Early Islamic Architecture

Hi guys, it's only been a day but here i am again~~~ Todayyy.............I'm going to talk about Early Islamic Architecture. I'm pretty sure all of you are pretty familiar with Islamic Architecture if you guys are Malaysians as Malaysia's primary religion is Islam. Without further ado let's get into it!

Islam spread rapidly after its founding, encompassing legions of areas including North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The religious building for Islam is known as mosques, where Muslims worship Allah, are among the most important examples of Islamic Architecture. Other kinds of religious buildings include madrasahs, or religious schools; tombs; and palaces (Bosch, n.d.).  Mosque has always act a religious and social occasion for the Islam community.Muslims are required to have five daily prayers prescribed in Islam, it can be at home or literally anywhere but all men are obligated to gather at the nearest mosque for the Friday midday prayer to provide a platform for pronouncements.

''The first mosques were simple buildings made of wood and clay. Then, as the world of Islam grew in size and power, large mosques of cut stone and brick were built. Because no Islamic building tradition yet existed, these early mosques were modeled after Christian churches'' (Bosch, n.d.). The use of inexpensive materials like wood and clay were used in the ancient times was due to a restriction that was imposed by Muhammed,  the prophet of Islam. The earliest significant example of Muslim Architecture,The Dome of the Rock designed in stunning themes of Byzantine mosaic and domed roof (Historyworld.net, n.d.). A dome has always act as a feature of Islamic Architecture.

A predominant characteristic of Islamic art is that it's forbidden to depict animals or human beings (Hardison, 2011). Restriction that had been imposed is the reason why Islamic art stands out. Islamic art developed by utilizing geometric, arabesque and calligraphic shapes and form (Ducksters.com, n.d.). It applies on the clothing which the believers wear when they perform prayers in the mosque. As what my Muslim friend, Husnaa told me that inside the mosque, the interior wall has calligraphy which shows the name of the prophets, Allah and Doas. It acts as a reminder for the believers to strengthen their faiths.

Arabesque Art

(Islamic patterns on Pinterest | Google Images, Islamic Art and Sacred Geometry, n.d.)

Geometric Art

(ART 13: February 2012, n.d.)

Calligraphy

(islamic calligraphy, n.d.)

Lastly, i'm going to show you some of the examples of Early Islamic Architecture, enjoy!

Exterior of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE

(CBS World Tour 2015, 2015)

Interior of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the usage of dome design and integration of Islamic art can be seen in the picture above. 

(Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, n.d.)

Exterior of Taj Mahal, it looks identically symmetrical. The reflecting pool might be a cooling feature as the weather in India is hot.

(Fonds d'écran Taj Mahal, n.d.)

Interior of Taj Mahal

(File:Interior of the Taj Mahal 05.jpg, n.d.)

Well #shameless........I'm going to end this post with my Taj Mahal drawing. Thanks for reading, great day ahead people!

Reference:

Bosch, G. (n.d.). Islamic Art and Architecture | Scholastic ART | Scholastic.com. [online] Scholastic.com. Available at: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753881 [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Hardison, K. (2011). What are some characteristics of Islamic art and architecture? | eNotes. [online] eNotes. Available at: http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-some-characteristics-islamic-art-archite-401579 [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Historyworld.net. (n.d.). HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. [online] Available at: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=ebb [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Ducksters.com. (n.d.). History of the Early Islamic World for Kids: Architecture. [online] Available at: http://www.ducksters.com/history/islam/architecture.php [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Image Resources :

ART 13: February 2012. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS04CqPsEmYE_1CqXOsS8FgiXoaQ05meW_Pj0Tm2fnvYs9kNcH31FUH27zrxdFtGvPyFZtEENptg8yU-5iDzInBC9CNE9ze5dDT9lKl37PKCRyB4l5_3-V24OwHfNPJaTM9NuGLzqYTsI-/s1600/starpolygon3.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

CBS World Tour 2015. (2015). [image] Available at: http://cbsworldtour2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/UAE-Grand-Mosque.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

File:Interior of the Taj Mahal 05.jpg. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Interior_of_the_Taj_Mahal_05.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Fonds d'écran Taj Mahal. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://img1.svstatic.com/wallpapers/1c612246bf617d5100e4e2549a35f4eb_large.jpeg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

islamic calligraphy. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://islamic-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Islamic patterns on Pinterest | Google Images, Islamic Art and Sacred Geometry. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://starsinsymmetry.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/aj3enycveq98cmuyjb.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://andypavlov.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/d9.jpg [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Modern Church Architecture

