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Iraq, the former Mesopotamia, was a realm of clay, from time immemorial - until it discovered concrete. The quality was quite high in early times, so high, that before a hundred years the old monuments were used as quarries, because the old bricks were of a much higher quality than the new ones. As example you may look at the picture of Ctesiphon below. The right one shows the state in 1911, the left one the state in 1888. (Pictures: Dissertation of Felix Langenegger at the Königl. Sächs. Technischen Hochschule, Dresden, 1911: Baukunst des Irak (heutiges Babylonien).
Already 1980 when John Warren and Ihsan Fethi published their work on: Traditional Houses in Baghdad (Coach Publishing House L., Horsham, England. 1982), there was little left of traditional architecture, most of it in quite a bad shape. This not only, because the Arabs still have some bedu-like way in dealing with their houses: Use it until its ruined and then built a new one, but especially to the destruction by termites and floods.
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Unluckily most of the old art of clay construction (Adobe) has been lost and is only documented in quite old literature. A second treasure in that relation is the dissertation of Oscar Reuther from the same university, 1910: Das Wohnhaus in Bagdad und andern Städten des Irak.
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The basic structure of the Baghdadi town-house has its parallel in the rural tarma-house, a house with an entrance hall, carried by pillars (tarma). It had only few and simple rooms, best a liwan (or iwan), opening towards the tarma.
The sketch up shows the most likely candidate of the center-courtyard-house, the farm with entrance hall (tarma).
With
the time the houses were not only divided in a public (male) part (diwankhane)
and a haram for the women, but the whole house turned its focus
inward. Privacy had in al the Islamic culture always a higher value than
the outside appearance. The typical structure of an Iraqi city
house of the 19. and early 20. century was the house with an inner
courtyard, covered or open, often with a fountain. Marvelous examples of
such may still be found in Andalusia (Southern Spain) and most probably
in Marokko
The ground-plan, right, of a rich family, is traditionally
separated into a public area left and a private area (harem) right. The
rooms are placed around the central open courtyard.
In rich Baghdadi houses the reception halls could be quite large and well
decorated. (click picture for large view)
A typical element of Arab city houses is the bay. (Shenashil), where, protected from being seen, one might enjoy the fresh air and see what's going on on the road or have a chat with the neighbor across the road
The shenashil has a microclimate-function as well. As the dark
wood gets quite hot in the sun, the air is rising and this wind pulls the warm
air out of the adjacent rooms, sucking cool air out of the cellar.
Summary of elements of traditional iraqi and arabic architecture, as they have
been common from the 13th to the end of the 19th century:
| Oda: the simple room | ||
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Tarma: open balcony with pillars | |
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Ursi: most probably from russi, russian. The most important room of the house, as at the same time you may see, but not been seen as much as in a tarma, ivan or talar. Its separated from the tarma by a window-wall from colored glasses, without door. Those were the masterpieces of Baghdadi carpentry. | |
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Talar, a usable open room behind the tarma. The difference to the iwan is, that it can't be entered directly from the rooms beside it. I's separated from the tarma by additional pillars. | |
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Iwan (or Liwan), a room behind the tarma or adjacent tot the inner courtyard, that is on one side open. | |
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Hosh, the central courtyard, often with a fountain in the middle. | |
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sirdab, the cellar, that did not only serve as store, but as cooling hall and for the provision of cool air through the badgir-sirdab-system. | |
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neem, a cellar that is only half buried. Mostly with one window. | |
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During the hot summer nights the roof was and is used in Baghdad for sleeping. The high value of privacy demanded, that no house was higher than the others, so that nobody was able to look down on his neighbors roof. | |
| kabishkan: The Penthouse, from where one is able to control all the house. Often those rooms have been placed like eyries in all four corners of the inner courtyard. |  |
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With
clay-construction not only the art and climatological advantages
disappeared, but further architectural uses of natural conditions,
especially the use of the northwest-trade-wind, that blows all through the
summer, as natural and sustainable climatisation-engine.
The system badgir-sirdab was a cheap, environmentally friendly and energy saving solution to create an acceptable climate inside Baghdadi houses. Not an easy endeavor with outside temperatures of over 50°C during summer.
The badgirs caught the wind and led it through the cool cellar into the house.
Not presented is here a second system, where the wind is not led into the cellar by pressure, but is sucking the hot air out of the living rooms, whereby replacing it by cooler air sucked in through the cellar.
The sketch on the right side shows the large differences in temperature that may be produced using the naturally given conditions of the traditional house. More than those 20° are even nowadays, in the times of air-conditioning, considered as unhealthy. Those conditions turn the house dwellers into beduins, using different places during day and night as during winter (south side, mainly closed rooms) and summer (north side, cellar and roof)
Badgir-details, click for full view
In public areas, as here the suq, the scorching sun has been kept out by shading. Such simple roof constructions can still be seen in Yemen.
Roof-details 1,
click for full view
As rains are scares in Iraq, but all the heavier when they happen, its very
wise to take precautions, leading the water away from any clay construction
to protect them from being washed away.:
roof
details2, click for full view
Bricks do not only produce a nice climate, but are very useful for the creation of decorative ornaments:
Brick ornaments (click for full view)
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Martin Herzog, Webdesign, Rheinfelden, 23. May 2004