JAZEERAT AL HAMRATHE AUTHENTIC VILLAGE

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Al Jazeera El Hamra, what was also known as Jazirat Al Zaab is the last authen-tic and traditional town standing in the United Arab Emirates. The people of Al Jazeera El Hamra deserted the town to the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi in 1968 due to political prob-lems. Al Jazeera El Hamra was one of the main towns in Ras Al Khaimah due to its strategic location on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Be-fore being linked to the shore, by a stretch of reclaimed ground, the island was known, to be flushed with high tide, however, it always main-tained the red coloured sand hence the name Al Jazeera El Hamra.

The people of Al Jazeera El Hamra were said to be Hadhr, which is the local name for coastal Bedouins. They consisted mostly of Al Zaab tribe. The Zaab were Hinawi inpoli-tics and Hanbali Sunnis by religion. The Zaab people are said to be originally descendants of the Bani Saleem tribe who themselves were de-

there were at least half a dozen pearling boats which employed almost every man in the vil-lage.

cendents of the Bani Adnan tribe living in Najd and al Hijaz (Saudia Arabia). The Zaab tribe was known as the defendant of the coast of Ras Al Khaimah. Hand in hand with the Qwassim they fought the Portuguese and the British. They were also known for their fierce attacks on Britishships, that in the 19th century they were forced to sign a treaty with the British that no British ships would be attacked. The treaty was also signed by, Al Nahyan, Al Maktoum, Al Qwassim, Al Ali (Mualla) and Al Bu Khraiban (Al Neim).

The Zaab people were sea fearers, much of their life was spent in the sea, where pearl diving was a main activity, providing them with a good source of income. Pearling under-pinned Ras Al Khaimah’s economy. However, with the crumpling pearl industry, Ras Al Khaimah invested heavily in it’s agricultural base to get men to work and feed people. “Fruit and veg-etable plantation especially date plantations grew inexorably in the 1930’s” (Wilson, 2007)

The Rulers brother, Sheikh Moham-med Bin Salim Al Qassimi, “imported tools from Dubai and provided funding to allow men of Al Jazeera El Hamra to break up their old pearling boats, buy in some new wood, and begin con-verting redundant vessels to new craft” (Wil-son, 2007).

Above: A women in Khatt working on talee. Above-centered: An arial view of a section of Al Jazeerah El Hamra

The overall economic condition of al Jazirah El Hamra was quite weak. People fi-nancially relied on fishing. Due to its strategicpoint, local men were encouraged to travel, thus bringing in various products. Fabric and clothing was bought from India and Al Basra, Iraq, these were re-sold in Ras Al Khaimah. People lived simple lives, where seamen had their own crews, and shopkeepers worked for themselves, personally administering their shops. Men were always carrying out various jobs, either fishing or selling, where womenwere left with household duties.

It was also well known that many of the Zaab families owned date plantations in the village of Khatt. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Sa-lim had also bought some utensils that were given to women in Khatt. These tools were used to make furniture and baskets from date palm stems. The people in Al Jazeera El Hamra bought the baskets and pieces of furniture and later sold them in Bombay, India. Although this was not a good source of income, a few rupees were able to help these poor people. Due to it’s strategic location on the coast, the life in Al Jazeera El Hamra mostly depended on fishingand trade.

The people of Al Jazirah El Hamra were coast-al Bedouins, ‘Hadhr’. They relied on the sea for survival. Their diet consisted of a lot fishas well as other varieties of seafood including prawns, crabs, anchovies, sardines and shark. In contrast to the bedou the hadhr relied on cat-tle rather than camel for milk and meat. “Cows were kept to provide fresh milk for drinking and also for the preparation of laban, dihn/zibda and samn within the household. The cows were kept in the home compound, foraging on local desert plants supplemented by over-ripe dates and dried sardines.”(Iddison, 1999).

Unlike the badou, the hadhr had ac-cess to fresh water, through wells. They used the oxen to draw fresh well water, which they drank and used for cooking.

