Text Box: Ashraf Salama, Ph.D.                                          

 

 

                                                                                                                                         

 

Text Box: Contribution to Books

                                                                                                  Text Box: Shores of the Mediterranean: Architecture as Language of Peace   Donatella Mazzoleni, Giuseppe Anzani, Ashraf Salama, Marichela Sepe and Maria Maddalena Simone, (editors)   Edizioni - Intra Moenia, Napoli, Italy (2005) ISBN# 88-7421-054-X   Text Box:   Salama, A. (2005). Architectural Identity in the Middle East: Hidden Assumptions and Philosophical Perspectives. In Donatella Mazzoleni et al (eds.): Shores of the Mediterranean: Architecture as Language of Peace. Edizioni - Intra Moenia, Napoli, Italy. PP. 76-85 ISBN# 88-7421-054-X                    Text Box: Excerpts The search for an architectural identity seems to be a preoccupation with countries that have cultural richness and multi-layers of history. Intellectuals, architects, and designers in those countries find themselves dealing with a paradox needing to project a certain image of themselves through their built environment. In the Middle East, identity has been an issue in debate for over three decades, more so because of this region’s cultural uniqueness and plurality. However, it is this cultural uniqueness that has made it a tough quest and has – in many cases – culminated into sacred symbolism that is painful to behold or comprehend. The questions I am raising here are philosophical in nature, and have been raised by many before with no clear answer. However, such questions are rephrased in a manner derived from recent practices of architecture in the last decade. Is it necessary to refer or resort to cultural or religious symbolism in architecture to reflect a Middle Eastern or Arabian identity? Or should architecture embody the collective aspirations of Middle Easterners or Arabs? On the other hand, there are many who have questioned the need to define an architectural identity at all, claiming that it merely displays a lack of “self-confidence” as a region or as a group of nations? Reviewing the recent practices and searching the recent identity debates reveal that we still seem to be at odds with the issue after several decades of independence. In response to this confusion, I believe it is critical to examine the subject in philosophical terms and elucidate some hidden concepts. The discussion of the issue of identity in general and in the Middle East in particular would be irrelevant if concepts such as image-ability, legibility, critical regionalism, and environmental meaning are not debated and somehow theorized. This paper aims at raising questions of some hidden assumptions and philosophical perspectives relating to these concepts. Critical issues that pertain to identity crises in the Middle East are debated. A classification procedure of architectural trends in Egypt is conducted to establish the link between philosophical perspectives and actual practices.