Muslim Cordova was an immense city with over 1 million inhabitants, rivaling the splendours of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. With its paved streets, complete with street lighting, 70 public libraries, universities and public baths it was the most splendid city on the continent.

The significance of this in terms of human development is underscored by the fact at that period, major urban settlements in the rest of Europe were mere towns estimated to be of no more than 50,000 inhabitants.

Gardens

It was in Toledo in 11th century Muslim Spain, and later in Seville, that the first botanical gardens of Europe made their appearance. They were pleasure gardens as well as trial grounds for the acclimatization of plants brought from the Middle East.

Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip.

Today the consequences of the introduction of palace gardens, pools and fountains by the Arabs can be admired all over Europe .

The 18th century gardens of the Chateau de Versailles in France are magnificent examples.

Versailles gardens(18th century)

Taj Mahal gardens(17th century)

The perfectly regular series of geometrical compartments seen in Versailles (left) are reminiscent of typical Islamic garden designs

“The accuracy and geometric ingenuity of Islamic building became a permanent lesson to architects in the West”. (Bill Risebero ,“The Story of Western Architecture”)

Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Villa Farnese · Caprarola, England, 1930 Italy,

1560

Impact on Gothic architecture

Following the end of the Arab rule in Spain, the splendor of Islamic architectural lived on through its direct impact on Gothic architecture, and consequently onto the 18th century through links to Renaissance and Baroque styles.

Muslims played a foremost role in introducing the pointed arch, vaulting, multiple towers (or minarets), and other features so characteristic of Europe's Gothic cathedrals.

Joseph Watterson (“ Architecture-A Short History”) explains that it was in France, during the latter part of the 12th century, that the Gothic system of building was born. The pointed arch “was the first step in the development of the Gothic system. The pointed arch in itself was nothing new, for it has long been used in the East”.

Patrick Nuttgens (“The Story of Architecture”) goes further: “ Yet not one of the features by which we distinguish Gothic architecture was new – not the pointed arch or window, nor cross-vaulting, flying buttresses or twin towers on the façade”.

Mausoleum of Ibn Kalaoun, Cairo Rheims Cathedral, Paris

Pointed arches allowed for better distribution of vertical forces away from windows and doors. Walls could then be lighter and buildings could be built bigger, higher, and more complex.

According to Patrick Nuttgens (The Story of Architecture”)

the French called this new Gothic style “ le style ogival” (pointed or ribbed ) in recognition of the dept its shape owed to the East.

The French recognized further possibilities opened up by the pointed arch and vault, producing cathedrals of breathtaking beauty and proportions, emulated by the rest of Europe

Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral

Palma de Mallorca Cathedral, Spain

Mudéjar is the name given to the Muslims of Al-Andalus, who remained in Spain, but were not converted to Christianity. (It is a medieval Spanish corruption of the Arabic word Mudajjan مدجن )

Mudéjar also denotes a vernacular style (sometimes referred to as Mudéjar Gothic) which emerged in the 12th century on the Iberian peninsular.

Royal Residence built by Peter of Castile,

in Mudéjar tradition,14th century

Wikipedia describes Mudéjar style as “ a symbiosis of techniques and ways of understanding architecture resulting from Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures living side by side”

Mudéjar style developed complicated tiling patterns that have never been surpassed in sophistication. Even after the Muslims were no longer employed, many of their contributions remained an integral part of Spanish architecture.

Mudéjar brought in a new characteristic by leading to a fusion between the incipient Gothic style and the Muslim influences that had previously been superimposed on late Romanesque

Tower of the Santa María church in Calatayud, 15th century Spain

“Arab Norman Style” in Sicily

The early Medieval summer palace of Zisa, in Palermo, is a prime example of the continued European use of Muslim designers and builders after the end of Muslim rule in Spain.

Commissioned by the 12 century Norman rulers of Sicily, Zisa is in effect an Muslim building. It is designed by Muslim architects and built by Muslim craftsmen according to Muslim traditions.

Photographic collection of René Seindal and Valentina Derito

Other examples of Arab Norman Style in Sicily are San Cataldo Church and the Moreale Cathedral in Palermo.

The Palatina chapel, is a composition of Islamic splendour, adorned with glittering mosaics. The Arabian stalactite ceiling, (muqarnas), was created by Iraqi artists from Samara.

An interior courtyard in Arab Norman style, Palermo, Sicily

The Mudéjar tradition continued in some areas into the Renaissance period.

At Seville several Mudéjar palaces were still under construction in the 16th century.

The Casa de Pilatos, Seville, Spain. The 16th century building is a mixture of Italian Renaissance and Spanish Mudéjar.

Cross-cultural Exchange Through Trade

Islamic architectural influence grew at a rapid rate as the the empire expanded and Muslim traders found their way to the most remote areas of the then-known world, building a vast network of foreign trading stations and settlements.

