1-Precedents and Prototypes: (Click on images to enlarge)
The Architectural Repertoire Available to the Arabs before Islam:
Tent: The Dwelling of the Nomad
The spatial and functional division of the tent.
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Axonometric of the Three-pole Tent
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View of a Nomad Tent
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The Architecture of Urban Settlements in Arabia:
Mecca: The cult and trade center.
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Axonometric and Plan of the Ka'ba, also called Bayt-Allah "The Abode of God"
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The Atam in Medina: fortified common dwellings in oases.
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The typology of Atam
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Present day agricultural settlement from Southern Hijaz in Arabia that preserves some aspects of the Pre-Islamic Atam
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Present day agricultural settlement from Southern Hijaz.
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The Palaces of Yemen.
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A modern day house of Old Sana'a, Yemen
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Plan of a large residence from Qaryat Al-Faw
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The Hellenistically influenced fresco of an Arabian King from Qaryat Al-Faw
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The Architecture of Urban Centers in the Levant and Mesopotamia:
Petra: The Nabatean Capital Carved in the Rock.
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Frontal view of the so-called Khaznet-Fir'awn (the Treasury of Pharoah), a second century A.D. rock tomb in Petra
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Rock cut tomb
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Palmyra: A Caravan City turned Imperial Center.
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Aerial view of the Decumanus of Palmyra showing heavy Roman influences in its plan.
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Aerial view of the Baal Temple Temenos
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Rusafa (Sergiopolis): Capital of the Ghassanids, the Christian Arab tribe allied with Byzantium.
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View of the remains of the Palace of the Ghassanid King Al-Munther outside Rusafa
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Plan of the walled city of Sergiopolis (Rusafa)
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Aerial view of the Roman city of Sergiopolis (Rusafa)
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The Mesopotamian and Persian Models: The Assyrian palaces of Nineveh and Assur.
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Plan of the Assyrian palace in Assur
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The Iwan Kisra at Ctesiphon: The seat of Sassanian Kings.
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A photo of the iwan taken before 1883 when the flood destroyed the monuments right wing
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Al-Hira (Hatra) in northern Mesopotamia: The Hiri style.
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The facade of the temple of Hatra showing Persian and classical influence
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The Byzantine and Greco-Roman Models:
Bostra: Present-day Busra. A Syrian-Roman city and a capital of the Nabateans; the illustration of urban splendor in the eyes of the Prophet Muhammad.
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View of the Roman amphitheatre
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Mosaic panels from Busra dating to the 6th century and showing an Arabian caravan
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The "Dead Cities" in Byzantine northern Syria.
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Remains of a tower from the village of Bariha in the Dead cities region
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Facade of a residential building from the dead cities region
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Reconstruction of a farm house from the Dead Cities
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Reconstruction of a farm house from the Dead Cities
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The Poetic and Visual Images of Imperial palaces in Constantinople:
The representation of the Palace of Theodoric at St. Apollinaire Nuovo in Ravenna.
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St. Apollinaire
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