INTRO

The Bahraini House

The courtyard, surrounded by the functional spaces is the ‘heart’ of the domestic realm, but visibility towards other spaces is limited due to the small and narrow entrance door and/or openings. The spaces distributed around the courtyard(s) usually have the same size, shape and function, (except the kitchen, storage and the area for animals) and its use or function varies throughout the day and throughout the seasons. The roof terrace is a space of great importance serving multiple functions such as storage, production (such a drying fish), sleeping (on hot summer nights) and circulation. The upper rooms located in this area may be used by women when external visitors are in the house. This vertical movement is, therefore, both daily as seasonal. According to Yarwood, El-Mansari (2005, p.18) most spaces are extremely flexible and can be used to sleep, eat or socialize.

The house also reflects the fundamental aspects of the social interaction between genders within the family in daily social practices. The spaces that relate directly with the entrance have a semi-private nature, since they serve the ‘life of men’: their visitors, public events or others. The social function of hospitality is so important that the majilis (literally translated as sitting room that were mainly oriented for receiving visitors) may have a completely independent access from the domestic/family domain (Yarwood, El-Mansari, 2005, P.19). The ‘heart’ of the house is never directly accessible or visible from the entrance because it serves the daily life of the family mainly centred in women and children.

Privacy needs define the location and arrangement of openings to the outside world. The upper floors, normally have few wood decorated extended windows (mashrabyia) where women can sit and observe the outside world without being seen, specially by men which are not related in 1st degree. If they wish to speak to women from neighbourhood houses, it is possible to open this lattice wood window, and engage in a lively conversation. (Al-Thahab et al., 2014, p.242)

The house has an extremely flexible configuration. The spaces distributed around the courtyard(s) usually have the same size, configuration and function, except the kitchen, storage and an area for animals. This is normally named ‘apartment’ or ‘room’, and its use or function varies throughout the day and throughout the seasons.

The terrace is a space as important as any other room used in summer nights for being more fresh. The upper rooms located in the upper terrace may be used by women when external visitors are in the house. This vertical movement is, therefore, both daily as seasonal.

“A space can be used to sleep, eat, socialize, etc.”

Serageldin (1995, p.198) names it flexible formalism which can be experienced both in the use of the courtyards and of the several divisions in the home, and implies a complete symbiosis between all inhabitants regarding the overall norms of conduct. Independently of the apparent similarity, each room is located in relation to the entrance(s) and spaces for the reception of visitors, according to implicit rules. Inhabitants and visitors judge and interpret the social context of each situation and act accordingly but it is the built space that guides them.

 

DESIGN CHALLENGE

For this year award, Eskan Bank is asking students to rethink what it means to live in the 21st century in Bahrain. Culture traditions and social habits define who we are and how we live but, these also evolve and adapt to new technologies, and lifestyles. Despite all the changes occurred in Bahraini society, there is also permanence in the way people relate to one another and use space. Therefore, the challenge is to RETHINK the nuclear family HOUSE and tribal/neighbourhood BLOCK. 

What is permanent and what has changed in family life?

What is permanent what has changed in extended family/friends/neighbours’ life?

Rethinking the House and the Block: mid-rise, high-density, high energy efficient housing for Bahrain

In the past 5 years, surveys made to Bahrainis on housing related topics reveal an extraordinary and consistent resistance towards vertical living solutions. The main concerns relate to the desire of owning land, the need for future extension (extended families) and overall desire for self-building. Considering the history of housing in Bahrain, marked mainly by low rise solutions (detached, semi-detached and row assembly) and mid-rise (4 to 6 floors) solutions between 1979-2012, and only in recent years focusing on the high-rise tower assembly (central core circulation with parking platform in the first floors), it is understandable Bahrainis resistance: the new high-rise developments promote a very different lifestyle from the old Bahraini fareej. The communal block composed by extended families and neighbors introverted houses, sharing daily life tasks, daily needs and life events in mostly semi-private spaces has given way to introverted tower blocks, normally with parking on the first levels, detaching residential functions from the street level and the proximity to services, facilities and outdoor communal spaces. The residential units themselves while extroverted to the outside world, are normally served by a double loaded corridor which reduces opportunities for encounter amongst neighbors. There is also little opportunity for personalization, extension, or adaptation in the form of self-building - time stands still. 

It is therefore, important to understand Bahrainis needs and desires and explore alternative housing solutions that explore feelings of community, hierarchies of public space, self-sufficiency and flexibility typical of Bahraini society.

Exploring the development of housing solutions for dense urban areas, characterized by low to mid-rise developments is as important for the healthy urban growth of cities as high-rise developments and could perform important functions of consolidating existing urban fabric and promoting the healthy neighborhood.

This project will focus on developing a housing project in a consolidated urban area, where the need to promote safe pedestrian movement, complement deficiencies of the neighborhood in terms of services, facilities and open spaces, and an integrated design with its surroundings are the main focus. Consolidated urban areas are, many times, more traditional in terms of the social norms and cultural values, which would also highlight the need for the design to understand those needs both from the new residents and the existing neighbors.

It is commonly accepted that high-quality residential structures are much more than efficient floor plans but, above all about all levels of mediation between the urban realm and the private refuge of the home. As all buildings but more, incisive in housing typologies, the negotiation of boundaries and thresholds, is of great importance for the spatial and social success of housing projects. In general, we can divide these different levels of interfaces in 4 categories:

Urban context: related to building form and how it dialogues to the surrounding urban structure; 

Ground-floor zone: the dialogue and privacy gradients that mediate the transition between public and private, dialogue with surroundings and complexity of different circulations;

Building structure: related to relationship with the street; orientation/views; type of stacking; internal circulation; and dwelling organization;

Façade: related to overall aesthetics – dressing, protecting, opening, covering, masking, veiling, form surface, landscape, city scape, image, folding, appropriating, etc.