Alhambran Ceiling

Mixed Media

Often maligned in architectural discourse of the 18th and 19th centuries when viewed through the perspective of theory based textual dissemination, a post-colonial re-reading of Islamic architecture in the last hundred years has seen a resurgence. This project sits within this academic context of re-writing and re-testing these medieval design methods in a modern context. It is a design project. The research is investigated through a series of design and construction drawings. It asks questions such as: what would a modern house look like when designed using a combination of Arabic poems and small scale ephemeral shop drawings. It is also a thoroughly modern project, one which aims to further the Islamic ‘methods’ of design. It does this by fully acknowledging the entire history of abstract and modern art of the previous two centuries which they were not privy to. The impressionist landscapes of Monet, or the ‘sound’ drawings of Jackson Pollock, in the author’s conviction, would have been embraced by Islamic architects and artists in the portrayal of their buildings.