Mashrabiya


A mashrabiya, also either shanshūl or rūshān, is an architectural element which is characteristic of traditional architecture in the Islamic world. It is a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood latticework located on the upper floors of a building, sometimes enhanced with stained glass. It has been used since the Middle Ages and up to the 20th century. It is most commonly used on the street side of the building; however, it may also be used internally on the sahn side. The style may be informally known as a "harem window" in English.

Etymology

The term mashrabiya is derived from the triliteral root Š-R-B, which generally denotes drinking or absorbing. There are two theories for its name:
In some parts of the Arab world, a mashrabiya may be known as a tarima, rūshān or a shanasheel.

History

The date of their origin is unknown; however, the earliest evidence of the mashrabiya in its current form dates back to the 12th century in Baghdad, during the Abbasid period. The mashrabiyas that remain in Middle Eastern cities were mostly built during the late 19th century and early-to-mid-20th century, but some mashrabiyas are three to four hundred years old. An extant example of an ancient residence incorporating mashrabiya is the Bayt al-Razzaz, a two-storey mansion dating to the Mamluk period in Cairo.
In Iraq during the 1920s and 1930s, the designs of the latticework were influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements of the time.
Mashrabiyas, along with other distinct features of historic Islamic architecture, were being demolished as part of a modernisation program across the Arab world from the first decades of the 20th-century. In Baghdad, members of the arts community feared that vernacular architecture would be lost permanently and took steps to preserve them. The architect, Rifat Chadirji and his father, Kamil, photographed structures and monuments across Iraq and the Saudi region, and published a book of photographs. The artist and educator, Lorna Selim, sketched these buildings with their decorative mashrabiya, and took her students at Baghdad's Institute of Architecture into Baghdad's alleyways and riverfronts to sketch vernacular structures in order to appreciate their importance. Such initiatives have contributed to a renewed interest in traditional practices as a means of building sustainable residences in harsh climatic conditions.

Construction

Traditionally, houses are built of adobe, brick or stone or a combination. Wooden houses are not popular and hardly ever found. Building heights in urban setting range from two to five floors with the mashrabiyas on the second level and above. The roofs are usually built using wooden or steel beams with the areas between filled with brick in a semi vault style. These beams were extended over the street, enlarging the footprint of the upper floor. The upper floor is then enclosed with latticework and roofed with wood. The projection is cantilevered and does not bear the weight of traditional building materials.
There are different types of mashrabiyas, and the latticework designs differ from region to region. Most mashrabiyas are closed where the latticework is lined with stained glass and part of the mashrabiya is designed to be opened like a window, often sliding windows to save space; in this case the area contained is part of the upper floor rooms hence enlarging the floor plan. Some mashrabiyas are open and not lined with glass; the mashrabiya functions as a balcony and the space enclosed is independent of the upper floor rooms and accessed through those rooms with windows opening towards it. Sometimes the woodwork is reduced making the mashrabiya resemble a regular roofed balcony; this type of mashrabiya is mostly used if the house is facing an open landscape such as a river, a cliff below or simply a farm, rather than other houses.
showing its many "gallariji".

Occurrences

Mashrabiyas were mostly used in houses and palaces although sometimes in public buildings such as hospitals, inns, schools and government buildings. They tend to be associated with houses of the urban elite classes. They are found mostly in the Mashriq – i.e. the eastern part of the Arab world, but some types of similar windows are also found in the Maghreb. They are very prevalent in Iraq, Iran, the Levant, Hejaz and Egypt. In Basra, where they are very prevalent, they are known as shanasheel to the extent that Basra is often called "the city of Shanashil." Some 400 traditional buildings are still standing in Basra.
In Malta, mashrabiyas are quite common, especially in dense urban areas. They are usually made from wood and include glass windows, but there are also variations made from stone or aluminium. They could possibly originate from around the tenth century during the Arab occupation of the islands, but the modern word for it in the Maltese language is "gallarija", which is of Italic origin. Recognised as being the predecessors of the iconic closed balcony, or "gallarija", in 2016 Maltese authorities scheduled a total of 36 ancient mashrabiyas as Grade 2 protected properties.

Utilisation

Social

One of the major purposes of the mashrabiya is privacy, an essential aspect of Arab and Muslim culture. From the mashrabiya window, occupants can obtain a good view of the street without being seen.
The mashrabiya was an integral part of Arab lifestyle. Typically, people did not sleep in any assigned room, rather they would take their mattresses and move to areas that offered the greatest comfort according to the seasons: to the mashrabiya in winter, to the courtyard in spring or to vaulted basements in summer.

Environment

The wooden screen with openable windows gives shade and protection from the hot summer sun, while allowing the cool air from the street to flow through. The designs of the latticework usually have smaller openings in the bottom part and larger openings in the higher parts, hence causing the draft to be fast above the head and slow in lower parts. This provides a significant amount of air moving in the room without causing it to be uncomfortable. The air-conditioning properties of the window is typically enhanced by placing jars of water in the area, allowing air to be cooled as it passes over the jars.
The projection of the mashrabiya achieves several purposes: it allows air from three sides to enter, even if the wind outside is blowing parallel to the house façade; it serves the street, and in turn the neighborhood, as a row of projected mashrabiyas provides shelter for those in the streets from rain or sun. The shade in normally narrow streets will cool the air in the street and increase the pressure as opposed to the air in the sahn, which is open to the sun making it more likely that air would flow towards the sahn through the rooms of the house; the mashrabiya also provides protection and shade for the ground floor windows that are flat and usually unprotected.

Architecture

One of the major architectural benefits is correcting the footprint shape of the land. Due to winding and irregular streets, plots of land are also commonly irregular in shape, while the house designs are regular squares and rectangles. This would result in irregular shapes of some rooms and create dead corners. The projection allows the shapes of the rooms on the upper floors to be corrected, and thus the entire plot of land to be utilised. It also increases the usable space without increasing the plot size.
On the street side, in addition to their ornamental advantage, mashrabiyas served to provide enclosure to the street and a stronger human scale.

Alternate spellings