Architecture as a reflection of social structure : a reminiscience of the Sulaymaniye Complex of Istanbul

Physical and spatial structure including the hierarchy of spaces and linkages becomes a window into understanding human social relations which governed by social practices of its time. This is because architectural monuments represent a manifestation of those values and practices. The content of this book brings together selected portions of the renowned Süleymaniye complex in Istanbul, Turkey, from an outcome of general historical research project undertaken in ‘Heritage Studies’ activities of the Kullyyyah. Throughout the book, architecture and urban planning is seen as a mirror to the social structure and the social institutions of the Ottoman society at the time. The making of architecture and urban planning to some extent reflected the values and practices underlying these institutions namely the waqf or charitable foundation. Thus an analysis of the Süleymaniye, not only demonstrates the achievements of building technology and construction of the time, but of the success of aims of the waqf. The link is made between the social structure and institutions of the 15th and 16th centuries and the physical patterns in planning, architecture and construction. A work of architecture and urban design become a mean of deepening our understanding of not only architectural language and technical achievements, but of the society, human relations and values which created it

Reweaving the urban fabric of the historic riverfront townscape of Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur

This study aims to examine the state of decline in the art of relationship between the urban river and all other elements in the historic townscape using principles of the Integrative Theory with the purpose to identify what binds townscape together and gives its sense of place and what causes the rupture. A qualitative-method case study was conducted in the Masjid India Riverfront District involving a visual survey, townscape appraisal, and content analysis on the morphology of the historic riverfront. The results show that the rupture between townscape and river as context is a product of poor walkability in a riverfront devoid of any setting for meaningful human activities, and the key to reweave the historic townscape is to rediscover what gives its meaning and sense of place

Historic waterfront and the sense of place: the case of two unesco world heritage sites of Malaysia

Urban waterfronts are unique cultural resources which has great potential to improve economic development, public enjoyment and civic identity. The waterfront area in the historic parts of a city presents an opportunity to revitalise declining urban areas as well as giving the city its sense of place. This issue is more predominant in the historic areas where the waterfront that was once active with port activities, cease to function in its traditional capacity. George Town and Penang were both jointly awarded the UNESCO world heritage site in 2008 because of the similarity in issues an d the functions they served in the past. The waterfronts of the cities were included in the heritage sites boundaries and their approaches to the waterfront development have important influence in the attempts to retain their sense of place. This paper is based on a research on waterfront regeneration of Malaysian cities funded by the government of Malaysia. It examines the approach to waterfront regeneration in the major cities of Malaysia including the two historic cities. A mixed method approach was adopted for the research using field observations, morphological study, in depth interview, questionnaire survey and content analysis of policies in government documents to collect data for the analysis. The research attempts to compare the differences in approaches between the two heritage cities and their effects to the sense of place. The research discovers that the level of contextual integration is an important consideration for successful waterfront regeneration for historic cities as to retain their sense of place