Muslim Trading Routes. Source: “Islamic Art and Architecture”

Between the 5th and 9th centuries, the major building projects in western Europe were almost at a standstill.

Architectural development was left to Byzantium, which had benefited economically from its trading partnership with the Orient.

This situation changed as, in the 9th and 10th century, a number of merchant cities on the edge of western Europe forged strong links with their Islamic neighbours: Cairo, Damascus and Constantinople, trading both goods and ideas.

Such cities as Naples, Ravenna, Milan, Pisa, and above all, Venice worked their way to the economic and cultural forefront of Europe.

The Role of Venice

For almost 1000 years, Venice (the last stop on

the “silk road”) was the meeting place of Europe and the East. By the 16 century, Venice had become a supreme Mediterranean trading power.

Her prosperity and her identity derived from her role as mediator between Western Europe and the much richer civilizations of the Middle East, and her ability to exchange and assimilate goods and ideas from across the Mediterranean

Debra Howard (“Venice and the East”) explains that studies of east-west contacts in the Middle Ages have long recognized the seminal role of Spain in the channeling of Arab learning to Europe. In architectural terms, Spain reveals more overt Islamic influence, and has been proposed as a route for the import of Gothic characteristics into western Europe.

In comparison to Spain , Howard argues, “Venice was not subject to direct Muslim domination, rather, Venetian trading patterns reveal such profuse evidence of direct contact with the eastern Mediterranean and its people”, that it freely absorbed Muslim visual arts and intellectual culture directly.

Several Arab cities had a permanent Venetian diplomatic representative with regular access to local authorities. Ties between the Venetian nobility and merchant classes and their counterparts was particularly strong.

The longest reigning Doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari (r. 1423–57), was born in Egypt. (Department of Islamic Art,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The Reception of the Venetian Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511Musée du Louvre, Paris(Note: The Venetians are in black)

By the 15th century, Venice became Christian Europe's most important interface with the Muslim civilizations of the Middle East.

The Middle East came to influence the city’s artistic and artisan output so profoundly that even experts sometimes struggle to figure out whether works are Venetian or Oriental.

East-West hybrids of architectural styles flourished.

Mark, Venice’s patron saint, was from the Egyptian city of Alexandria, and her cultural and spiritual centre – the basilica of San Marco – was built in his honor

Piazza St. Marco, Venice. 18th Century Painting by Canaletto

Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice 12th Century

An architectural style described as a cross between late Gothic and Islamic prevails in these 15th century Venetian palaces.

Similarities between the courtyards of the 15th century Ca’ Goldoni, Venice (left) and Yasine House, Alleppo, Syria are obvious. Both open courtyards admit light to the heart of dwellings in dense urban settings, creating the family’s private refuge, a primary Islamic architectural tradition.

Photos : “Venice and the East”, Debra Howard

The papacy often sought to prohibit trade between the Christians of western Europe and the Muslims of the Middle East with trade embargos. But because their livelihood depended so much on east-west trade, Venetians fought to have such bans lifted and, on occasion, even defied the pope.

During the Crusades, the Venetians compromised their position with the papacy by acting opportunistically to maintain their good trade relations with the Muslim world. (“Venice and the Orient”, exhibition, L’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris February, 2007).

the Crusades

In 1095 Pope Urban II granted absolutions to whomever would reclaim the Holy Land for Christendom. With that assurance began two centuries of Crusades.

Of the numerous momentous consequences of the Crusades, one of the least acknowledged is their role in bringing back to Europe advanced Islamic knowledge.

Thousands of westerners were brought in direct contact with an advanced civilization.

As Bill Risebero (“ The Story of Western Architecture”) explains:

“Whether the Crusades had been initiated for political or for religious reasons, there is no doubt that the most significant gains to the West were economic and cultural”.

Captured Muslim craftsmen “brought their superior skills to Europe, looted artifacts provided patterns for westerner craftsmen to copy, and acquired books helped to spread Arabic ideas and knowledge.”

Building techniques found their way westwards, starting with castle building where Islamic ideas were adopted wholesale by the Crusaders as they built there own defenses, changing the pattern of western castle-building forever.

Krak de Chevalier.

A fortress in Syria (12 to 13th century), built by the crusaders using methods learned from Islamic military architecture.

Cross-cultural Exchange Through Scholars and Travelers

In addition to trade relationships, transfer of architectural concepts was supplemented by observations and drawings of the numerous western scholars, architects and travelers to North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Never was nostalgia for the past greater than in Northern Europe at the beginning of the 19th century as expanding industrialization was creating a bleak, inhumane environment.

The exotic past of the countries to the south and east of Europe became more widely known as descriptions of historic buildings were publishes by travelers, and miniature paintings from Persia and India found their way to the West.