“We the hadhr, consumed more dates than badou and bdaah. We were the men that traveled to get the wheat, and thus we had the largest portions. And with the availibity of wheat we consumed more bread such as mhala, chbab, khmeer, all of which were made using dates.” (Rashed, A)

The people in Al Jazirah El Hamra consumed fish on a daily basis. In the summerthey would fish and sell but in winter, fishingbecomes very dangerous. Thus before the be-ginning of the season they stopped eating three kinds of fish, El Knaad, El Sad and El Gbaab.These three breeds are filleted, cleaned andsalinated then arranged in big clay pots. These pots were then sealed and kept in a dry place for a period of three to four months. The fishthen called “maleh” or “chseef” is then served with rice. Prawns, anchovies, sardines and shark were also sun dried and preserved. The people took on simple and healthy lives using up the resources they had efficiently.

Many of the people of Al Jazira El Hamra owned palm gardens in Khatt. During the summer, the people used to travel to other places such as Al Batna, Khatt, Diba, Fahaheel, and AlHeel looking for “Khalal” (fhe first phaseof dates and fresh water), while in winter they enjoyed the great coastal breeze on the island.

Above: Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salim Al Qassimi. Below: A sales man, who just bought fish from the fishermen.

AL-Anbar: This game is played by putting four cans on top of each others. The player stands ten meters far from the cans and tries to throw a ball on the cans. If he aims the cans they win, if not the other players take the ball and run after him and hit him with it.

Al-Soot: A group of kids play this game by bring-ing the (Soot) which is a cone shaped piece of wood. After that the players wrap it with a string and throw it on a flat ground. The (Soot) startsspinning and a stick is sometimes used to hit the (Soot) so that the spin increases.

performed by one or two rows (up to four) of men opposite to each others. In each raw men are standing close to each others as an evi-dence of conjunction. Each individual holds a stick in one hand. Between the rows there is a small group of men, those men play big and small drums. Al-Ayyala starts with the signal of head of the band in which the singer starts singing the first verses of the anthem. One ofthe rows starting singing while the other raw bend towards the big drum in the middle. The two rows exchange bending and singing and the singer moves from a row to the other com-pleting the song. The performance continues with the sounds of the drums and specific tra-ditional anthems and songs. Al-Ayyala also includes another performance which is waving with swords and guns representing power and courage.

Al-Ahla Al-Ahla is one of the oldest and most popular arts in the UAE. It is similar to al-Ayy-ala except that al-Ahla doesn’t include musical instruments. Al-Ahla is a traditional art per-formed without the use of any drums or musical instruments. It is said that the rise of al-Ahla goes back to the Wahhaby expedition in 1811B.C when the use of musical instrument was pro-hibited in ceremonies. This art has moved by Al-Za’ab from Ras Al-Khaima to Umm Al-Qu-wainn, Kalba and the other Emirates. Al-Ahla is performed after al-Maghreb prayer by sitting on the ground in two groups in a shape of a circle with all the members putting their sticks on the ground. One of the groups starts performing an anthem and the other group sings the same one. Then both groups stand in opposite to each oth-er and continue singing the anthem. One group replies to the other by saying the word (Ahla Al-lah) which is the basic of this performance and from it was named al- Ahla. The art of AL-Ahla depends on the tune of the word and the power of the voice.

Folklore and Traditional Games

Like any other culture, the local cul-ture here is known for traditional dances and games. Listed below are some of the main dances, games. and free time jobs.

Women traditional free time jobs: Women used to spend their free time chatting with one another, but their hands used to work, making either ghaafy (plural) for the boys or hseer. The gahfiya is a small caps madefrom date tree straws. They also spent a lot of time making haseer (mats). These were used mainly as dining mats. They were also during picnics, where women used to lay them on teh ground and sit on them.

Al-Ayyala: Al-Ayaala is folklore dance, which is still common in the UAE and performed in na-tional and social ceremonies. It’s considered to be the dance of victory after war, that’s why it embodies the value of courage. Al-Ayyala is

Above: A woman making haseer. To the left: A woman making a gahfiyah for the boys. Below: Girls playing in the evening.

The Environment:

A-Guhhaif The players bring a small piece of charcoal or dry clay and draw squares in a spe-cific shape. The first player starts with throwinga small stone on the first square and the moveson one leg until she reaches the stone. Then she moves the stone with her right foot from and to the starting point. If the player fails in throw-ing the stone in the first square she throws itinto the second square and so on.

Al-Sagla: The girls bring a group of small stones. The game starts by distributing the stones on the ground. The player throws one stone high and quickly tries to collect as many stones she can and then grab the thrown stone before it reaches the ground. The girl who collects more stones is the winner.

