Traditional Architecture of the Arabian Gulf: Building on Desert Tides Book

This book chronicles the florescence of architecture in the Arabian Gulfafter the expulsion of the Portuguese in the early 1600's. It demonstrateshow the power vacuum created by the collapse of Portuguese control over thetrade routes in the Indian Ocean encouraged a growth in fortifiedarchitecture, especially in Oman, that radiated out to the surroundingregion and was then slowly replaced by new patterns in domestic and publicarchitecture and town planning throughout the Gulf as the trade lines were secured and the individual countries took the first steps towards the formation of today's modern nation-states.The book documents the buildings and crafts of this era and analyses themwithin the framework of the political, economic, and social informationavailable through primary sources from the period in a way that is bothintelligent and accessible. It considers the settlements as part of a larger-connected network of cities, towns and villages and focuses both on how the buildings provided innovative solutions to the demanding climate and yet incorporated new decorative and functional ideas.Topics are extensively and richly illustrated with colored photographs ofthe buildings as they are now, black and white and color historicphotographs from archival and museum collections, line drawings, andcomputer-generated reconstructions.The book is therefore attractive to a number of audiences, including thosewho live in or travel to the Gulf as well as people with an interest in Araband Islamic design, culture and society, vernacular architecture, andpost-colonial approaches to colonial history.Read More