Architectural Beauty out of Poverty, Jabal Haraz Yemen


The Haraz region in Yemen in one the poorest places on earth. An estimated 1 in 5 inhabitants are malnourished and only %0.7 have safe sanitation. It is a brutal climate, with only 1/50th of the average world’s access to water. Yet out of their rough history and ongoing struggles, or because of it, a beautiful architecture emerged.

Safety

Centuries of invasions and brutality led to great fortified cities on mountain peaks. Buildings huddle around each other and thick walls keep intruders out. They blend in with the sandstone environment so enemies can not see them from afar. People are afraid to step out of line with what is acceptable in their town, because the punishment may be brutal, so the architecture remains very homogeneous. Also, the smartest people are in charge, unlike the typical Western home owner’s association.

Heat

From each challenge in Yemen emerges a cheap architectural solution. In Western countries, cheap means a portable air conditioner in a trailer home, but in Yemen the cost of upkeep over centuries is taken into account. Walls of thick thermal mass, courtyards, and openings that trap the breezes are much cheaper over the long run. Scorching temperatures and low incomes led to passive cooling techniques instead of air conditioning. Slavery was fairly recently abolished, but it provided a cheap means of producing such labor intensive vernacular buildings.

Agriculture

In Western countries settlers choose the most lush area to plant their crops and live. As time goes by, that area becomes a booming city and agriculture gets pushed out to more arid places. In Haraaz this does not happen, because agricultural land is so rare and precious. Rare green earth is used for farming, and buildings are located at rocky wilderness. Green land from centuries ago looks the same as it did centuries ago.

Politics

Political strife led the people to make communal towns, small clusters of homes and businesses where family dynasties determine who your friends are. Religion also becomes very important. Islamic architecture thrives, as the people rely on buildings more for their spiritual as well as temporal salvation. Great architecture, after all, is never Atheistic.


(Rod Waddington– flickr/creative commons license)

(Rod Waddington– flickr/creative commons license)

(Rod Waddington– flickr/creative commons license)

(Rod Waddington– flickr/creative commons license)

(Rod Waddington– flickr/creative commons license)

(Ai@ce– flickr/creative commons license)

(Ai@ce– flickr/creative commons license)

(Ai@ce– flickr/creative commons license)

(fiat.luxury– flickr/creative commons license)
 

(featured images by Rod Waddington on flickr/creative commons)