Lamprakos...
usta’s hand is often restricted by conservation guidelines that do little to foster creative solutions. In the new outlying
districts there is little planning, no rules to follow, and few worthy precedents. There is one area, however, where we may
find the inventive application of traditional techniques to new building types: the old, formerly walled suburbs, espe-
cially Bir al-Azab. These low-rise neighborhoods were the proving ground for the current generation of ustas and their
fathers. Here they built, added to, and embellished houses very different from the tower house, under the critical eye of
their elders. “Bir al-Azab is not part of UNESCO’s Sana’a, but it’s part of the ustas’ Sana’a,” observed a local architect. In
contrast to the newer suburbs, context and precedent are important here. As such, these neighborhoods could become
a laboratory for new turath.
This essay is indebted to conversations with numerous individuals, including Ali Oshaish, Giovanni Boccardi, Yahya al-
Dhahbani, Yassin Ghalib, Abdullah al-Hadrami, Nadia al-Kawkabani, Steven Kramer, Ronald Lewcock, Abdelkarim
Mohsen, Ali Oshaish, Selma al-Radi, Ahmad al-Rawdhi, Abdullah al-Rawdhi, Saba al-Suleihi, and Francesco Varanda.