Abstract
This study is an attempt to analyse the early traditional interiors and
decoration of mud -brick buildings in the Najd region of Sa`udi Arabia. It also
aims to discuss the factors which have had effect on the developments of
both the interiors and types of decoration in these buildings. The focus of the
study was on the political and socio- economic developments in the region
following the establishment of the First Sa'udi State from 1745 until 1930s.
Due to a combination of the centralisation of decision -making and the
government's financial support for modernisation, most traditional mud -brick
settlements fell into disrepair and were replaced by new modern concrete
settlements, based on Western designs. However, these settlements,
Western models of urban development, have proved inadequate and have
failed to solve the local problems of urban design and planning. This is due to
the fact that they are not tailored to the specific social and political
environment of an `Arab Muslim cultural system. So Najdians have begun to
long for the traditional culture and early mud -brick interior forms and design.
Towards the end of the 1980s an awareness of the need to preserve and
promote elements of traditional culture developed, not only in the Najd but
throughout the Kingdom of Sa'udi Arabia. This cultural re- evaluation has
extended to traditional architecture and includes a re- appraisal of the
traditional interiors and decoration of those mud -brick buildings that are still
extant. This re- awakening can also be seen in the desire for modern concrete
buildings to be redesigned so something of the traditions of interior decoration
and design can be retrieved.
The new cultural re- evaluation of the traditional heritage poses three
important questions. Firstly, what is the traditional mud -brick interior and what
are its contexts ? Secondly, what are the cultural forces that have given rise
to urban architectural development in the traditionally -built forms, interior
spaces and decoration ? Thirdly, why have the people of the Najd reverted,
even in their new concrete buildings, to the interiors and decoration of earlier
times? This study was motivated by a desire answer these questions. This
necessarily touches upon the changes in Sa`udi Arabia: social, political and
economic.
This study is based on ethnographic, architectural and ethno-archaeological
fieldwork relating to the ancient mud -brick buildings of the Najd. Data was
collected from historical sources, site information as well as from interviews
with people living in the region. All this is illustrated by drawings and
photographs.
This thesis consists of three parts. The first part classifies the traditional
building materials and techniques of building construction, the mud-brick
settlement and its buildings types. The second part analyses the interior
architectural features of a typical residential building, the decorative elements
and techniques of ornamentation, the structural elements and their
decoration, and the interior vocabulary. The third part analyses the factors
affecting development of decoration and space organisation.
