and from small to large, with originality, rather than tradition, playing a central role in the choice; though tradition is not yet absent and similarities among houses is still evident. However, in the modern vernacular system, there is considerable variation of functions associated with cultural values and tradition, with the home owner playing only a minimal role in the construction process leaving all the work to be done by specialists including landscapers, carpenters, electricians, etc. As such, this increased specialization of function goes along with the differentiation of roles and technological development of a culture, as in industrialized societies (Figure 14).

Therefore, whatever the cause for the decline of environmentaly responsive housing may be, the clear result is that by the ends the twentieth century housing at Al-Madina Al-Monawarah has become a matter of personal preference, rather than a product of local tradition or resources. A relation between a house of Al-Madina and it’s environment has disappeared.

2-2 Culture

The role of culture in house designs most evident in some of its facets: Cosmology, Religion, and family and social culture.

2-2-1) Cosmology:

Altman cited that people perceive the world through different direction. Within Islamic cities, the vertical dimension becomes evident. The vertical dimension is evident in many societies, what can be said about the origions? Undoubtedly many factors contribute to sensibility to sheer presence of the sky, sun, moon, and stars points to visible and ever present vertical dimension. The unreachability of these objects enhances the attribution of symbolic and religious qualities to the vertical. ⁽⁹⁾

Al Madinians, believe that heaven, earth and hell represent a vertical dimension of the universe which continue to be vivid and real throughout their lives. Through the courtyard, people see the endless sky and this makes it easy to speculate about heaven ( Figure 15).

Contemporary house designs including residential flats and even private villas neglected the old attitude towards vertical dimension, as house design have become a closed space without such a relation to the sky ( Fig. 16).

 2.2.2) Religion

Biance S. cited that: compared with other religious traditions, the distinctive feature of Islam is that it has given birth to a comprehensive and integrated cultural system by totally embedding the religious practice in the daily life of the individual and the society. While Islam did not prescribe formal architectural concepts, it moulded the whole way of life by providing a matrix of behavioural archetypes which, by necessity, generated correlated physical patterns. ⁽⁷⁾ Through the old urban context of Al-Madina, one can figure the followings:

2.2.2.1) Equality and Solidarity

The structuring laws of both the houses and the city itself of Al-Madina were based on the principals of equality and solidarity among all human beings. All human beings, regardless of their relative status in worldly terms, are considered servants of God. This has, in turn, reduced to a considerable extent the relevance of earthly hierarchies by marking them as accidental and revocable distinctions. Accordingly, the resulting cellular structure of the house and the city was predicated on the “wholeness” of each self-contained unit, regardless of its relative position in the urban system. The outcome was the typical multi focal pattern defined by the countless “centers” of individual buildings rather than by a rational grid of streets and squares. The morphological homogeneity of that pattern allowed the multiple individual forms to merge into a lively and highly differentiated architectural unity .

2-2-2-2 The Human or Temporal Realm and Divine or Timeless Realm

It is a major concern of Islam to maintain a clear distinction between the two levels of existence, one being the human or temporal realm, the other being the divine or timeless realm. Nevertheless, both spheres are always seen in close interaction: while Islam emphasizes the uniqueness of God, it also affirms the fundamental oneness of his creation, which ultimately implies the unity of both worlds. ⁽⁷⁾  The courtyard of the house was the tool to achieve this goal by relating the two realms through the vertical dimension.

2-2-2-3) The Prayer:

Most of the institutional functions in Islamic cities were fulfilled by the Friday Mosque,  the prime public