AL-Karrabi: Al-Karabi is a traditional game which was very common in the UAE. It is played by two kids. Both have to jump on one leg without stopping. The winner is the one who continues jumping for a long time while the loser is the one who stops first.

Ghaf : Prosopis Cinserania: A dome-shaped tall, green tree. The Ghaff grows to height of 10 to 13 meters. They are also known to reach an age of 100 years.Ghaf is monoecious. In winter, the Ghaf flow-ers become bright yellow in areas with good ground water. It can also withstand prolonged drought and high sanity level.

The overall environment of the place is actually quite cool and dry. Prevailing winds from the North provide the area with a cool breeze. The soil is known be dry, however, due to the rich water table, people were able to grow trees and vegetation. The two main trees were,

Sidr: Ziziphus spinaChrist: The Sidr is an-other very common tree. It is a beautiful tall shaped tree, reaching about 10 meters, it’s fruits are edibale and quite tasty. The sidr grows well in gravelly or silty soil in wadi’s and plains. In the UAE, the sidr is the number one naturally growing fruit tree. Many birds, such as Bulbuls, doves, francoling, and meenas feed on the fruits of the sidr. Camels and goats also love to eat Sidr foliage. Sidr can also act as a windbreaker controlling erosion of the land.

Girls playing ghaif. Centered right: boys playing el karabi. Far right: the Ghaf tree.

These are simple and very entertaining games. However, the new generations are un-concious about them. Thus it is very important that these are told and brought to life again, as they are part of our culture, and they are much healthier than the games we have nowadays.

THE PRESENT FORM

THE PRESENT FORM

Entering Al Jazeera El Hamra, a mix-ture of two types of buildings would first be no-ticed, those that are grey in colour and those in natural sand colour. It was in the mid 60’s that breezeblocks began to appear in Al Jazeerah El Hamra. People not knowing the difference modernized their houses. However, the wors-ening conditions of the water table led people to stop the reconstruction, hence the survival of coral stone housing. However, even with the presence of breezeblocks, coral stones were still used in the foundations. These coral stones were imported from Tumb Island, now part of the Iranian territory. Gypsum was also highly used, it was made from limestone that was brought down from the mountains. The limestone would be mined, burned with old palm trees and left for one to two days. The mixture is then mixed with water and sand.

We selected an area near the coast, choosing the mosque of Yousef El Aary El Zaa-bi and several buildings, which were drawn and studied.

The House of Abdulla bin Mohammed Bin Saeed Al Zaabi

Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saeed Al Zaabi was a well known merchant. He was known to be well off financially, owning palm gardensand a house in Khatt. The house of Abdulla bin Mohammed Bin Saeed was originally owned by Mihzim Bin Mohammed Al Zaabi, who was the cousin of the ruler of the island, Ali Bin Has-san AL Zaabi. The actual land was bought by Hassan Bin Jimal, who built a house and sold it to Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saeed in the 1960’s. Extensions were later added by the owner.

Abdullah’s villa consists of eight bed rooms, a Majlis, and six bathrooms; they’re all

Above: An arial vie of the area chosen by the sea. Highlighted are the buildings we chose to study.

surrounding the courtyard. One of the bed-rooms that are on the right side on the far end of elevation c with a partition is the guest’s bed-room with a separate toilet, while the rest of the house shares the rest of the 5 toilets. The main entrance on elevation c, it comes in the middle of the elevation, you enter the garage and from the garage you have a door on the right side that will lead you to the villa. The rooms and toilets which lay on elevation d is an extension that was added later for their married son. The actual design consists of 3 bedrooms, guest’s bedroom, a Majles, and 4 toilets. As you can see in the floor plan below the main entrance isfacing a room that was used as a Majlis, having 3 bedrooms on the same elevation on each side of the Majles. On the right side there is connect-ed rooms, the room with no entrance leading to the courtyard is the kid’s bedroom.

The house has different levels of plat-form; the guest room is on the ground while the rest of the rooms come on a platform. The rooms on elevation b are on one-step high plat form whereas the rooms on elevation d come on a three step high platform.

The roof of the house is tilted inwards towards the courtyard with small pipes drain-ing rain water into the tanks they place under them. The water drained from the pipes fill-ing the tanks was used for plant irrigation.

