Humanizing Architecture in a Materialistic World Using Symbols and Morals

Abstract

Architectural schools of design overwhelmingly adapt to cultural backgrounds of societies they target. This paper distinguishes between ideologies that generated Western, contemporary architecture, and on the other hand, the values of traditional Arab communities. The paper aims at parrying architectural plastic formations that are irrelevant to the local Arab discourse. The paper rediscovers a value oriented architecture that is capable of moving spiritual feelings towards the built environment, even if its formalistic and visual attractiveness is controversial. The paper demonstrates examples of what can be called “sincere†architecture rather than stunning and sight-startling products that apparently or superficially hold value.

Keywords: Human architecture; spiritual architecture; symbolism; social building; experiencing architecture

eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.