Humanizing Unfriendly Buildings and Spaces by Architectural Thought (Case Study: Houses from Jordan)

Abstract

Western architectural thought ruled and formed architectural practice throughout the last century. It introduced theories that reflected the inconsistencies of human lives and resulted in numerous complications in the built environment. This paper aims to present a view of the fundamentals of Muslim architectural theory, the basics that can control theory and practice in architecture. Thus, it recommends and examines a set of principles that rise from the Muslim thought; these principles highlight the need of fulfilling human needs by architects and designers. This research assumes the following assumptions: 1. Recreating buildings calls for re-forming human life. 2. The unity of social and built environment gives environmental relaxation. 3. Values gained from Islamic principles bring up general rules that can organize practice in architecture. Further, foundations extracted from these fundamentals can regulate architectural work worldwide. Based on humanity in the Muslim thought, this paper aims to develop a new theory to govern the present-day architecture. It concentrates on human parts in architecture. Further, its implementation side explains how buildings fulfill human needs. The research examines twelve human needs taken from Muslim fundamentals. However, the existence of these needs shows how close buildings are to humans. To achieve that goal, this research studied those needs in three Jordanian local houses. Two Jordanian architects designed those houses: Architect Ayman Zuaiter designed Al Tabbaa Villa and Family House and architect Bilal Hammad designed Dajani Villa.