Towards Contemporariness of Local Architecture: Lessons Learned from Previous Experience

The ideology of “Local Architecture” was about the religious experience, social and cultural interpretations non-awareness, and solutions for environmental and social problems. This case aims at producing a compatible architecture for this society. The problem of the paper deals with the absence of the local heritage in contemporary architecture. Most of our buildings reflect western ideologies, and use the local vocabulary, as has happened in most of the Arab architecture, that deals directly with a language of shapes to create compatibility with the public. Hence, the aim of the paper is to link the variables that the contemporary architecture formulated with concepts of local architecture. To meet such aims, the research is pivot around two themes: Firstly, tackling how to extract the forces that lead to the contemporariness of local heritage and formalize the DNA of any local community (Culture, Community Aspiration, Climate, and Technology), as well as discussing some experience that dealt with local architecture. Secondly, discussing some recent trials that learned from the previous attempts through history. The attempts strongly re-activate the local architecture in the contemporary challenges, namely, the use of heritage forms as is to conform to environmental determinants, development of these forms using contemporary materials through the visions of local architecture, and employing high-tech solutions to achieve contemporary appropriateness within traditional ideologies. In the end, the paper presents new ideas of the local architecture that learned from the previous experiences in our Arab societies to meet the needs of today's Arab societies.