Reuse in Saudi Arabia (Historical reviwe) CH3

Reuse in Saudi Arabia Chapter III

Reuse in Saudi Arabia

Historical Review

3.1 Introduction

Building reuse is a universal phenomenon; not confined to specific societies or

environments. The history of civilization indicated that building reuse was a response

to people's constantly changing demands. The built environment has always included

a building that needs to be repaired, reused or preserved. The approaches of adaptive

reuse of buildings were developed throughout time in different theories, methods and

applications that signify how certain communities idiosyncratically perceive the

concept. In the previous chapter, the manifestations of adaptive reuse through western

history were discussed. They revealed that adaptive reuse of buildings has shifted

from the merely cultural and aesthetic task of conserving historical and heritage

buildings to significant sustainable strategy that aims to achieve environmental and

social benefits. In this chapter, the development of the concept and its applications,

throughout the development history of Saudi Arabia will be investigated, to see how

much similarities exist between the two cases and compare perceptual differences.

Unfortunately, there were limited resources that provide such interpretations of the

subject in the Saudi case, therefore, the study of adaptive reuse of buildings in the

Kingdom was based on reviewing the historical development of the concept, in this

chapter, followed by analytical study of the carried out surveys and interviews in the

next chapter, which will substitute the lack of data and statistics in this field.

To understand the subject of buildings adaptive reuse in Saudi Arabia more

comprehensively, it was important to fairly cover the direct related aspects, which is

the objective of this chapter. The chapter Begins with a brief about the history of

Saudi urbanization to detect the effects of modernity on the built environment and

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how it changed the Saudi society. Then, phases of adaptive reuse of buildings in the

kingdom will be classified.

3.2 Adaptive reuse of building in Saudi Arabia

3.2.1 Brief History

The development of urbanization and metropolitan society in Saudi Arabia carried a

very distinctive character. It happened so rapidly leaving no chance for the tribal

society, which is deeply rooted to its customs and traditions, to be prepared for the

massive transformation that reached every aspect of its life. A transformation that

took more than a century to evolve in the western society was abruptly introduced as a

delivered package for the Saudis where the majority at that point was still living in

traditional mud or stone houses. However, hastily they coped with the change with the

best way affordable. Whether seeking for modernization, change, and comfort or

simply to keep pace with the general drift, people accepted the new transformation.

Physical transformation was first to surmount, however, other changes gradually

continued to occur in the Saudi society, which led eventually to significant shifts in

the social structure. Together physical and social changes contributed in reforming the

built environment in Saudi Arabia. AlNaim (1998) stated that the new actors in the

built environment presented by designers and governmental institutes have broken the

harmonious relationship between the people and their physical environments. The

transformation of the traditional Saudi built environment has produced new forms of

buildings. These were described by Eben Saleh (1980) as "hybrids of exotic

character" in their forms, concepts, organization of spaces, elements and techniques

(Cited in AlNaim, 1998). As a result of the dramatic effects on building design, type,

size, materials and perception, the process of adaptive reuse of buildings have

changed.

According to Al Shiha and others (2005) most of the economic, Urban, demographic

and social changes in Saudi Arabia occurred in the following four phases as they

alienated:

Phase I: The phase of consolidation and settlement (1902-1938)

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It was the beginning of the third Saudi state; it started with unstable and volatile

political situations until 1932, where the rest of the regions were unified as the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Financial resources were few and limited, based

mainly on Hajj, agriculture and grazing. Although oil was extracted and

practically produced in 1938, revenues of petrol appeared at later stages (CIA

library, 2011; MOFA).

Saudis during this period were either tribal groups living in closed traditional

settlements or unsettled Bedouins; some of Saudi regions experienced more

civilized conditions affected by trade routes like in the eastern region or by the

holly duty of Hajj in the western region. Nevertheless, 1912 marked the beginning

of Bedouins Settlement program by teaching them agriculture and building

homes. The traditional building patterns that spread in the Saudi different regions

in this phase, which shared specific social and physical characteristics, continued

until the late 1960s (AlNaim, 1998). Family constituted cooperating unit of work,

production and consumption, and with the limited means of transportation,

communities were confined within their local communities. Settlements usually

accommodate residents of the same clan, thus extended families and strong

interdependence relations prevailed (AlNowaiser, 1999). Furthermore, relatives

usually lived in houses adjacent to each other, also families that belong to a single

tribe or to one profession or have intermarriage relationships chose joint

neighborhood to live in (AlShiha, et.al, 2005). Despite of the limited economic

situations and delimited land within the city walls (which were demolished by the

end of this phase), families rarely moved from their ancestral residences. Instead,

houses were altered and transformed to cope with changing demands, whether by

expanding horizontally as in many houses of Eastern and central region, or

vertically as in the case of Jeddah, Mecca and Al-Medina or by subdividing the

original residence as in (Fig. 1).

