Arch. Randa Salah Al Boukhari

Title : Problematics of Architectural Privacy: TheCase of Contemporary Houses In The Arab World

Prof. Tarek Farghali

Year 2014 / 2015

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Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………….. 3Introduction ……………………………………………………………………... 4The Research Aims And Objectives ……………………………………………. 5The Work Methodology ……………………………………………………... 5Lit Review: Concept of Privacy ………………………………………………… 7Phase (I) : Case Studies …………………………………………………….. 8Case Study (I) ……………………………………………………………………. 9Case Study (II) …………………………………………………………………... 13Case Study (III) ………………………………………………………………….. 17Phase (II) : The Field Study …………………………………………….. 19The Analysis of The Questionnaire …………………………………………….. 24Personal Information …………………………………………………….. 24Personal Privacy …………………………………………………………….. 24Family Privacy …………………………………………………………………… 24Visual And Sound Privacy ……………………………………………………… 24Participant’s Choices To Have Privacy …………………………………………. 25Participant’s Evaluations of Their Houses ……………………………………… 25The Checklist ……………………………………………………………………… 25Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 27References ………………………………………………………………………. 28Appendix : Questionnaire For The Architectural Privacy……………………… 30Part (I) : Profile ……………………………………………………………….. 30Part (II) : Personal Privacy ……………………………………………………….. 32Part (III) : Family Privacy ……………………………………………………….. 32Part (IV) : Visual Privacy ……………………………………………………….. 35

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Problematics of Architectural Privacy : The Case ofContemporary Houses In The Arab World

Abstract

Arab cities have suffered major setbacks since the beginningof the 18th century, and by the last century, these citieshave neglected their Arab and Islamic values and have deniedtheir own identity due to the occupation by other cultures.Arab cities have passed through four phases; First,Development that resulted from foreign interventions duringthe 19th century, Second, Development that resulted fromtechnology transfer influenced by industrialization, Third,Development that resulted from the fast rural-urban migrationafter the 2nd World War, and Last, Development that resultedfrom the sudden inflow of oil wealth during the 1970s. Theresult of these types of development influenced the Arabarchitecture as unit and urban planning, by creating new typesof units such as dwellings in large buildings such asskyscrapers, towers and unorganized cities that significantlychanged and still able to change the person’s perceptionof the space with its tangible and intangibles dimensions

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unless they are configured in a manner where the Islamicvalues such as ; neighborliness, inclusively, equality,fairness, social justice, hospitality, and privacy arerespected and expressed in the contemporary architecture onthe micro and macro scale. the skyscrapers as an example,are able to verticalize the complex interrelationship ofinformal social networks and urban/civic form when this typeof buildings are designed in a way where the users are in adirect contact in one or more of its spaces such as in agarden or playing areas within or around the building.Similarly, grouping towers around open spaces such asgardens can be considered as a private zone within thepublic zone.

The current work tries to establish a relevant and appropriateunderstanding and translation of socio-cultural paradigm thatrecognizes and encourages contemporary architectural responsesthat respect cultural, social and indeed spiritual mores,especially the “privacy value” And facilitate modernizationaway from exaggerating, and try to adopt new types ofbuildings after modifying them to respond to the “Muslims”physical and moral needs.

The work, in this manner first, has two separate phases; thefirst one is a presentation of three case studies where thedegree of privacy as one of the Islamic values that influencedthe organization of the spaces in traditional Arab houses isunder the microscope. The first case study highlights some ofthe modern dwelling architecture in Tehran and how this trendis not responding to the privacy needs of people, the secondcase study casts light on the privacy from Saudi standpoints,and shows how this “value” is understood and translated intothree dimensional physical spaces by the conservative Saudisociety. The third focused on the degree of privacy in someof the Palestinians’ refugees camps in Lebanon, and shows howthese camps look like when this value is not adopted.