Looking at the house interior we ob-served that they were aware of interior deco-rations and accessories. The house was sur-rounded with simple geometric shape arches as well as carvings on the exterior and inte-rior walls of the house. The ceiling was made out of three layers, gypsum, coral stones, and tree plunks that serves as a decorative part in corridors. Whereas ceiling with décor ply were used in the rooms to cover the tree plunks. You can see the transition between the actual design interior materials and the extension section interior that was added later. They used yellow and green wall paint, they used ceiling with décor ply, glass win-dows and for the lighting they didn’t use naked

bulbs they used simple decorated chandeliers. In addition to that they used new electrical devices, such as air fans. The European style was reflected in their interiors specifically inthe section that was added later, because their son had a business with the British and went to London for a period of time. They used wooden flush doors with European style.

Above: A Floor plan of the present house. Below, left: The extension on a higher platform. Below: Chandlier

They had a closed built in garage with steel doors at the entrance which through it you can enter the villa. The design of the garage at that time was found in European countries like UK. The house has few ventilation problems; the windows are placed towards the courtyard. Having the windows overlooking the courtyard there isn’t enough exposure to fresh air. In my opinion the windows should overlook the other side of the house where the house will be ex-posed to fresh air coming from the sea, specially the rooms that fall on the left side of the house; they are positioned in the same direction of the wind coming from the sea. The second problem is that the guest room and toilet has no win-dows, which mean’s there isn’t enough natural air going through that area for ventilation.

The Shops In the UAE, traditional shops had the characteristics of simplicity and functional-ity. Owners of shops either brought goods and items from nearby countries or made the prod-ucts themselves. Each shop specialized in sell-ing specific goods. Some of the goods that weresold are garments, spices, ice, bread, herbs, fish and more.

The design of the shops in the past didn’t have any ornaments or carvings. It was geometric and plain. What’s interesting is that those shops are still standing in Jazirat al-Hamra. They were built out of coral stones and wood. For the roof coral stones are used be-tween two layers of planks of wood. All shops are raised on a platform for the reasons of pro-tection from animals, insect and sand storms. The size of each shop doesn’t exceed three by two meters. They have an external roof from the front supported by pillars to give some shade. The supporting pillars are constructed out of steel rods and then coral stones covered with gypsum. Some walls have small narrow win-dows. These windows have vertical steel bars. The doors are made out of natural wood and have locks. There are two doors opening in op-posite directions till they are close to the walls. There is a big frame enclosing the two doors. The shops are owned by Yousef Al Omran, Bai-na Mohammed Khalifa, Mohammed Abdulkarim and Qtheeb Bin Abdulla Bin Qtheeb.

Yousef Ahmed Al Omran was known to be a very well known nokhthah. The Omran

family owned their own pearling boat and crew. Yousef Al Omran and his brothers were pearl suppliers, they used to do the actual diving but then sold it to their uncles from their mothers’ side, Bani Owais in Dubai, and to Bin Otaibah in Abu Dhabi. Due to these connections, Yousef Al Omran was able to sell and trade his pearls thus setting a good source of income. The mon-ey he got from pearling was also use to obtain consumer goods that he sold in his shop.

Mohammed Khalifa Bin Hashim was also a very well known merchant, who was only blessed with three girls, one of which was married to a Sheikh of Al Maktoum. The Bani Hashim family also owned date gardens and houses in Khatt. The actual shop and houses were really owned by Mohammed Khalifa Bin Hashim, but when the licences were introduced by the municipality in the late 1970’s, the shops were named after Baina Mohammed Khalifa Bin Hashim, the only daughter that had still lived in Al Jazeerah Al Hamra. Their shop sold dates that were supplied by their own garden in Khatt. Qtheeb bin Abdulla bin Qtheeb, was a man of status in Al Jazeerah El Hamra. He was known to be a very good man and counselor, who had solve many family and social prob-lems between people, that some people nick-name him “el qathy”; which is the Arabic word for judge. His father actually ruled Al Jazeera El Hamra before Ali Bin Hassan Al Zaabi (the last Zaabi ruler), and actually lived in the rulers fort. Mohammed Abdullah Abdulkarim was another shop owner. He owned two of the shops we chose to study. It wasn’t actually Moham-med that owned the shops but when the licens-es appeared, his father had already past away, leaving Mohammed with the responsibility of the shops. The Abdulkarim family was known to supply a lot of shops in Al Jazeera El Hamra. They used to buy products from India and Iraq,

and also wheat from Australia. They would then sell them to other owners who did the selling to the consumers in the surrounding area.

