Between tradition and modernity: determining spatial systems of privacy in the domestic architecture of contemporary Iraq

Al-Thahab, A, Mushatat, S and Abdelmonem, MG ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8271-0924, 2014. Between tradition and modernity: determining spatial systems of privacy in the domestic architecture of contemporary Iraq. ArchNet-IJAR, 8 (3), pp. 238-250. ISSN 1938-7806

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Abstract

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.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: ArchNet-IJAR
Creators: Al-Thahab, A., Mushatat, S. and Abdelmonem, M.G.
Publisher: ArchNet
Date: 11 June 2014
Volume: 8
Number: 3
ISSN: 1938-7806
Divisions: Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 08 Jun 2017 15:19
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2017 14:15
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30917

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