The Colonial Effects on the local character in Architecture & urban design

تناول البحث التأثير المباشر لطراز معماري ظهر في مرحلة محددة و انعكاس هذا التأثير على الهوية المعمارية المحلية و تحديات التغيير التي واكبت هذا التأثير، و ذلك من تسليط الضوء على خصائص الطرز الأوربية التي كانت الركيزة الأساسية لهذا الطراز من خلال دراسة الأشكال و النظريات التصميمية و اتجاهات بعض المصممين الأوربيين خلال القرون المتعاقبة الذين أبرزوا العلاقة الثابتة بين العمارة و المجتمع في معظم أعمالهم، أما على الصعيد المحلي فقد كان الاختلاف في التكوين الأكاديمي للمعماريين المحليين، الأثر الواضح في التأثير في الطراز المحلي ليس من منظار التراث فقط، و إنما من منظار المكان و الموقع فبنوا عمارة أنيقة منتظمة و متناسقة القياسات و النسب، و أحسنوا تغليفها بمفردات موروثة ،فأنتجت ما يسمى الطراز المعرب و لم تشعرنا التقنيات المعاصرة المستعملة فيها بالغرابة أو بالهيمنة فبدت أليفة، لم يغب فيها هاجس الهوية و ارتباطها بجذرها الثقافي التراثي لمعظم المعماريين أمثال عبد الرازق ملص-جورج ريس- أنطوان ثابت، فشعرنا معهم بالتواصل بين المعاصرة و التاريخ.

Through studies of forms and theories of design and trends of some of European designers over the centuries, and those who flashed fixed relationship between Architecture and society in most of their work, in spite of differences in Academic learning for our local Architects, we found that they didn’t look for relationship of the colonial Architecture and the local Identity in history and heritage, but through environment surrounding building, perspective, and location. Thus, they built elegant regular buildings, by using consistent dimensions in typical Module, then they covered it with elements and items, producing the so-called Arabized model. It didn’t make us feel the contemporary technologies which were used with simulating or domination, seeming habitual, without throwing off the identity and the relation with its cultural heritage roots, of most Architects. We felt that we are in continuity between modernity and history. Our Architects, by their cleverness and their skills, succeeded in saving the features of our personalities in their works. Some of them create building that maintain local characteristics known as “The Arabized colonial Architecture “which indicated characters of the Arabic Identity. Hybrid Architecture was born, it was clear in houses which were composed by reinforced concrete, newly arrived with composite language (ottoman –Arabic and Italian) which were developed in Beirut in the mid of the 19th century, which was known as Lebanon House. It was known by three arches in the middle of the façade, repeated in new modeling forms and these houses were done with multiple floors, in spite of these elements were transferred from western Architecture forms such as flitted columns, complex crowns, lot of decoration, but our character seemed clear and the hybrid mixture was successful.