Department of Architecture
4.611/13 Civic Architecture in Islamic History (HASS)

 

Not only a major monotheistic religion professed by one-sixth of the human race, Islam is also an active historical force that produced a multitude of cultures and empires with a distinct civilizational flavor that permeated even the most mundane functions in every Islamic society.  In this course we will focus on the architecture that embodies these societal functions: the palatial, commercial, military, industrial, residential and landscape architecture, in addition to a number of little-understood monuments that stand midway between the religious and the profane realms.  We will use the chronological survey format to examine distinctive types of civil Islamic architecture from the seventh to the twentieth century and analyze the urban, social, and political factors that shaped their particular contexts.  In our investigations, we will not only consult modern studies on the buildings and their histories, but we will try to see them through the experiences of their contemporaries and actual users.  We will also assess the formation and developments of architectural traditions, their regional transformations, and the various external and interregional influences that affected them at different historical junctions.