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The Second phase is representing some contemporary multi-storeys buildings design in Beirut where dwellings are groupedand internally organized in different spatial relationships.The evaluations of these dwellings were given through somephotos taken as true expressions of how the privacy valuewas neglected while planning for these dwellings, and throughthe analysis of a sample questionnaire conducted with theresidents.

The results try to synthesize the real situations that ourArab and Islamic societies are suffering from a great loss ofour Islamic values especially the privacy through ourcontemporary dwelling architecture on one hand, and on theother hand from a great exaggeration of understanding andtranslating this value architecturally in some of theconservative societies.

Keywords: Islamic values, privacy, conservative societyarchitecture, non-conservative society’s architecture,Traditional vs contemporary architecture.

Introduction

Values are the structural theory about the organization ofbelief systems and are the most important components of abelief system” (Rokeach, 1979). When values meet the threefundamental criteria which are first, being scientific, i.e.their exploration yields leverage on important questions ofour time. Second, corresponding at least roughly with arecognized definition of values. Finally, including oroverlapping with values commonly identified by lay persons asof central importance in their life e.g. The religion withits principles or in generally the belief systems thatinfluence the community behaviors. Then, values can beconsidered as strategic references indicating that acting inone way is more appropriate to achieve certain goals.(Schwartz, 2005).

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Muslims believe that there is a clear link between humanvalues and Islamic values, regardless of their differentobservations and understanding of Islam due to the differentculture, norms and politics of their societies. Based on theirunderstanding of the holy curan and al “hadith”, values havebeen followed by the Muslims in all over the world, thesevalues are as follows "neighborliness, inclusively, equality,fairness, social justice, hospitality, privacy, forbearance,broad-mindedness, respect for others, and so on "Nasr 2002),these values are capable to draw outlines of a specificlifestyle and activity system (Rapoport, 1977). This lead tosay that, the traditional arab architecture was the tangibleoutput of Islamic beliefs and values of the peoples. Takinginto consideration that, neither the Quran nor the Sunnahprovided a detailed codes of building design and constructionas long as the building designs do not conflict with sharah(Mortada, 2003). In this way, traditional Arab architectureproduced dynamic spaces that facilitated relationships amongpeople and helped individuals to understand and articulatetheir identity through their engagement with these spaces.

The Research Aims And Objectives

This work aims to :

-Establishing a checklist to assist architects and people todesign/ configure dwellings based on healthy and trueinterpretation of “privacy value”

-Using this method to evaluate the design of contemporaryArab dwelling in its early phases to fit the users physicaland moral needs

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The Work Methodology

According to the several objectives and circumstancespreviously referred, we can define the methodological processas follows:

A. The works, as most of similar developed within thearchitectural fields, tries to join the quantitative andqualitative points of view. This mixed situation isreflected in the several steps.

1. To structure the different perspective about the privacyvalue in the built environment from a functionalviewpoint. For this reason a lit-review were gatheredabout the subject to be considered as a scientificstart point, and by presenting the traditional form ofthe Arab houses to emphasis that the semanticdevelopment was a proper translation of Islamic valuesat their times

2. An investigative study among contemporary “dwellingarchitecture” application in more than one countrythrough three case studies chosen from ( Tehran, SaudiArabia, and Lebanon)where the socio- cultural and thesocio-religious settings are distinguished. Based onthis philosophy, these readings assisted us to betterunderstand the truthful expressions of the privacy valuein traditional dwelling architecture, and at the sametime, how this value is respected, neglected or appliedwith exaggeration.

B. A qualitative study about everyday tasks for someIslamic families living in dwellings with differentspatial organization in Beirut, several photos were takenin order to highlight how the privacy is neglected inthese dwellings. These qualities of information werethe main topics to be analyzed as indicators of thecontemporary dwelling architecture in the selected area.

C. A quantitative point of view by preparing an inquiry toget direct information related to the privacy in dwelling

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architecture but form a more subjective point of view.The questionnaire was conducted with the four Lebanesefamilies with different social, cultural and economicbackgrounds, in order to evaluate their selected housesfrom their own standpoints, and to the exact percentagewho agree or disagree about the degree of absence ofprivacy value in their dwellings.