Hey peepo i'm back! Today I'm going to talk about Modern Church Architecture since I've already mentioned about Early Church Architecture last week. As the world's architecture is rising with remarkable speed, Church Architecture has been influenced by the most recent architecture techniques which allow variation in style and size, or the use of other materials such as steel, concrete, glass and so on. Modern Church Architecture often focus more on the simple but basic ceremonial and liturgical requirements in the building (Smith, 2016). In the contrary, Early Church Architecture paid attention on the interior which was always lavishly decorated with stunning marbles and mosaic.

The apparent reduction of statuary,painting and traditional icons of Christianity can be seen in modern churches today. ''Sacred spaces are slowly moving out of the intricate baroque and Gothic details of traditional church architecture and into cleaner, brighter, more minimalist designs'' (Rogers, 2011). In my opinion, as I've mentioned in the previous post visualization is very important. How an architect designs a Church directly influences the Church's self-image. Symbolism is crucially important for a Church to communicate the liturgy that tell of how the sacraments take place. Though it's pretty much odd to remain the Gothic-looking or details of early Church these days, it's still important to concern Christianity's fundamental tradition identities for example choose wisely and preserve some of the iconic stuff that's passed down by our ancestors.

Lougesen ( 2013) mentioned that ''In Catholic Church Architecture, Tradition Shouldn’t Be Ignored'' (Lougesen, 2013). Which is indeed true. What's the purpose of having an ordinary building as a ''Church'' without all its symbolic icons and stuff? The lack of integration between Christianity and Architecture in this modern era is not a good sign. In my opinion, religion is always related to tradition, therefore, preserving tradition is significant. Churches should be ornamented and highly symbolic as it's a place for its believer to worship God and teeming with sincerity and spiritual feeling. By looking at the cross one will be instantly reminded by the crucifixion of Jesus as said by one of my Christian friends, Alicia. She gave her opinion on this topic which she thought that symbolic icons of Christianity are what make a church,a church. Outsiders or its believer should be able to tell if it's a church or not by simply a glance.

Now, in case you got bored out by words HEHE, I'm going to show you some of the examples of Modern Church Architecture .

Exterior of Foligno Concrete Church by Fuksas, Italy

(Church-Cube made of concrete, n.d.)

Interior of Foligno Concrete Church

(La Chiesa di San Paolo Apostolo by Giuseppe Peppoloni on 500px, n.d.)

Exterior of Paris Church of Santa Monica-Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain

(Santa Monica Church. Rivas-Urbanizaciones, designed by Vicens & Ramos. Madrid, n.d.)

Interior of Paris Church of Santa Monica

(Parish Church of Santa Monica, n.d.)

Exterior of Sunset Chapel - Acapulco, Mexico

 (Sunset Chapel Acapulco, n.d.)

Interior of Sunset Chapel - Acapulco, Mexico

(Sunset Chapel, n.d.)

That's all for today! See you guys soon, xoxo.

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References :

Rogers, S. (2011). Modern Religion: 13 Contemporary Churches & Chapels. [online] WebUrbanist. Available at: http://weburbanist.com/2011/12/16/modern-religion-13-contemporary-churches-chapels/ [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Smith, R. (2016). The Institute for Sacred Architecture | Articles| Don’t Blame Vatican II. [online] Sacredarchitecture.org. Available at: http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/dont_blame_vatican_ii [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Image Sources :

Church-Cube made of concrete. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://architecture.mapolismagazin.com/sites/default/files/c_moreno_maggi_st_paolo_fuksas_011.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

La Chiesa di San Paolo Apostolo by Giuseppe Peppoloni on 500px. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/96/56/ff9656f1663b5cacc8f5e7ec1205d9f0.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Parish Church of Santa Monica. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://karmatrendz.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/parish_church_santa_monica_17.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Santa Monica Church. Rivas-Urbanizaciones, designed by Vicens & Ramos. Madrid. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cf/a5/a9/cfa5a9a246cc5f8d39f01fbd458bf58f.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Sunset Chapel. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_image/ASC1697.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].

Sunset Chapel Acapulco. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/acapulco-chapel-mexico-1.jpg [Accessed 31 May. 2016].