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Figure 1: Subdivision of a traditional residence due to changes in the structure of the extende family.Source: AlNaim, 1998

These situations induced adaptability in the traditional built environments through

exhibiting high flexibility in the buildings layout, the organization of spaces and

the use of materials, which allowed consistency and continuity of these

environments. There were very limited cases of total building conversion as the

homogeneity of use maintained over a long period of time (AlNaim, 1998),

despite that partial spaces within the building were subjected to change at any

point according to users' needs. AlMubarak (2004) also mentioned that land uses

in the traditional settlements were limited and mainly residential. Nevertheless,

the process of adaptive reuse of buildings in the traditional built environment

considered a matter of a common sense driven by necessity (More clarification

will be provided in phases of building reuse).

Phase II: Phase of oil detection (1939-1950)

Despite the disrupted effect of WWII on the region, this phase was marked with

more stable conditions, which was reflected in the growth of existing urban

centers and emergence of new urban centers in the areas of oil production. Effects

of the new oil economy were increasingly taking place. Similar to modernization

movement in North America and Europe, historical heritage in Saudi Arabia was

set out of the picture to achieve true and genuine modernity. All past traditional

styles had to be sacrificed in favor of the new stylistic drift. However, the Saudi

society revealed strong social resistance at the beginning and was committed to its

traditional way of living, "people in Arabia at that time were very reactive against

modernization" (AlNaim, 1998). It was the imported designs and technologies

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supported by the government institutions that created the early changes of Saudi

physical environment. Many factors contributed to this urban leap such as the

growing country income, entry of foreign investments, employing professionals

from outside the country, for construction and infrastructure projects. Moreover,

several events contributed to the spread of modern styles, those are:

The ARAMCO housing projects for its employees between 1938 and

1944. The company constructed three major settlements at their main

operation sites (ALMubarak, 1999).

The preparation of first gridiron urban plan for Khobar city and Dammam

by ARAMCO, in 1947. The new introduced concepts and house image has

accelerated the impact of modernity on local citizens (AlSudairi, 1993).

The introduction of some commercial buildings and apartment buildings in

large cities central areas to accommodate foreign business men (AlShiha,

et.al, 2005).

Providing free land selected by the government to build settlers in

Dammam and Al-Khobar, based on the gridiron system (ALMubarak,

1999).

ARAMCO camps were divided according to status levels and National origins

(AlMubarak, 1999), they exhibited the emergence of new strange concepts to the

local Saudi community, the social structure, the physical form, the spatial

organization, the design and the construction materials were introduced by

ARAMCO's American engineers to accommodate the company's foreign

employees. These new oil towns also introduced the modern approach of land use

and divisions, unlike the traditional environments, the core was consisted of

administrative, operational and service areas, which were located next to the

industrial zone, the residential suburbs were not far from the core and they

included the commercial and recreational services which were at this time

exclusively geared for the use of the Senior Staff. The land use system which

appeared in these emergent settlements, continued to develop in the implemented

Saudi urban expansion (AlMubarak, 1999; AlShiha, et.al, 2005).

The migration rates from villages to new growing cities were on the rise, the need

for new housing programs to accommodate the new comers, in addition to

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contemporary governmental buildings, companies and headquarters diminished

the chances for reusing existing building, thus it can be assumed that adaptive

reuse of building, in this sense, was in doldrums especially in the new erected

urban centers. However, the concept continued to be employed in the existing

traditional communities and later in the transitional unplanned settlements. The

increasing numbers of migrants who sought job opportunities and better life

conditions encouraged the growth of unplanned settlements (Fig.2) or as

AlMubarak (1999), described them "cities of laborers", those were the squatter

settlements that spread outside the ARAMCO main compound and

accommodated by local Saudi workers. They were organic clusters of

haphazardly scattered residential structures built with available scrap materials,

palm-leaf (barastis), and cement blocks, locally they were known in the gulf

region as Barastis (Lockerbie, 2005). Their function was mainly residential

however, Kimble (1956) described "One also finds an incipient native suk or

market, perhaps a garage and gasoline pump, and other evidences of an emerging

indigenous community life" (cited in AlMubarak, 1999).