D. Establishing a checklist to be considered as a tool tohelp architects and clients to evaluate the designprocess at its early phases by prioritize the valuesfrom the client perspective

The conclusions of the work reflect the different developedtasks and results obtained trying to have an approach ableto define the most important elements that respect andrespond to the people needs of privacy in their homes.

Figure 1. Rapoport (1977) diagram shows that how Values arerelated to lifestyle and activity system.

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Lit Review: Concept of Privacy

Before getting deeper in this work, it is very important tocast light on some lit-review related to our main topic inorder to benefit from the existing analytical studies to beconsidered as scientific start points in this work.

Scholars have suggested that one of privacy major functions isto serve the individual’s self-identity by creating personalboundaries (Altman, 1975, Westin, 1967), where eachindividual is continually engaged in a personal adjustmentprocess in which he balances the desire for privacy with thedesire for disclosure and communication of himself toothers(Westin, 1967) (Kupritz, 2000). Another scholarclassified privacy as a collection of six points”interpersonal boundary, desired privacy, achieved privacy,Privacy as a dialectic process, Privacy as an optimizingprocess, Privacy as an input and output process, and Privacyas different types of social units involver (Altman, 1975) .

Privacy can be "a universal process which involves uniqueregulatory mechanisms," it differs among cultures in terms of

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the "behavioral mechanisms used to regulate desired levels ofprivacy” e.g. Germans are much more sensitive to intrusion,have larger personal space bubbles, and are more concernedwith physical separation than Americans; they go toconsiderable lengths to maintain privacy by means of doors andphysical layouts. English are also private people, but managetheir psychological distance from others via verbal andnonverbal means (such as voice characteristics and eyecontact), rather than by physical and environmental means Hall(1966). From an architectural standpoint, many scholars haveexplained that cultural predispositions related to binaryoppositions dictate the design and use of spaces in the builtenvironment, and the arrangement of spaces for humanactivities needs to conform to prescribed cultural conventions(Altman and Giovani, 1981; Lawrence, 1982; Korosec- Serfaty,1984). The concept of architectural privacy goes beyond visualand acoustical isolation (Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980), toinvolve olfactory and tactile isolation supplied by thephysical environment. e.g. the physical environment canprovide olfactory isolation from unwanted environmental smellssuch as cigarette smoke or food smells originating from adining or break area. The physical environment can alsoprovide tactile isolation from uncomfortable HVAC conditionsand fluctuating temperatures in a workspace (Kupritz &Haworth, Inc., 2005). This lead to say that the organizationof space in the built environment express many binaryoppositions e.g. Male and female, public and private, orfront and back etc. (Goffman, 1959), Leach (1976) notes thatpeople use both spatial and temporal boundaries to highlightthe differences between various categories of space.

In the Muslims world, the modern housing of Islamic societieshas been criticized by many researchers for not in accordancewith people needs and ignorance of socio-cultural andreligious parameters in design of houses (ABU-GAZZEH 1995,Al-Kodmany 1999, Bokhari 1983), and suffer from discontinuity

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in tradition and imitation of modern western architecture(Radi 2004).

And when the physical environment went from private to openoffices, two divided research camps were confronted, the firstgroup argues for a return to private offices due to itsnegative impact on increasing interaction and on making for anopen organization (Brill cited in Grossman, 2002, p41 and theother camp argues that open offices increase communication andcollaboration (Becker cited in Grossman, 2002, p 39) ;(DeCroon, Sluiter, Paul, Kuijer, & Frings-Dresen, 2005) ;( Bencivenga, 1998); and (Brill, Weidemann, & BOSTIAssociates, 2001). Raffaello and Maas (2002) determined thatimproved noise conditions increased job and environmentalsatisfaction and reduced stress symptoms.

These multiple perspectives of privacy can be used tounderstand what are the lit review existed about “privacy” or“boundaries” with their tangible and intangible dimensions,and highlight that understanding and practicing the “privacyvalue” vary as long as the societies vary. And as long asthere is no single expression of this value.