The House Of Humaid Ali Mshroom El Zaabi (Al Rahaa Msafer Khaneh)

Ali Mshroom El Zaabi was the most popular diver in Jazirah El Hamra. He was a peerless diver that was so popular that many nokhthas (ship captains) wanted him as part of their crew. His son Humaid Ali Mshroom didn’t inherit his father skills instead had de-veloped his own skills in wood working. he had designed many pieces of furniture and sold them in Bombay and Basra (Iraq). He also sold some in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. The House of Humaid Mshroom, was destroyed by movie producers in 1992, where five door open-ings were added, to create a motel-like build-ing. They also added a sign above the middle door labeled “al rahha msafer khaneh”. This in Bloushi is a majlis-like building for those trav-eling. However, in India, Msafer Khaneh was a cheap motel, where travelers stayed. Many of the locals who traveled to India for trade stayed

in these motels, where three to four men shared a single room.

The actual building consisted of three bedrooms and two toilets. The roof extended by one meter into the courtyard to provide shelter, these were supported by simple square columns. The rest of the courtyard was left ex-posed by the sun. The structure of the building was made of a mixture of coral stones and breezeblock. The walls, the ceiling and the pil-lars were supported with steel rods and filledin with breezeblocks. The ceiling had four lay-ers, a layer of steel rods creating a grid to hold the wooden planks. These acted as a base for breezeblocks that were tightly arranged on top. A layer of gypsum was then added to the whole structure. The roof was actually tilted inwards towards the courtyard, with pipes at certain ar-eas. These were used to drain water, but pipes were also used to direct water to water tanks which were placed underneath. Rain water was collected and stored for irrigation and drinking. For the flooring a mixture of gypsum and sandwas used.

All rooms except one are on a sixty-centimeter platform, leaving the courtyard and the back room on ground level. Two sets of steps were added on two different sides. “The raised floor in the courtyard created a backrestfor seating in the courtyard, where ‘tikay’ were placed for a social get-together in the evening” (Abdulkarim, M). Like the mosque, the flooringwas made of tiles. These tiles are a mixture of stone and gypsum. Typical windows were no present on exterior walls, instead small twenty by thirty centimeter windows were placed quite high ensuring privacy was not interrupted and rooms were ventilated properly. The Windows were made of strips of wood, with two pieces of wood attached to allow adjusting. All other windows faced the actual courtyard. The win-dows are quite large compared to traditional

windows of that decade. Flat steel strips were used to create a grided 120cm by 120cm win-dow. Where two flat wooden pieces were at-tached from the inside. These act as adjustable shutters. In the interiors of the rooms décor ply is used as a finish. And the place wasn’t actu-ally painted, but for the movie alterations were made, and green paint was added. The over-all condition of the house is quite good, except for the back wall, which was destroyed by the movie producers.

The Mosque Of Yousef El Aary El Zaabi

Yousef El Aary was a well-known man, known for his work with wood. The mosque on the coast of Al Jazeera El Hamra has grabbed people’s attention ever since it was built in the late 1960’s. This is due to its unique minaret. The mosque is said to be owned and built by Yousef El Aary El Zaabi, however, this has been proved incorrect. Yousef El Aary’s brother Obaid El Aary El Zaabi had a daughter that was married to one of the princes of Saudia Arabia. She financed the building of the mosque, givingher uncle Yousef El Aary the responsibility. The person that actually built the mosque was Ali bin Ahmed Jaafar with the help of Yousef El Aary El Zaabi. One of the main criteria for a mosque is that it should face the qibla. Due to the un-availibity of certain utensils, building wasn’t al-ways accurate. Thus to ensure that the mosque is facing the qibla we invited A specialist from Awqaf, who checked the qibla for us, placing the special compass close to the mihrab. The qibla for this mosque in particular was spot on.