Figure 2: On the right, top view of unplanned settlement in the costal gulf; on the left: is an example of two floors Barasti house. Which appeared in phase II.

Source: http://www.catnaps.org/islamic/gulfarch3.html

Populated by Saudi working class and young staff, most of these unplanned

settlements were terraced houses of one or two floors, mostly with internal

courtyard (Fig.2, 3). Regardless of their design or materials these transitional

settlements revealed a good practice for adaptive reuse of buildings, as they

gradually grew according to their owners' socio-economic changes. The

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unplanned settlements rapidly increased during the 1930s up to the 1950s

(AlMubarak, 2004).

Generally, they were square or circular in plan with an internal court surrounded

by a kitchen, a bedroom and sometimes with a space for visitors and other for

animals, bathroom was usually located outside. Collectively, those buildings

formed a group of fenced nests, bounded by an open space used for social

evening gathering. Later on as the owner status improved and the family size

increased, extra rooms or floors were usually added. Moreover, there were

several cases where a shop or a store occupied one of the house's rooms which

commonly overlooked the main street (Fig.3). Sometimes, two Brastis were

combined together to accommodate the growing extended families (Al Shiha,

et.al. 2005). Despite the poor conditions of these settlements, the buildings

revealed high adaptability to change and fulfilled their users various demands.

These settlements were later moved by the state away from ARAMCO camp for

safety reasons (AlMubarak, 2004).

Figure 3: The transformation process of the unplanned settlement's house in Saudi Arabia during phase II.Source: (Al Shiha, et.al. 2005)

Phase III: Phase of economic fluctuations and the beginning of planning and

organization (1951-1969)

This phase began with an economic fluctuation, followed by a subsequent

recovery and financial stability started in 1960s (Al Shiha, et.al. 2005). King Saud

succeeded his father in 1953 and worked on accelerating modernization in the

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region especially in Riyadh (AlNaim, 1998). Actions of the governments in

collaboration with ARAMCO programs continued to carry out modern

development in the Saudi community. On the other hand, the increased demand

for housing the immigrant masses that burst traditional and unplanned settlements

causing poor and insufficient conditions, created more pressure to provide rapid

solutions, a requirement that could not be achieved with the traditional building

methods and techniques. To a certain extent, the traditional architecture was not

given the opportunity to evolve and change to serve contemporary demands.

Instead traditional architecture was replaced with easier and faster structures,

particularly as most of the architects who participated in the development process

have been brought from abroad. Among these important development projects

were:

ARAMCO Home Ownership Program for its employees in Dammam during

1950s (AlNaim, 1998) which introduced the villa style (Fig. 2). Furthermore,

ARAMCO promoted their living styles as the future modern trend through

exhibitions and publications.

The government started building suburb housing projects for their employees,

and developed more lands in gridiron system. The land was divided into

squares of 50m by 100m or 50m. They were purchased by citizens or granted

from the government (Al Shiha, et.al. 2005).

The Government housing loan program for Saudi employees initiated in 1950.

The construction of AlMalaz housing project in the city of Riyadh to house

state employees transferred from the Hijaz to work in Riyadh in 1953. The

project consisted of 754 villas of three different sizes, and 180 apartments

spread over three buildings (Al Shiha, et.al. 2005). In these new erected

suburbs change of use was prohibited by the authority which stated that " It is

not permitted to use any building in the residential area as a shop or workshop

for any purpose related to marketing or any malodorous craft" (AlSaid, 2003),

which prevented any act of building conversion or reuse.

The issuance of some building regulations to control building process in 1962,

this included the house height, the squire ratio and required set-backs and

prohibited further land subdivision (AlNaim, 1998, Al Shiha, et.al. 2005).