Phase (I) : Case Studies

Humans have purposely introduced physical and conceptualboundaries to indicate how spaces are separated and linked.e.g. In the bedewing life, weather in the form of tents orwhen it developed to build forms made of adobe or stone,covered with palm leaves or domed within the confines ofdeeply rooted socio-cultural values, in both cases,“ they wererectangular in shape and consist of two or occasionally threesections. One section was the women's domain, kitchen, andstoreroom. The other section was almost exclusively the domainof men and visitors where hospitality was extended to guestsand clients alike.”(Chatty and Young (2007). Similarly, thehouses of old Cairo look the street or into a privatecourtyard, the ground floor was usually occupied by kitchens,

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storages for food or stalls, places of service and reception.The upper floor was occupied by bedrooms, living rooms orservice. It was almost entirely closed to defend against hotand unfamiliar invasions. The women’s rooms separated frommen’s rooms, with one common character,” without largeopenings”; where quietude and privacy were provided. in theOttoman era, and as the dwelling architecture developed, thehouse was divided into two different areas, private andpublic , respectively for the women (Leharamlik) and for themen (Salamlik) (Ficarelli, 2007) (To represent the start pointof exaggerated translation of the "privacy value" ).

Figure 2. Drawing sections of Qa’a and of Malqaf (left)(Ficarelli 2008, p.96) and Maq’ad (right); (Ficarelli 2008)

Figure 3. The system Malqaf; (Ficarelli 2008)

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The grid of mashrabiyeh can have large or small mesh:

The larger mesh allows to penetrate air and light: it ranks atthe top of opening, closer to the ceiling of the room in whichit is contained;

The thicker mesh ranks in the lower openings of the complexsystem protecting the privacy of women in the harem, againstindiscreet glances from the outside, ensuring a safe and fairview of city life.

Case Study (I)

رون� ) ك ذ� ��م ت ك عل م ل ك �ر ل ي� �م خ ك ل � ذ ا له� ه لى أ& موأ ع ل س�� �وأ وت س�� �ت ا& ست� �ى ت ت� م ح ك �وت � ي� 7��ر ب ي� �ا غ �وت ي� 7لوأ ب �ذخ �وأ لا ت �ي م Bن� أ �Dي �ذ ها أل �Gي ا أ& �عالى ت �ال ت �" ق

27 ��) ا م�� R ب م وأهلل ك ى ل ك �ز و أ& ��عوأ ه Rازج ���وأ ق ع�� Rم أزج ك ل ل ت��� �ن� ق م وأ[ ك ن� ل �ذ ؤ& ���ى ي ت� ا ح لوه �ذخ ���لا ت �ذأ ق ��خ ا أ& ه�� ي� �ذوأ ق ��Rج �م ت ن� ل ا[ ���قم ) لي� عملون� ع �وز (28ت � ( ) سوزة� ألي

"O, you who believe! Do not enter the houses other than yourswithout asking permission; and salute the house holders; thisis more appropriate for you, and you should be mindful aboutthis advice (27) And if you did not find anybody therein andyour request for permission was not responded, do not enterthe house until permission is given to you; and if it is saidto you:" Go back", then go back; this is more appropriate foryou; and Allah is the absolute aware of what you do (28)".(Surat Al-Nour)

Based on the Holy Quran, the privacy value is highly importantin the Muslim belief system. By introducing the following casestudies, we will try to criticize and try to find solutions byestablishing a checklist to help us at the beginning toevaluate the current situation of such dwellings in order tomodify these dwellings to suit our socio-cultural and socio-religious life.

