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- Volume 12, Issue 1, 2023
International Journal of Islamic Architecture - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2023
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2023
- Commentary
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- Dialogues
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On Pedagogy: Islamic Art and Architecture in the Classroom
More LessIJIA’s Dialogues series brings together scholars and practitioners from across varied disciplines for discussions of critical contemporary issues that interrogate the boundaries between architecture, art, anthropology, archaeology, and history. Its second instalment, held as a webinar in January 2022, was hosted by Associate Editor Emily Neumeier and featured Christiane Gruber, Stephennie Mulder, and Fernando Luis Martínez Nespral. Their conversation addressed a number of pressing issues related to the teaching of Islamic art in a wide range of classroom settings. The speakers touched upon the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-racism and decolonizing initiatives within the field, and the future of several new and ongoing pedagogical endeavours. The following is an edited excerpt from the original discussion.1
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- Design in Theory Articles
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The Garden of Babur in Kabul: A Dynastic Project of the Mughal Dynasty and Its Survival
By Ebba KochThe Bagh-i Babur in Kabul is generally held to have been founded by Babur in 1504, when he made Kabul his home. A close examination of the Mughal sources, however, reveals a more complex picture. I suggest that, contrary to other Mughal funerary gardens, which were built by a single patron, the Bagh-i Babur was a dynastic project of several succeeding generations of Mughal emperors. It was incepted by Babur; preserved by his sons Mirza Kamran and Humayun, and his grandson Mirza Hakim, as an honoured burial site of the early Mughals; enclosed and transformed, as I suggest, into a grand terraced construction by Emperor Akbar; highlighted by Emperor Jahangir with dynastic inscriptions; and thoroughly renovated and enriched with buildings by Emperor Shah Jahan. After the Mughal era, the garden became a place of recreation for the people of Kabul, and at the end of the nineteenth century it was rehabilitated and appropriated as a residential pleasance by the Afghan kings, who shaped their reigns and concepts of kingship on Mughal models. After periods of unrest and destruction, the garden was reconstructed in the early twenty-first century and became a public park for the people of Kabul.
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From Vision to Reality: Tehran’s Urban Expansion Under Naser al-Din Shah (1848–96)
By Samira FathiIn 1868, the city of Tehran underwent a new phase of physical transformation and development under the order of the third Qajar king, Naser al-Din Shah (r.1848–96). This article addresses the process of the city’s transformations from the perspective of the local elites in Naseri Tehran, examining how Qajar officials introduced the city’s expansion to the public and the extent to which these efforts measured up to the urban development project as it actually unfolded on the ground. Rooted in primary visual and textual sources, my research provides a historical context for this expansion process and its mechanisms. I demonstrate that the Naseri court projected a vision for Tehran modelled on the rhetoric of European examples. The discourse of turning Tehran into a European-style city was articulated through court chronicles and newspaper articles, especially those written by Mohammad Hasan Khan E’temad al-Saltaneh, a prominent politician and commentator during the Naseri period. By analysing this archival record, maps, and the spatial practices of the city’s residents, I argue that, despite its ultimate formal resemblance to European walled cities, the process of Tehran’s expansion and beautification took a different direction than what Naser al-Din Shah and his court originally envisioned.
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Commemorations of Sinan: Creating a National Hero in Turkey in the 1930s
By Ahmet SezginSinan (d.1588) is the most renowned architect of the Ottoman Empire. His buildings, located throughout the eastern Mediterranean, were central to a dynastic and religious architectural heritage that was inherited by a modern and secular Turkish nation state, established in 1923. This article examines how Sinan was refashioned as a national hero in the early decades of the Republic. It focuses on commemorations of Sinan and their major venue: his Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. In my analysis of these commemorations, I draw on a wide and diverse array of primary source materials, including written, photographic, artistic, and other visual materials from the 1930s and 1940s that are located in official, semi-official, and other collections. By doing so, this article reveals how the variety of nationalist approaches to Sinan and his architecture coexisted and competed.
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Mualla Eyüboğlu’s Work in Village Institutes: A Hands-On Approach to National Architecture in 1940s Turkey
Authors: Işıl Çokuğraş and C. İrem GençerTurkish architect Mualla Eyüboğlu’s career started at the Village Institutes, which were established in the early Republican period (1923–present) to meet Anatolian villages’ needs for modern educational development through hands-on training. As the head and instructor of the Construction Section in the Hasanoğlan Village Institute in 1942, Eyüboğlu worked all over Anatolia, thereby taking part in the construction of modern Turkey. Eyüboğlu’s role as a tutor, designer, and construction supervisor at these Village Institutes was closely linked to broader discussions of national architecture. Since records on this period’s construction processes are rare, this article considers Eyüboğlu’s pedagogical practice, vernacular approach, and criticism of national architecture in the 1940s through the use of Eyüboğlu’s diaries, professional and personal notes, and original drawings from her personal archive. We argue that, despite her position within the Turkish architectural intelligentsia, Eyüboğlu’s experiences with the difficult realities of rural sites led her to question formal training. She did this through her criticism of contemporary architectural and construction practices, which she felt were detached from the concerns and conditions of the villages. Through a hands-on approach to the construction of the Village Institutes, Eyüboğlu believed that national architecture could embrace the needs of people within their geographical and social contexts, as well as regional technological possibilities.
