ABSTRACT
The rise and fall of architectural trends and movements, and the sustained discourse on symbolism, character, and image making issues in architecture are derived from the need to search for an identity. That search seems to be a preoccupation with regions that have cultural richness and multi-layers of history. The Arab world is no exception, where architects find themselves dealing with a paradox, needing to project a certain image of themselves through their built environment while feeling the urge to play a part in modern civilization. Offering a positional interpretation of contemporary Arab architecture, this chapter interrogates the irony of identity, tradition and modernity by critically outlining a number of visual voices that represent selected interventions developed within this region. Through a reading of trends that emerged over the past few decades an effort is made to place such a reading in focus by outlining contextual geo-cultural politics and their inferences on the shaping of architectural identity. While scholars in architecture may criticize the interest and tendency to place emphasis on discussing expressions and building images, this work adopts the premise that since architecture is created for the public, then examining its public face is essential to the understanding of the juxtaposition of those expressions and images and what they convey and represent. An approach for a deeper insight into contemporary Arab architecture within which inevitable trends co-exist is framed based on positivistic and anti-positivistic positions and their underlying ontological and epistemological perspectives.