The building was made with a mixture of breezeblocks and coral stones. It consisted of four parts, the mosque, the verandah, an open area and an ablution area. The mosque also had a unique minaret that started off wide but nar-rowed down to the top. Two pillars support the praying area. Towards the mihrab, are four nar-row and tall windows that enforce natural air from the coast to cool the place. Smaller and shorter windows are located in all other walls. Two of which face the open area towards the minaret.

The Shop Of Saif Bin Hamad Bin Taryam

Saif Bin Hamad Bin Taryam was a very well known merchant. His uncles from his mother side were also well known merchants in Al Rams. Thus giving the Bin Taryam fam-ily a secure financial base, through which trad-ing was made easier. Saif Bin Hamad Taryam owned a shop in which he sold wheat and meat which he bought from his uncles of Rams and spices from India. The shop was quite unique in shape, very narrow and deep. The shop was ac-tually made of coral stones arranged in a har-ing-bone pattern providing extra stability. The shop had a single twenty by thirty centimeter window that was located opposite the door and quite close to the ceiling.

Below: An arial view of the mosque’s location. Above: The materials used in the mosque’s ceiling. Below cen-tre: The compass brought by the specialist from Awqaf.

The doors are wooden naturally brown with very simple geometric shapes. Above the windows and dispersed throughout the mosque are several round or square holes. These from the outside were pierced with geometric shapes so that from the outside they seemed like pieces of artwork. Not only this but this blocks birds en-tering the mosque. These holes allow air to en-ter the building in the winter when windows are closed and in summer they act as extra vents. The flooring is made of tiles. These tiles are amixture of stone and gypsum. For the ceiling support two pillars supported two rows of bree-zeblocks. These rows consisted of steel rods that acted as a base for the breezeblocks. The whole structure was then covered with gypsum. The whole ceiling is made of wooden planks, which is actually supported by the two pillars and the two rows. They are not covered but used as part of the decoration. Above the wood is a layer of gypsum, and breezeblocks and another layer of gypsum. The minaret, is in quite a good condition. The actual stair structure is made of wood, which is supported by coral stones and breezeblocks. The ablution area is another well designed area. The lower layer “the finish” ofthe ceiling is made of “khous”, date tree stems.

These are arranged in a layer and held together with two rows of rope giving it a very clean and delicate look. Above the khous is a layer of wooden planks, these are stabi-lized with breezeblocks arranged tightly above it. Another layer of wooden planks was added above the breezeblocks this was later covered with gypsum. The whole ceiling is supported by wooden poles, which lay under the khous. The whole mosque excluding the ablution area lies on a sixty centimeter high platform, to prevent animals from entering this holy place.

On the left elevation two windows were placed relatively low, these provided good lighting and ventilation. The actual ceiling was decorated with naked wooden planks, above them were two layers of coral stones and a layer of gypsum. The entrance to this shop was through a large heavy double wooden door, with very simple delicate geometric designs.

The roof extended outward by one metre to provide a shade for the owner and the customers at the entrance. The extension was supported by two rectangular twenty by thirty centimeter pillars. To the right of the shop was another shop owned by Yousef Omran, hence the unavailibity of a window. The Overall con-dition of the shop was quite good, with some slight damage to windows, ceiling, door and columns.

Above: Window with evidence of broken shutters. Be-low-left: Ceiling in ablution area. Above-centre: Door to the shop..

THE DESIGN PROPOSAL

THE DESIGN PROPOSAL

THE CONCEPT Inspired by hotels in general and the traditional life of people in the past, we decided to recreate a traditional village, where we will maintain the actual history of Al Jazira El Ham-ra, which is so rich with information. The island has been known to be the only traditional village standing, and to have that in an emirate that is well known for it’s history is, extraordinary. It was through the actual interviews that this idea was developed. The amount of information we found and can still find is phenomenal.

The idea was to create a traditional vil-lage, where visitors would actually experience the life in the past. Cars and modern technolo-gies would not be allowed in. instead the life of the past would be recreated. Where houses will be transferred to rental rooms. It would be like time has gone back to those days, when men roamed with their donkeys, selling water and essential consumer products. Where the only food served was that of the past.

The actual history of the place was amazing. Every part of it had it’s own story, where none of them were really recorded. We therefore decided, that each house would be named after it’s real owner. And a poster would be created in which certain information about

the person will be documented and hanged in each house. This will not only give people an insight to the owner’s life, but will also record information for generations to come, thus at-tracting people to the area.

