Al-Naim...
Konash^9 agrees, criticizing Western firms that practiced in Saudi
Arabia for their lack of knowledge about the local culture while
suggesting more collaboration between Saudi and foreign archi-
tects.^10 After studying the impact of Western urban concepts in
the contemporary Saudi cities, Al-Hathloul^11 suggests that Arab-
Islamic traditions which formulate the needs of Saudi families
should be respected in any future building regulations.^12 Fadan^13
goes further, attributing the loss of traditional identity to the social
changes in Saudi society, writing that the “attraction[s] to Western
life-style have drawn Saudi attention away from developing a clear
and concise understanding of the evolution of a traditional living environment.”^14 These studies agree on the negative
impact of Western images on Saudi cities.
At the same time, however, people were fascinated by Western images. Boon comments on the strong influence of colo-
nial villas in the Middle East.^15 Al-Gabbani finds that in Riyadh “most of the housing units constructed follow Western
models which symbolize prestige and use costly imported materials.”^16 While indicating that modern architecture in
Saudi Arabia is seen to be “culturally destructive,” Abu-Ghazzeh criticizes the desire of Saudi architects to reflect images
of economic and technological development through the adoption of “Western design” due to the “disassociation of the
privileged business elite from their cultural roots.”^17 These people tried to express themselves in the urban environment
through images mainly borrowed from the West. This then encouraged the middle classes to imitate the Western images
that were created by the business elite.^18 This is not to say that people did not express their own socio-cultural values in
their urban areas, but that people experienced new things for the first time. Personal and social identities were expressed
- Saudi academic working at King Fahad University for Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
- F. Konash, Evaluation of Western Architecture in Saudi Arabia: Guideline and Critique, Unpublished Master Thesis,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, University of New Mexico (1980). - Saudi academic, (PhD, MIT, 1980) who worked as Deputy Minister for Urban Planning in the Ministry of Municipal and
Rural Affairs, Riyadh. - S. Al-Hathloul, Tradition, Continuity, and Change in the Physical Environment: The Arab-Muslim City, Unpublished PhD
Thesis, MIT, Cambridge (1981). The study introduces for the first time the impact of Western urban concepts on the Saudi-
home environment. Also, it suggests that “urban form within the Arab-Muslim city is to be found not within the physical
elements themselves but within their system of arrangement (the rules of conduct), then these elements can be adapted or
can even change so long as their system of arrangement or their relationships remain constant.” p. 266). - Saudi academic (PhD from MIT, 1983), at King Saud University, Riyadh.
- Y.M. Fadan, The Development of Contemporary Housing in Saudi Arabia, (1950-1983), Unpublished PhD Thesis, MIT,
Cambridge (1983), p. 15. - J. Boon, “The Modern Saudi Villa: Its Cause and Effect,” American Journal for Science and Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1982),
pp. 132-143. - M. Al-Gabbani, Community Structure, Residential Satisfaction, and Preferences in a Rapidly Changing Urban Environment:
The Case of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Michigan, University of Michigan (1984). - Jordanian Academic.
- T. Abu-Ghazzeh, “Vernacular Architecture Education in the Islamic Society of Saudi Arabia: Towards the Development of
an Authentic Contemporary Built Environment,” Habitat Int., Vol. 21, No. 2 (1997), pp. 229-253.
Figure 3: Ministry of Interior — Riyadh