In this case study, titled by Apartment Layout And PrivacySatisfaction, introduced by Julaihi Wahid and Fatemeh

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Khozaei about how the contemporary housing types importedfrom the western architecture are not conformed to thetraditional nor to the apparently desired new ways of life ofthe majority of Muslims families in Tehran, where theHierarchy is one of the most important characteristics ofIranian traditional architecture that provides privacy isneglected. The demanded hierarchy deals with separation ofthe different domains from public, semi-public, semi-private,and private domains. In this example, the author shows howwere these housing types responded to a new set of needs butprivacy needs in particular disappear in these transitions. Hetried to highlight this absence of privacy through aquestionnaire conducted with 200 participants, with differentgender, age and social levels. The information gathered cameto reflect the Iranian’s evaluations of their contemporaryhouses from four types of privacy perspectives. i) Personalprivacy, ii) Intra family privacy, iii) Family privacy, andiv) Visual privacy. The result came to assure that themajority of the Iranian habitants prefer to have:

A. Two main zones of less private and more private in theirapartment layouts,

B. A transition area joining different parts of house toprovide hierarchy, and

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Dining room 1

1 ' i

Kitchen I

i'i

EntranceSitting room

Transition Sitting

room

C. The highest level of architectural privacy as much as possible.Kitchen sitting room

dining room

Master bedroom and bedrooms

Toilet

Toilet

Generally layout of House

Most private zone

I I Less private zone

Figure 4.0 summarizes the findings of the study and shows theresident’s preferred layout of apartment.

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Figure 5.0 Apartment plan and spaces

Figure 6. Permeability structure of apartment

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Case Study (II)

Is Introduced by Tawfiq Abu Gazzeh and titled by ( Privacy AsThe Basis of Architectural Planning In The Islamic Culture ofSaudi Arabia ). According to the Saudi society perspective,they understand the privacy menssioned in the Holy Quran andal hadith, the Saudi society practice “Islam” based on thedifferentiation of the sexes in nature, temperament, andsocial life where a greater amount of privacy is required forwomen than for men, especially in the matter of dress and thecovering of the bosom.

Figure 7 Figure 8

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The woman is asked to neither display her Zinat (Meaning bothnatural beauty and artificial ornaments), nor to display herfigure to strangers, including male relatives who have a“sense of sex.”

In this manner, Each Muslim must make his individual,domestic, and social life contribute to his holiness, so thathe can get the real success and bliss. By taking a close lookat the Saudi society, All Saudi families differentiate betweenmales and females in response to their understanding of theprinciples of Islamic religion and/or in acknowledgment ofcultural codes. In this manner, the architectural, social, andpsychological dimensions of privacy are fundamental to thedaily life of people in the society of Saudi Arabia. And associo-religious complexity increases, the use of boundariesand partitioned spaces also increases, sometime, it goesbeyond walls and curtains to accommodate gender specificentrances in villa-type houses. Urbanization also influencedby the increased use of boundaries and spatial segmentation;sex-specific schools, campuses, and even sitting and waitingareas in such places as mosques, hospitals and airports.Therefore, it should not be unexpected to find gender used asa basic organizing device for the partitioning the physicalsociety.

The examples below highlight what have been mentionedpreviously:

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Figure 9. Homes for Saudi families are cognitively andphysically distinct from non-domestic buildings and, based ontheir philosophy, it symbolize protection, security, andbelonging. According to our standpoint, it reflects a greatexaggeration of expressing privacy as it shows in The Highboundary walls constructed around houses prevent visual andphysical intrusion to maintain their degree of privacy.

Figure 10. In their search for privacy, many residents ofapartment buildings and villas either build partitions or use

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curtains or plants (i.e. hedges) to enclose balcony and avilla in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Figure 11. Various materials and designs are used in theconstruction of house boundaries. These include hedges, blindscreens, or frequently 3-5 meter concrete block walls.

Figure 12

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Figure 13. To ensure visual privacy, a three-story(approximately 9 meter) screen is built by a villa ownerbetween his home and a neighboring apartment building. Withinthe physical boundaries of their homes, residents are free tomodify their own external and limited environment at any time,regardless of how their acts affect the built environment ofsurrounding houses.

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Figure 14. Corrugated metal screens have been erected on topof the boundary walls of these villa-type houses to ensureprivacy and prevent visual access from surrounding 3-4 storyresidential buildings Riyadh.