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- Design in Practice Articles
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The Rebirth of the Madrasa Through Deconstructive Architecture: The Case of the College of Islamic Studies in Qatar
More LessArchitectural movements such as modernism, postmodernism, and deconstructivism emerged during the twentieth century. These movements drastically affected the discipline of architecture, with such divergences from traditional forms demonstrating how building design could be influenced by architectural history to guide its development. The College of Islamic Studies (CIS), also known as the Minartein, in Doha, Qatar, is an example of how architectural theory can affect building design and create structures that cater to different and novel ideas and philosophies. The unconventional, postmodern, parametric building creates a vital link that unites history, theory, and religion in a modernized form of the traditional Islamic madrasa. This article recounts how the architect, Ali Mangera, has realized the vision of originality, plurality, and contemporaneity through post-deconstructive architecture at the CIS. It also examines how architectural concepts such as abstraction, the juxtaposition of contradicting shapes and forms, surface manipulation and construction, massing techniques, non-rectilinearity, and fragmentation can all contribute to a better understanding of the symbolic significance of the building. The article demonstrates how the use of deconstructive methods for disassembling the architecture of famous madrasas may have influenced the architecture and design complexity of the building.
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The Khan Al-Shilan: Appraising and Synthesizing Cultural Heritage Significance and Its Impact on Conservation Practices
Authors: Sadiq Khalil Abid and Tamarah AmeenThe holy city of Najaf has a number of historical buildings, many of which are in danger of permanent deterioration due to muddled conservation practices. Khan Al-Shilan, built in 1899, is a significant historic structure, continuously changing and adaptable to several functions. Possession of the structure was transferred from one party to another, and it has not been well maintained, suffering damage and neglect. The khan existed during the Ottoman era and British colonialism, and it stands today as a physical reminder of the Iraqi people’s struggle against occupying powers. It is also an interesting example of the limitations of conservation in Iraq. Using secondary sources and primary evidence gathered through interviews with stakeholders, local residents, heritage elites, and conservationists, this article examines the current state of Iraqi conservation practices, with a particular focus on the extent to which they have affected the existing historic fabric. It includes a detailed examination of the approaches and the problems that exist in applying international standards of heritage protection to the Iraqi context. The case study demonstrates that there is local motivation for conservation that is accompanied by an awareness of the processes to manage change effectively.
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- Architectural Spotlight
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- Book Reviews
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The Making of Islamic Art: Studies in Honour of Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Ed. Robert Hillenbrand (2021)
More LessReview of: The Making of Islamic Art: Studies in Honour of Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Ed. Robert Hillenbrand (2021)
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 448 pp., 28 b&w and 135 colour illus., ISBN: 9781474434294, $125.00 (cloth)
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Bayana: The Sources of Mughal Architecture, Mehrdad Shokoohy and Natalie H. Shokoohy (2020)
More LessReview of: Bayana: The Sources of Mughal Architecture, Mehrdad Shokoohy and Natalie H. Shokoohy (2020)
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 737 pp., 255 b&w and 352 colour illus., ISBN: 978 14744 60729, $230 (hardcover)
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Medieval Monuments of Central Asia: Qarakhanid Architecture of the 11th and 12th Centuries, Richard Piran Mcclary (2020)
More LessReview of: Medieval Monuments of Central Asia: Qarakhanid Architecture of the 11th and 12th Centuries, Richard Piran Mcclary (2020)
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 320 pp., 83 b&w and 161 colour illus., ISBN: 9781474423977, £95 (hardback)
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New Islamic Urbanism: The Architecture of Public and Private Space in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Stefan Maneval (2019)
More LessReview of: New Islamic Urbanism: The Architecture of Public and Private Space in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Stefan Maneval (2019)
London: UCL Press, xix, 242 pp., 3 maps, 16 b&w and 31 colour illus.,
ISBN: 9781787356436, £25.00 (paperback);
ISBN: 9781787356443, £45.00 (hardback);
ISBN: 9781787356429, £0.00 (open access PDF)
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Muslim American City: Gender and Religion in Metro Detroit, Alisa Perkins (2020)
By Majdi FalehReview of: Muslim American City: Gender and Religion in Metro Detroit, Alisa Perkins (2020)
New York: New York University Press, 260 pp., 3 b&w illus.,
ISBN: 9781479892013, $30.00 (paperback)
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Landed Internationals: Planning Cultures, the Academy and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Burak Erdim (2020)
More LessReview of: Landed Internationals: Planning Cultures, the Academy and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Burak Erdim (2020)
Austin: University of Texas Press, 308 pp., 56 b&w illus.,
ISBN: 9781477321218, $50 (cloth)
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- Exhibition Review
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- Conference Précis
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- Obituary
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