A collection of drawings by 18th and 19th century travelers which helped revive western interest in Islamic architecture .

Scottish-born David Roberts is the most famous of the 19th century artists to travel to the Middle East. He brought back from his visits to Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land fabulous highly precise drawings of people and places he had seen.

Photos: Rita Bianucci “David Roberts, Egypt and the Holy Land”

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656 – 1723)

Austrian architect, sculptor, and historian Erlach’s publication “A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture” (Vienna, 1721) was one of the first and most popular European comparative studies of world architecture, with representations of Arab, Turkish and Persian architecture based on writings of travelers and archeologists.

Sultan Ahmad Mosque in Constantinople, as illustrated in “A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture”

The publication spurred the design of several structures in a quasi-Islamic manner, including Erlach’s own Karlskirche church in Vienna (1715).

Sir Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren, England’s celebrated 17th century architect, was a fan of Islamic architecture and an advocate of its effect on Gothic styles.

In his greatest project, St Paul's Cathedral , several Islamic elements may be detected, including the structureof the dome and aisles, and the

combination of dome and towers.

John Nash (1752-1835)

George IV commissioned architect John Nash to remodel an unfinished structure at the London Royal Pavilion. The design submitted was inspired by the Taj Mahal. It was built in the 19th Century as a seaside retreat for the then Prince Regent .

London Royal Pavilion, John Nash

Owen Jones ( 1809 – 1874) English designer,

architect, and writer, best known for his standard work treating both Eastern and Western design motifs

He travelled for four years in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Spain, making a special study of Alhambra.

Upon his return to England in 1836, he played a role in spreading interest in Islamic culture.

Christ Church, Streathem Hill.

Alexandra Palace was built in North London, England, in 1863 based on the drawings of Owen Jones

Jones was a strong advocate of ornamentation as an integral part of design.

The “Grammar of Ornament”, a book authored by him and first published in 1856 became an important tool of the period by introducing designers to decorative arts from cultures where Jones traveled: Chinese, Persian, Indian and most notably Islamic.

Illustration from “The Grammar of Ornament” (1856)

Owen Jones saw in Alhambra the perfect embodiment of the principles of decoration. He wrote of Alhambra in The Grammar of Ornament:

“not only does the decoration arise naturally from the construction, but the constructive idea is carried out in every detail of the ornament on the surface”.

Hall of Ambassadors, Alhambra,

Spain

Frank Furness ( 1839 – 1912)

Amongst American architects who were inspired by the publications of Owen Jones was Furness.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts ,1875

Gabriel Davioud (1823-1881)

Perhaps the most striking Islamic features resemblance in the Trocadéro Palace in Paris (1878) were the two square towers, said to be modeled after the minarets of North African mosques—with elaborately ornamented facades and domed pavilions.

.

Lord Leighton (1830-1896).

Leighton House Museum in London is the former studio-house of the Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton (designed by George Aitchison).

His appreciation of Islamic work is reflected in the “Arab

Hall”

Fredric Church (1826-1900) After touring Syria, Palestine

and Europe, American landscape painter Fredric Church (1826-1900) did a series of Mediterranean compositions that included scenes from Jerusalem and Petra.

Church returned from his trip with an enthusiasm for Islamic architecture, devoted most of his efforts to the design and construction of his estate at Greendale-on-Hudson, New York.

Along the way, peculiar hybrids appeared, such as the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art (1852, top) and its replacement, the Alhambra Palace Theater in Leicester Square, London

Modernist Architects Movement

Islamic influence died out for some decades until some of its features and concepts were brought back by the creative 20th century Modernist (Art Nouveau) architectural movement .

Las Ventas, Salamanca, Spain is a bullring designed by Espeliú (1931) in the so called “ Mudejar Revival” style

Antoni Gaudí (1852 –1926)

Gaudi the great Spanish architect of the Modernism movement, is famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs.

One of his very rare trips outside his native Barcelona was to Morocco. His profound interest in Mudéjar heritage governed the design of his early works, such as Casa Vincens and Astorga Palace

Gaudi’s first house, Casa Vincens (1878), was an expression of Art Nouveau.

He used a standard tile as a decorative feature and a module for the whole house. This technique, together with the rooftop tower, are common Islamic traits.

Gaudi’s Astorga Palace, 1887

Patrick Nuggens (“Understanding Modern Architecture) describes Gaudi’s work as “ architecture of sunlight, full of colour, based on Greek and Arab decorations, a product of Spain. Its shapes reflect nature; they also reveal his interest in mechanics and three dimensional geometry”

Casa Vincens, Barcelona

Johan van der Mey Johan was a leading

member of the modernist or expressionist architectural movement that developed in Northern Europe during the first decades of the 20th Century.