THE DESIGN

The House Of Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saeed Al Zaabi

We are using Abdullah’s villa as a sample of our motel design. We will make few changes in the villa design to improve the ventilation system. We will be adding vents in the rooms where natural fresh air will be coming through the vents in to the rooms, instead of using air conditioning. We will keeping the AC’s for back ups for the summer season where the tempera-ture will reach 40 degrees and above.

The second change will be is that we‘re converting the toilet that falls in the ex-tension section on the far end at the right side, in to a kitchenette. Where as the toilet close to the guests toilet will be converted in to a store. The built in garage will be removed. The guest’s room will be used as a suite. The two rooms that are connected will be used for families that have kids under the age of 10. As you can see in the floor plan below 5 rooms will have kingsize beds and 3 of them will have double singu-lar beds. People that will be renting the house will share the bathrooms.

The house won’t have any private bathroom for a specific room apart from the suite. The overalldesign of the house will not be altered. We will be using the same design and decorative mate-rials that was used before with out any modern touches.

The Shops

As a part of the community that we are redesigning, the same old and traditional shops will be reused. We would like to recon-struct five shops. One of them will be a bakery.In this bakery traditional bread could be baked using traditional methods. There would be a (Tannoor) which is a deep whole in the ground where people used to bake bread in. In addi-tion it will have cabinets for the flour, water andtools used for baking.

Another shop could be kind of a sou-venir’s shop. In this shop traditional accesso-ries, clothes and other things that have the es-sence of the past will be offered.

Another shop will be a barbershop. Of course the new generation in our country and tourists didn’t experience the life of our ances-tors. That’s why the barbershop’s aim is to give them the chance to experience hair cuts using traditional tools.

The other shop is the perfumer’s shop. A perfumer was very common in the past. We are interested in bringing up the perfumer’s shop back. As we all know our ancestors used herbal and natural medicine for treatment. The shop will be specialized in providing alterna-tive medicine and perfumes.

The final shop will be the grocery. Thegrocery’s idea is the same as groceries in the past. This shop will offer nearly all the goods needed.

The House of Humaid Mshroom El Zaabi

Due to the damage caused by the filmproducers, and inspired by the idea of “Msafer Khaneh”, we decided to turn the house of Hu-maid Mshroom Al Zaabi to a “majlis” that would bring people together. The place will be a meet-ing point where information would be com-municated. The roof would be extended three metres outwards resting on new pillars. This would create a shaded are that will be used as an outer seating area.

The bathroom is to be accessed from the actual majlis and also from the courtyard. The once called storeroom is to be changed to become a bedroom for the caterer and the person responsible of the majlis. The courtyard, will be recovered, maintaing it’s actual appear-ance. ‘Tikay’ will be added, and the place will be like a cozy seating area for the evening, where stories of the past will be told.

The kitchen and the store will be left with the same functionality, where guests of the majlis would be catered for. The toilet will also be left as it is functionally, but renovated keeping the same Asian style to re-enforce the traditional life. The five doors would be closed narrowing itdown to a single entrance to the majlis.

The place will be lit with traditional lanterns. The tilted roof will be maintained as it is, where in the winter, the ‘tikay’ will be re-placed with water tanks, in which rain water would be stored, just like they did traditionally. However, due to changes in environment, the water is to be filtered and purified before used.

The Mosque Of Yousef El Aary El Zaabi

The mosque is to be renovated, where the same materials are going to be used, in re-creating the windows and the doors. The mina-ret, the ablution area and the actual praying area are to be recovered and conserved. No artificial cooling is to be used, and no windowsadded. Traditional lanterns will be added for night lighting, these will be dispersed evenly.of the past. The restaurant is to be recovered, with slight changes.

The shop of Saif Hamad Taryam is to be converted to a restaurant, where visi-tors would be able to enjoy the actual light and healthy dishes of the past. The restaurant is to be recovered, with slight changes. To the left, a door would be added to provide access to the outer extension. The actual shop would be divided into two uneven areas, a kitchen and a eating area. The eating area would have the traditional “haseer” (eating mat) placed in the middle, with “tikay” to the right side against the wall. The tikay would be used as a waiting area, as it is part of the local traditions that no one is to sit at the dining area until food is pres-ent. The partition that divides the kitchen and the dining area, would be made of coral stones just like the exterior walls. However, the parti-tion would only rise to one meter from ground level, so that visitors could actually see their food being cooked traditionally using the ta-noor. Due to the presence of the “tanoor” in the building, the window opposite is to be enlarged for extensive cooling.