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In this period and before the spread of the modern Mediterranean villa style, another

type of residential form was developed by the locals was referred to as the "'popular

Arab' house" (AlMubarak, 2004). It was a traditional courtyard layout plan

constructed with modern materials, a small low cost residence that replied the needs

of city's new comers. AlMubarak (2004) described them as transitional stage of the

suburbanization of Riyadh.

Figure 4: The early villa type created by Saudi Aramco during the home ownership program for its employees, in 1950s.

Source: (Al Shiha, et.al, 2005)

By the end of this phase the detachable and semi detachable villa type residence

was broadly spreading in the Saudi main cities with its modern designs, layout,

forms and materials. At the same time, there was a decline in the emergence of

traditional building forms and techniques; however, they continued to be

employed.

Phase IV: Phase of comprehensive planning from 1970.

Saudi Arabia understood the importance of planning for development and optimal

utilization of natural and human resources. Thus, since the early seventies, the

Kingdom started issuing a series of a Five Year development Plans (AlShiha,

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et.al, 2005) since then, there have been eight development plans approved and

released, reaching the year 2010. In general the Saudi national income was

improving; from 1973 until 1981 Saudi Arabia witnessed the petrodollar boom

which had tremendous impact on the growth of urban development, thereafter the

income fluctuated between high and low international oil prices while sustaining a

general productive economy.

Social changes in the Saudi society also began to appear more evidently in this

period. The structure of Saudi Family was shifting from large extended families to

more independent nuclear form, affected by the rural-urban migration (AlShiha,

et.al, 2005). In the same context, the society welfare via oil wealth was followed

by excessive consumption habits started since 1970s (Assad, 2008). Consumerism

had affected Saudi society in every living aspect; citizens chose to move from

their small size houses, which were homogenous with their local closed

communities to residing in more spacious subjective houses, disconnected from

their neighborhoods. El-Haddad (2003) stated that, "the new architectural system

of housing made the house lose its associative function and transformed it into a

consumptive symbol". These relatively large residences were required to be filled

with several furnishing pieces, finishes, appliances, accessories…etc. The change

in people's perception toward more consuming attitudes has a negative impact on

the environmental level, and has moved communities away from concerning the

conservation of natural resources, and the rationalization of consumption, which

are virtues of the traditional Islamic culture. It can be said that after the 1970s

Saudi society was fully transforming from traditional tribal communities to new

urban societies.

Urban growth in this phase was aiming for more systematic and organized

approach, especially, after the emergence of several crises in the late 1960s and

early 1970s, such as local inflation, rising costs of construction, shortfall in

meeting the increasing demands for housing and other services. The government,

thus, sought to concentrate carefully on marking their goals and means, step by

step. The five year plans were oriented to fulfill this purpose. In the pre-boom

period, Saudi Arabia faced difficulties to carry on these plans; the housing and

inflation crisis had intensified specially in the early 1970s (AlSheha et al, 2005).

As a result, land values increased sorely, along with renting prices. In 1975, the

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government established the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Real

Estate Development Fund (AlNaim, 1998), to control and manage the

urbanization process. The state intervention presented by introducing a variety of

housing programs, a provision of infrastructure, an expansion of land grants to

citizens and involving the private sector to participate in these projects (AlSheha

et al, 2005).

Because the Kingdom had little experience in the field of urban planning, it

experienced shortcomings, in the pre-boom period, in responding to the increased

demands for more development in the crowded city centers. Moreover, the rising

costs of construction, land and materials, with the shortage of labor, had affected

the growth rates (AlMubarak, 2004). As a result, reusing the available existed

buildings to compensate the emergent deficiencies appeared as a convenient and

feasible solution. The adaptive reuse of building began to appear in the congested

city centers, in the form of residential conversion to commercial use or ware

houses. Yet they were very limited and confined to individual cases (AlSheha et

al, 2005). Housing variety in this phase included villas, apartments, traditional

mud houses, slums and tents.

With the economic boom the government was able to embark upon their

development plans. The state intervention was substantial in solving the housing

crisis. At the same time, the large numbers of houses and residential buildings that

were built contributed in rooting the style of modern architecture. Of course, this

did not mean that the traditional model or random slums had disappeared

completely, however, the situation was totally inverted, and the modern style

prevailed. AlMubarak (2004) argued that the outcome Saudi modern metropolis

was a result of the pressures of rapid urbanization, reliance on Western models of

architecture and planning, the economic peculiarities of oil and the Kingdom's

political system.

