The Employing of Traditional Architectural Elements in Contemporary Architecture

Abstract

The preservation of cultural heritage has become a global concern, as it is one of the essential elements to expose the civilizational and historical depth of any nation, Traditional handicrafts and its products play a major role in enriching the cultural heritage of nations. With the scientific and industrial development, it is necessary to emphasize the identity through the interest in handicrafts, development and employment in modern architecture, which contributes to the development of its products form and content, thus maintaining of visual identity. Traditional Arab architecture was generally characterized by its richness of hand-crafted architectural and decorative elements resulting from extensive knowledge and human experiences, to achieve environmental and social requirements of its time.

This research aimed to focus on one of the traditional architectural features, which is the Mashrabiya, and to highlight its role in shaping the urban identity. the research also focuses particularly on modern methods of using the concept of this traditional architectural element in contemporary architecture, which achieves the link between originality and contemporary, and it tries to monitor how it has been globally employed and utilized in architecture, also shows how modern materials, technical innovations, material possibilities and the accumulation of aesthetic, plastic and design experiences led to the development of this element, because of the cultural, functional and aesthetic value of the Mashrabiya.