Transforming mosques into a containment space during natural disasters; browsing through recent publications

Mosques around the world have been serving the Muslim community for religious and social purposes since the beginning of Islam. Mosques have played an important role to educate and create a peaceful yet proper cosmos for its visitors. However, nowadays, mosques are not only used for its educational component, but on occasion have been transformed into places to serve multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities during natural disasters. This paper is an attempt to surf through the recent publications that discuss natural disasters and the containment of such incidents. Four case studies have been presented to draw a picture of a mosque’s role before, during and after natural disasters. Although many researchers have investigated this role, there still is an urgent need to understand the several examples of cases globally and the issues the researchers have dealt with in such incidents. Selected papers have been reviewed to study the conclusions found in the most recent publications in this field. The aim of this paper is to find out the missing aspects and the gap in the literature for the purpose of future studies and designs

Ablution spaces cleanliness : literature debate on the Malaysian mosque’s design

Mosques, as a place for Muslim prayers and other social activities to be performed, are built to worship the Almighty Allah at all times, aside from providing an environment that responses to the needs of devotees, as well as educating the future generation by the Quranic verses and the Prophet’s teachings. Deriving from the Holy Quran and the Prophet, purity is compulsory at all times for Muslims, and it has many denotations that are applicable during prayers and during the day. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, in which ablution has to be performed prior to praying. The ablution room is always integrated in all mosques designs as it is an unseparated element. As such, this paper looks into the hygienic consideration of the ablution space; it discusses prior statements and some Islamic perceptions pertaining to the design of the ablution space, as well as the cleanliness of space and person. Several researches have been analyzed to seek better understanding regarding the relationship between space cleanliness and Muslims in the design of mosques. The results from the discussion reveal that purity is required for internal and external cleanliness, in which the facilities of ablution space in mosques have to be specific so as to avoid any type of intervention for other various usages. The paper is an effort to generate better hygiene space in future designs of mosques with focus on the ablution space, as well as to respond to the Islamic teaching for ablution and purity

Assessment Of Morphological Analysis Of Iraqi Traditional Courtyards Houses

The traditional Iraqi courtyards house demonstrates fundamentals principles in term of construction, its spatial organization and design can be compared with the modern home. The research claims the current housing design in Iraq does not fulfill the cultural and the social need of their residence; the traditional courtyard houses have manifested that in the uniqueness form in the plan. This research attempts to analyze the historical and traditional courtyard house as the arisen construction of houses in Iraq. The research objective is to document the architectural forms of the courtyards houses in Iraq. The form of the house is one of the aspects to be studied and understood as it measures and establishes the architecture design concept of these dwellings. Morphological study on the form of eight case studies of the Iraqi Traditional Courtyards Houses has been utilized. The aim is to discuss and inspect the uniqueness of these units that served their residences for decades. Additionally, the author used computer software (AutoCAD and 3d Max) to redraw the cases to be more representative. The study’s significance is to add a distinct understanding among designers, planners and decision-makers to put into consideration the future architecture of houses design and to preserve the traditional houses from vanishing. The findings revealed that privacy has a great influence on the design layout of the traditional house which presented in the simplicity of design and the separation between zones

Space arrangement and accessibility Impact of the Iraqi traditional courtyard House: an investigation of two case studies in Iraq, Baghdad

Spatial arrangement and components of the traditional Iraqi courtyards house have been utilized to express the residence activities inside the house and controlled their privacy. Despite its rich social content, the importance of those traditional house has been forgotten due to the rapid construction in Iraqi development. The lack of understanding on the meaning of the courtyards houses has led to a considerable gap between the current and the traditional housing resulting in an imperative need of urgent investigation of the issue. The study investigates how the Iraqi traditional courtyard house functioned and served both as a social and cultural place for the family and the guests activities. The two case studies of traditional Iraqi courtyard houses in Baghdad; in Al-Kadhymia district, were selected and morphologically analysed in this study. Floor plans and drawings of each case study were utilized to understand the physical planning of the traditional courtyard houses. The study concludes that the traditional courtyards have indirectly influenced the local people socially and culturally. The courtyard are utilized for various socially connected activities relating to the unit residential family and guests creating a more hospitable environment for interactions and better lifestyle. This study notably fills the gap in the design of the contemporary housing in Iraq and can be further expand to regional area

Negative impacts of chalets operation on the peninsular Malaysia marine park islands

The popularity of marine tourism put intense pressure on the island's environment. Limited studies were conducted to determine the negative impacts caused by chalets operation. Study aim is to investigate the adverse effects caused by the chalet’s operation on the Tioman and Perhentian Island. The objectives are to identify operation activities and the negative impact caused by the operation. The study was conducted by adopting qualitative method. The findings indicate solid waste disposal, groundwater extraction, and sewage disposal are destroying the marine environment in many ways. Several recommendations were provided to reduce the negative impacts

Typology of traditional courtyard houses as muslim functional spaces in low rise residential units, Iraq

A courtyard is an important transitional functional space with unique aesthetic design element used for Islamic social and cultural activities in traditional Iraq’s residential units and contributes to the Islamic identity of Iraq. However,their utilization is currently diminishing in Iraq’s new residential development due to lack of understanding of its Islamic function. There is a need to analyze the manner the existing Iraq’s traditional courtyards function as Islamic spaces and be integrated into the new residential development in Iraq. This study investigates how the traditional courtyards houses in Iraq embraces and enhances the relevant Islamic principles in relation to the overall residential unit layout and their potentials to be applied in the Iraqi new low rise residential units. Physical observations on the physical design characteristics and morphological studies on the form and planning on eight traditional Iraq’s courtyards houses were conducted. Subsequently, photographical and morphological analysis were utilized in interpreting the data. The study concludes that the traditional courtyards do posses certain Islamic principles in the planning and design which were either spontaneously implemented or as initially intended by the residents. This is due to the fact that compliance to Islamic principles was not made compulsory by local building authority. This study significantly fills the gap in the design of new Islamic residential courtyard houses worldwide to integrate both the Islamic principles and lifestyles in more meaningful manners

Design framework for ablution spaces in mosques in Malaysia

Mosques are places for Muslim prayers and other social activities to be performed. They are built to worship the Almighty Allah at all times, as well as for providing an environment that responds to the needs of devotees and educating the future generation by the Quranic verses and the Prophet’s teachings. Deriving from the Holy Quran and the Prophet, purity is compulsory at all times for Muslims, and it has many denotations that are applicable during prayers and the day. The ablution room is integrated into all mosque designs because it is an unseparated element. Malaysian mosques have been questioned in their application of some of the Islamic regulations to uniform a space that is hygienically clean, and that can respond to the needs of Muslims. The design of the ablution room in Malaysian mosques is encountering a serious issue related to the spaces’ hygiene. Although the ablution room has been designed to respond to a Muslim’s need to conduct the ablution practice and to clean a person spiritually and physically, several problems related to its design aspects were revealed. This research investigates the cleanliness of the Malaysian ablution space. It examines how the design aspects of the ablution rooms of the Iconic Malaysian Mosques impacts the cleanliness of the area and its users. Five case studies were selected for this study. Three methods of study were utilised: physical observation, architectural drawing analysis, and interviews. Aspects of design form, ventilation, cleaning status and user’s experience were discussed. The findings of this research suggested that the larger mosques in Malaysia were suffering from serious hygiene issues that resulted from many aspects including poor design, ventilation systems and users’ abuse. The research suggested some design guidelines for future and existing ablution areas that would significantly improve the condition hygienically