Case Study (III)

The analysis of the images of the Palestinian refugees campsin Lebanon reflects the great loss of the spatial orderbetween uses and areas, which highlight the great loss of theprivacy principle which set the height of the wall above theheight of a camel rider (fig 14, fig 15) and which managed thephysical and social relations between public and privaterealms, and between neighbors and social groups in old IslamicCities.e.g. the Residential Quarters were in a form ofclusters of households of particular quality of life based oncloseness (Qaraba) which is manifested in personal ties,common interests and shared moral unity (Eikelman 1981) fig.17 Furthermore, economic activity was separated fromresidential areas and concentrated in public areas to assertthe importance of the privacy value in Islam. Thesecompounds were connected by a network of narrow winding

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streets consisting of public and private and semi-privatestreets and cul de sacs (Eikelman 1981).

Figure 15. Shatila Camp

http://laji-net.net/arabic/Default.asp?ContentID=5370&menuID=53

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Figure 16. Al Darb Al Asfar Street... Bait Al Suhaimi

Figure 17. Nahr El Bared Camp Figure 18

http://www.prc.org.uk/portal/index.php/ar/%D9%85%D8%AE%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A1/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A6%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D9%81%D9%A-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86/157-2013-08-17-22-47-43

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Figure 18. Traditional building patterns in the old city ofKuwait. Source: Beaumont et al. (1988, p.207)

Phase (II) : The Field Study

In this field study, the work based on a questionnaire methodused in the inquiry in order to get the user’s attitude towardtheir apartments from privacy perspective. The questionnairewas distributed among 4 respondents representing fourfamilies. The combination of closed-ended and open- endedquestionnaires was used in this work. The information wasgathered from respondents on how they think about privacy indifferent layouts of houses.

Sampling Procedure

To reduce the scope of empirical investigation into amanageable size attention were confined to Beirut city andfocused on a small sample of subjects from definedpopulation .The participants of the study were selectedaccording to the following criteria:

(1) Gender. The households where both men and women wereparticipated in questionnaire among the ages group of 30 to 60years, and from different cultural backgrounds

(2) Social class. As the desire for privacy is different amongsocial classes, it is necessary to compare populations ofsimilar status. Kheir Al-Kodmany (1999) argues that in thelow-income groups, for instance, the crowded living conditionsforce a lack of privacy, so privacy norms are much lessstringent than for high-income groups. In this study thesample was drawn from household respondents of the mediumincome people in Beirut.

(3) Neighborhoods. The apartment selected randomly fromwestern part of Beirut which the plenty of new apartments isapparent.

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The following figures reflect the great loss of personalprivacy, family privacy, visual privacy and audible privacy inthe spatial organization of the apartments under study.

Figure 19. Tents to protect the residents from being seen( Type of inward house ).

Figure 20. The need for curtains is clearly shown, loss ofvisual privacy.

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Figure 21. The private zone ( Bedrooms ) is seen fromneighbors, loss of visual privacy.

Figure 22. Loss of visual privacy

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Figure 23. The W.C. door is seen from the entrance door

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Figure 24. The W.C. door is clearly seen at the entrance

Figure 25. The zoning of more private area ( Bedroom ) andless private area ( Sitting room ) is absent.

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Figure 26. The zoning of more private area ( Bedroom ) andless private area ( Sitting room ) is also absent.

Figures of Phase (II) were taken on 25th November 2014 by theresearcher.

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The Analysis of The Questionnaire

As mentioned previously, the questionnaire conducted with onemember of each family, two men and two women and consisted ofthese topics: personal information, personal privacy, andfamily privacy, participant’s evaluation of their houses,participant’s choices about how to get privacy, visual andsound privacy, and their feedback.

Personal Information :

Participants were four families each one is consisted ofparents and two children from different sex.

When the families representatives were asked about how manybedrooms do they have and how they do separate between theirkids, 100% of the participants said that they live in twobedrooms one for the parents and the other for children.

