Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem - <div><div>The notion of privacy represents a central criterion for both indoor and outdoor social spaces in most traditional Arab settlements. This paper investigates privacy and everyday life as determinants of the physical properties of the built and urban fabric and will study their impact on traditional settlements and architecture of the home in the contemporary Iraqi city. It illustrates the relationship between socio-cultural aspects of public/private realms using the notion of the social sphere as an investigative tool of the concept of social space in Iraqi houses and local communities (Mahalla). This paper reports that in spite of the impact of other factors in articulating built forms, privacy embodies the primary role under the effects of Islamic rules, principles and culture. The crucial problem is the underestimation of traditional inherited values through opening social spaces to the outside that giving unlimited accesses to the indoor social environment creating many problems with regard to privacy and communal social integration.</div><div><br></div><div>Keywords: Privacy; Traditional built environment; Social sphere; Urban sphere; Public/Private spaces.</div></div>
Between Tradition and Modernity: Determining Spatial Systems of Privacy in the Domestic Architecture of Contemporary Iraq
Type
journal article
Year
2014
The notion of privacy represents a central criterion for both indoor and outdoor social spaces in most traditional Arab settlements. This paper investigates privacy and everyday life as determinants of the physical properties of the built and urban fabric and will study their impact on traditional settlements and architecture of the home in the contemporary Iraqi city. It illustrates the relationship between socio-cultural aspects of public/private realms using the notion of the social sphere as an investigative tool of the concept of social space in Iraqi houses and local communities (Mahalla). This paper reports that in spite of the impact of other factors in articulating built forms, privacy embodies the primary role under the effects of Islamic rules, principles and culture. The crucial problem is the underestimation of traditional inherited values through opening social spaces to the outside that giving unlimited accesses to the indoor social environment creating many problems with regard to privacy and communal social integration.

Keywords: Privacy; Traditional built environment; Social sphere; Urban sphere; Public/Private spaces.
Citation
Al-Thahab, Ali, Sabah Mushatat and Mohammed Gamal Abdelmonem. "Between Tradition and Modernity: Determining Spatial Systems of Privacy in the Domestic Architecture of Contemporary Iraq." Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 8, issue 3 (2014): 238-250.
Parent Publications
Authorities
Copyright
Ali Al-Thahab, Sabah Mushatat & Mohammed Gamal Abdelmonem, licensed under CC-BY-ND-NC
Country
Iraq
Language
English