Expressionism is described as “drawing as much from Moorish, Islamic, Egyptian, and Indian art and architecture as from Roman or Greek” (Wikipedia)

Shipping House, Amsterdam, 1912

Hans Poelzig (1869 – 1936)

The Großes Schauspielhaus (Great Theater) Berlin, Germany, (1919) is another example of expressionist architecture.

. “The dome and pillars were decorated with muqaras, a honeycombed pendentive ornament, which resembled stalactites”. (Wikipedia)

Le Corbusier

The earlier work of Le Corbusier , the turn-of-the-century architect whose immense influence on global modern architecture is undeniable, displayed affinity in some of his early works with the Ottoman and North African vernacular he had studied . Postcard in the personal collection of

Le Corbusier, Fondation Le Corbusier,

Paris

A number of his early villas, such as Villa Schob were organized around a central courtyard, and characterized by simple spacing, massing, and blank street facades, a typical Islamic house arrangement.

Villa Schobe , 1916)

*"Re-visioning America and the 20th Century', published in "One Hundred Years of Architecture"

According to Zeynep Celik “the North African vernacular surfaced sporadically in Le Corbusier’s work – to name a few, in the Roq et Rob project ( 1949) and Maison Jaoul (1953)”* in France.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating of Zeynep Celik’s assertions is that one of Le Corbusier’s most famous buildings, the Notre-dame-Du-Haut church in Ronchamp (1954) “echoed the sculptural mass of Sidi Ibrahim Mosque” in Algeria

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959) Following his visit to

Baghdad, and his design of the master plan for Baghdad university, Wright, one of America’s greatest architects, designed the Civic Center in San Rafael, California in the late 50’s with an Islamic flavour.

Civic Center in San Rafael, California, Frank Lloyd Wright

Civic Center in San Rafael, California, Frank Lloyd Wright

Louis Sullivan (1856 – 1924)

Traces of Islamic character can be found in works of Louis Sullivan, one of the fathers of modernism inAmerica.

Guaranty Building, Buffalo, 1895

Carson, Pirie, Scott Building, Chicago, 1899

Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler's Transportation Building was one of the most memorable structures at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Sullivan draped his buildings with intricate system of vegetal ornament. Patrick Nuttens (“Understanding Modern

Architecture”) wrote that he used Owen Jones’ “ Grammar of Ornament” for inspiration

The ornaments and

decorations were integral to the idea and design of the building itself, another primary Islamic design concept.

Guaranty Building, Buffalo, 1895

More North American Examples

Hearst Castle , San Simeon, California

The Berkeley City Club, California

Alcazar Theatre Building, San Francisco, California

Opa-locka, City Hall, Florida

Some architects have demonstrated much enthusiasm in imitating Islamic design features!

McGill Square Church, Toronto

Henry Langley’s 19th century church in the Gothic Revival style has familiar features, most notably the multiple, slim, highly decorated towers and pinnacles (suggestive of typical minarets).

Stanford University, California

PPG Building, Pittsburg

Architect Philip Johnson is said to also have borrowed ideas from French style in his 1984 PPG Building by adapting modernists signature glass curtain walls to Gothic forms.

Commenting on the PPG building, TIME editors predict that “soaring with uplift, the French style may yet be around for a while” (“Great Buildings of the World”, Editors of TIME).

Being the forerunner of French Gothic, we predict that the Islamic style may also yet be around for a while; and the dialogue between western architecture and Islamic architecture, which goes back to the birth of Islam in the seventh century, shall continue to flourish

Etisalat Tower, Dubai, UAEPhoto: Official Arthur Erickson

Architect web site

Arthur Erickson is an internationally celebrated Canadian architect. In 1973 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1981.

Erickson is no stranger to Islamic architecture and the Middle East, where he was awarded some forty prestigious public projects, such as the the Dubai Etisalat Tower .

Filberg House, Comox , British Columbia

The Filberg house, designed by Erickson in 1958 is, according to the Globe and Mail, the most beautiful house in Canada , the design of which “borrows profoundly from Andalusian architecture”.

We decided to end this presentation with some fascinating photos of the Filberg House, downloaded from the official website of Arthur Erickson Architect :

References

Markus Hattstein and Peter Delius, “Islam Art and Architecture” Henri Stierlin, “Islam From Baghdad to Cordoba. Early

Architecture” Henri Stierlin, “Architecture De L’Islam” Zeynep Celik, “ Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth Century

World’s Fair” Owen Jones, “ The Grammar of Ornament” Geoge Mitchell, “ Architecture of the Islamic World” Debra Howard, “ Venice and the East” John Hoag, “Western Islamic Architecture” Bill Risebero, “ The Story of Western Architecture” Parick Nuggens, “The Story of Architecture” Bruce Allsopp, “The Great Tradition of Western Architecture” The Editors of TIME, “ Great Buildings of the World” Richard Koshalek and Elizabeth Smith, “One Hundred Years of

architecture”