The Restauraunt The roof is to be extended four meters outwards to the left of the building creating a shaded area giving visitors outdoor dining ex-perience. The actual dining experience would do great in Ramadan. This extended roof would rest on several pillars disperced evenly and ra-tionally. These will hold traditional lanterns that would provide the lighting for the area. “Tikay” would be placed evenly creating small, con-centrated dining areas.

Uninhabited land will be used for both the playground and the events area.

The Playground

The playground is the area apposite the res-taurant and the mosque.

It’s an open space which has one meter long Arish fence on the two sides of the playground. It’s an area designed to entertain children by having different traditional games equipments and activities. The reason for us choosing the playground’s location specifi-cally between the mosque and restaurant, for children’s safety. We wanted to position the playground in a place that children would be under adult supervision while they are playing and running around. We thought the best spot is the area opposite the mosque and restaurant, because usually men spend most of their time in these two places. In that way they can enjoy their time while they are supervising their chil-dren playing around.

Events Area

The events area, is the uninhabited area opposite Saif Bin Taryam’s shop, the res-taurant.

This area will hold weekly events and programs that are related to our traditional culture, such as traditional dances Al Ayala, Rezef, and Harbeya, and exploration of differ-ent traditional handcraft skills. Local craft men will be sitting around in this area working on different traditional handcraft activities. In ad-dition to that, any traditional celebration event will take place in this area as well.

The event area is divided in two sec-tions, the first section is an open space with nofence or roof where lively active events and ac-tivities will take place such as the traditional dancing. At the far end is the second section it’s a shaded ground seating area where it will be divided in two sections for men and women to have some privacy. The roof will be made out of gypsum, coral stones, and tree planks, where as the poles will be made out of breeze blocks and the material used for the fence surrounding the area and separating men and women sec-tion is Arish( palm tree stems).

Activities such as Henna and Tally de-sign technique will be explored in this area. For privacy in the henna section we will be using two meters high Arish fence at the front that can be rolled up when it’ not needed.

Above: An arial view of the location of the events area. Center: The floor plan, showing the shaded area for cer-tain activities and the open area.

Above: the design we would use for the events area. Be-low: The columns.

THE SOURCES

THE SOURCES

INTERVIEWS:Abdulkarim, M. Personal Interview, 13 April 2007Bukhash, R. Personal Interview, Assistant Director at the department of general projects and head of the historical buildings section, Dubai Mu-nicipality, March 2007Al Zaabi, R. Personal interview, 17 April 2007Head of departments at RAK Municipality, The Department of Engineering and Public Works, 17 April 2007Saeed, O. Personal Interview, 17 April 2007Hilal, A. Personal Interview, 24 May 2007Eng. Ibraheem. Personal Interview, 24 May 2007Awqaf specialist. Personal Interview, 24 May 2007Khlwah, I. Personal Interview, 24 May 2007Bin Jimah, H. Personal Interview, 24 May 2007Al Gtami, A. Personal Interview, 26 May 2007

WEB:Iddison, P. (1999). Dairy Food in the UAE. Retrieved April 26, 2007 from: http://www.enhg.org/iddison/oxsymp96.htmHebberd, J (1997-2001). Communities by Choice. Communities by Choice. Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://www.communitiesbychoice.org/CbyC_Intro_Booklet.pdfHebberd, J (2004). Why Design Matters. Communities by Choice. Inc, Re-trieved April 23, 2007, from http://www.communitiesbychoice.org/TAF_Ehy DesignMatters.pdf

BOOKS:Khan, M. The Indigenous Trees of the United Arab Emirates: AN Illustrated Guide, Dubai: Dubai Municipality, Public Parks and Horticulture,1999.Lozano, E. Community Design and the Culture of Cities: The Crossroad and the Wall, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.Wilson, G. Saqr, 2007Kay, S. Portrait Of Ras AL Khaimah, 2004Dostal, W. The Traditional Architecture of Ras Al Khaimah, 1983

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