25% of the participants said that they provide separation bytwo separated beds, 75% said that that kids are sleeping indouble over beds.

Personal Privacy :

When they were asked “How often do you wish to be alone athome?”25% said they never prefer to be alone to watch theirkids, 50% said they want to be alone so often, and 25%saidthey don’t care.

In respond to “How do you get your own privacy at home?” 50%of the participants get alone in their bedrooms, and the restare alone in the kitchen.

Family Privacy :

And when the researcher asked “Where Does the family find herprivacy?” 100% said the find it in their bedrooms only.

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And when the question went to “When does the family feelembarrassed? “ 50% of the participants said that they areembarrassed when they are in the kitchen and being seen byguests, 50% are embarrassed when they are seen in theirbedrooms, and 100% are embarrassed when they are getting inand out of their WCs and seen by guests. And 100% said thatdon’t care about the smell of their food, the noise of theirkids and the sound of the streets when they have guests.

Visual And Sound Privacy :

100% of the participants strongly agree to have The entrancedoor opened to a transition space apart from a sitting room, Aclosed balcony, and a Green zones to prevent outsiders fromlooking inside.

Participant’s Choices To Have Privacy :

100% of the participants prefer to get two zones less privateand private and if they get a separated room for their guests.

Participant’s Evaluations of Their Houses :

100% of the participants said that their houses are not at thedegree of privacy they must be in participant’s feedback: allof the participants wished to have houses like theirgrandparents had . e.g back and front courtyard houses withbig receptions and protections from the outsiders with bigfans, and garden.

The Checklist

The Islamic way of life strictly defined the particular rolesof man and woman in relation to the physical environment. Theprivacy of the family was also an essential element whichaffected the shape and the plan organization of alltraditional Muslim houses, to be clearly defined as public,

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semi-public and private spaces. This checklist will assist thepotential residents to understand the degree of privacy thehouse may provide for them, and to try together with thedesigners to modify the spatial relationships based on theirneeds.

This checklist must not be limited to the features itcontain, the architect together with the user might add somefeatures that are important from their standpoints.

Private Zone : Bedrooms, sitting room, W.C's, kitchen, andtheir transition areas.

Less private Zone / Semi Private Zone : Guest rooms, diningrooms, kitchen, guest W.C., entrance whole, their transitionareas.

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Question Yes No NotesDoes the apartment includeOne bedroomTwo bedroomsThree bedroomsMoreOne W.CTwo W.COne master W.C.MoreIs there one W.C for the guests in the less private zone ?A Transition area betweenBedroomsSitting roomDining roomBedrooms and guest roomEntrance and bedroomsEntrance and kitchenEntrance and guestroomIs the kitchen seen by guests ?Is the private zone invisible fromthe semi private zone ?Do the house windows and balconiesoffer visual privacy from theoutside ?Is the house in a noisy area ?

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Conclusion

Hillier (1984, 1996) pointed out that buildings operatesocially in two ways: they constitute the social organizationof everyday life as the spatial configurations of space inwhich we live and move, and represent social organisation asphysical configurations of forms and elements that we see.Then, Space can create and control the boundaries betweendifferent categories of people and their interaction withobjects and each other’s (Hillier 1984, 1996). Therefore,Places and buildings in the Arab world should be constructedto satisfy the needs of human beings based on Islamic valueswhich are outlined and stressed by “Islam” To be preservedand protected. In this manner, different views of thesevalues and prioritization of them influence the way Muslimarchitects must conduct the design practices.e.g. The resultobtained from the analytical study of (dwellings in Tehran, inSaudi Arabia, and in a specific area in Beirut respectively),the survey with the residents in Tehran showed that they arenot satisfied neither for the spatial organization nor for theareas they have. And in the Saudi society, the successiveuse of fences up to nine meters, the Kurten inside spaces toseparate between them even in a single space such as inrestaurants, and sometimes they go behind curtain to separatebetween genders by using separate gateways. And when theresearcher interviewed some residents in a specific area inBeirut to examine their attitude about the degree of privacythey get in their dwellings. All these studies reflect thatarchitects, planners, and anthropologists must understand howsocioreligious and cultural complexities affect thearchitecture in the present societies, and they must studythoroughly these socio-cultural complexities’ before planningarchitecture. Architects also must evaluate the currenttraditions and customs and to eliminate exaggeration in

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discussions forms conducted with the target groups and byrepresenting international similar examples from similarsocieties holding the same socio-cultural perspectives inthese way developers can provide a healthy built environmentthat will most closely fit the group's spatial and culturalneeds.

The lack of empirical studies done before to investigate howpeople perceive their dwellings based on their privacy needs,which this work could have built upon, represents an importantlimitation. While they are based on the perceptual approach,which is devised in the form of an attitude survey, there arelimits to base the discussion only on the results of aquestionnaire where there is always room for subjectivity.Other means of investigation underlying such an approach canbe utilized to advance the discourse on the degree ofarchitectural privacy needs in any region, such as focusedinterviews, matrix to assist designers and users, systematicobservations of how people use their built environment, andbehavioral mapping studies.

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Appendix : Questionnaire For The ArchitecturalPrivacy

This questionnaire is to evaluate the current privacy issuesin some of the contemporary houses in Beirut. Please doanswer these questions in order to help the architects tomodify the current architectural trend.

Part (I) : Profile

Name :

Age :

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Gender :

Marital status :

Single

Married

If you are married, Do you have your own home?

Yes

No

How many bedrooms do you have?

One bedroom

Two bedrooms

More

Do you have children?

Yes

No

If yes how many children do you have?

A child

Two children

More

If you have more than one child are they

Boys

Girls

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Both

If your answer is yes, are they all over 14 years old ?

Yes

No

Under 14 years old?

Yes

No

If they are from different sex, do they live in a commonroom ?

Yes

No

If your answer is yes how do you protect their privacy ?

By sleeping in separated beds

By separate between them using a curtain

By using double over beds

Other

Please explain

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Part (II) : Personal Privacy

How often do you wish to be alone at home?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Where do you get your own privacy at home?

In the bedroom

In a separate room

In the living, sitting room

In the kitchen

In the W.C.

Out of the house

Other

Please explain

Part (III) : Family Privacy

Do you achieve privacy when you are in the

Bedroom ?

Never

Sometime

Often

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Always

Living room ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Kitchen ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

While navigating in your private zone ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Do you feel embarrassed when ?

You are seen by guests when you are

In the kitchen?

Never

Sometime

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Often

Always

In your own living room?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Getting out or in the W.C. ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Do you have only a single W.C. ?

Yes

No

If your answer was yes, do you feel embarrassed when

It is used by the guest

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Do you feel embarrassed when ?

Your food smell is in and out of the house ?

Never

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Sometime

Often

Always

Your kids’ noise is reachable by guests ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

The street noise is clearly herd ?

Never

Sometime

Often

Always

Part (IV) : Visual Privacy

Do you prefer to have ?

The entrance door opened to a transition space apart from asitting room ?

I strongly agree

I agree

I somehow agree

Indifferent

I somehow disagree

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I disagree

I strongly disagree

A closed balcony so no neighbor can see?

I strongly agree

I agree

I somehow agree

Indifferent

I somehow disagree

I disagree

I strongly disagree

Green zones to prevent outsiders from looking inside?

I strongly agree

I agree

I somehow agree

Indifferent

I somehow disagree

I disagree

I strongly disagree

Do you prefer to have ?

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Two zones, less private for living, sitting rooms and kitchen,and private for bed rooms and W.Cs ?

I strongly agree

I agree

I somehow agree

Indifferent

I somehow disagree

I disagree

I strongly disagree

You have separate rooms for guests ?

I strongly agree

I agree

I somehow agree

Indifferent

I somehow disagree

I disagree

I strongly disagree

Other? Please describe

Do you think that your home is responding to your privacyneeds ?

Yes I do

No I don’t

Comment:

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