The building regulations imposed on people with their lack of previous experience

in the new buildings form and construction deprived the local society from

participating in the formation of their houses, which contradicted with the user's

role in the traditional built environment, that included designing and constructing.

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AlSaid (2003) stated that the municipality statutes has officially shifted the

planning and designing of neighborhoods' from its users to the municipality.

People reaction to this situation as AlNaim (1998) argued, "Was a very drastic

alteration of those houses which were erected in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s".

People needed to change their houses as a form of resistance, to adapt them to

their social true demands. Therefore, after the modernity drift calmed down by the

end of the economic boom in the mid 1980s, Saudis became more aware of the

importance of adaptation in order to create more convenient environment. These

dwellings which have been built with imported codes and non-Saudi hands

collided with the Saudi user social needs. Thus, change was inevitable. Perhaps

one of the clearest examples of such changes was the balconies. As illustrated in

(Fig. 4), balconies were significant elements of the villa type produced by

ARAMCO and which was circulated as the "future home". These balconies,

which did not match with the Saudi family's privacy or with the climate in Saudi

Arabia, spread in all types of early modern housing, whether villas or apartments,

from the 1950s until the 1980s. Therefore, it was a space most often subjected to

change or reuse. Solutions varied widely; sometimes the balconies was closed and

added up to the residence rooms, or it may be converted to a storing space and

alike. This situation continued for a long period of time before balconies gradually

decreased in Saudi homes. In the same context was the set-back law which

prevents the owner from building more than 40% of his land area. Changing the

law which was passed by Municipalities was not possible as in the case of

balconies. Therefore, it was for the user to create new and useful functions in

these dead zones in order to fulfill his cultural demands. These were sometimes

used by building Diwaniah (out-side guest reception), driver's room, dirty

kichens…etc. Bahammam (1992) stated that, by these alterations, residents were

able to shape their built environment and their life patterns in a positive reaction.

On the other hand, AlNaim (1998) said, that this phenomenon created an external

physical contradiction in the home environment, which indicated that social

satisfaction was more important than the physical appearance. Although these

alterations fall under the categorization of physical state of adaptation which

includes terms of revamping, upgrading and refurbishment, they indicated the

importance of creating flexible buildings that satisfy users' necessity change.

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Another important event occurred in 1980s was the government attempt to revive

the traditional architectural style of Riyadh (AlNaim, 1998), which later

influenced the public and continued to develop until 1996 when Al-Turath

Foundation was erected to preserve and maintain national identity through Saudi

Arabia historical and heritage legacy. This first governmental intervention has

paved the way for the emergence of adaptive reuse of buildings of historical and

heritage value as will be discussed later.

After the end of the economic boom and during the period of late 1980s and 1990s

conditions began to change. Most of neighborhoods and districts that have been

established in 1950s and 1960s became old and their conditions deteriorated.

Many of them were either abandoned or continued with significant shifts in their

use and form. Adaptive reuse of buildings became an active principle, the most

notable example was the transformation of old residential neighborhoods in city

centers, which gradually shifted from residential to commercial, institutional and

office uses. This process which was a spontaneous response to socio-economic

changes has often been the result of accumulative individual decisions of users

before officially adopted by Municipalities. Saudi Arabia has many cases of

residential neighborhoods which fulfilled their life cycle1 such as AlSwaikit in

Khobar, Dammam Popular Souk in King Fahad Street, AlMotanabi in Riyadh and

Jeddah AlBalad.

Alongside transformation of residential neighborhoods, adaptive reuse existed at

individual buildings level, chances for adaptive reuse increases with the age of the

street, and the importance of its location. Since 1990s until today, the concept and

application of building reuse have not changed much, although numbers of

building reuse have increased the process of their use is still arbitrary. Buildings

are often converted from residential particularly villa type, to other uses, whether

commercial, educational, health, institutional or alike. Unfortunately

Municipalities in Saudi Arabia do not have any statistics or data about the

percentage of reused buildings or about their most common new uses.

Nevertheless, interviews with municipal officials exhibited that the majority of

1 Neighborhood life cycle will be discussed in the following chapter.

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reused buildings are residential leased to government agencies to be converted to:

schools, clinics, administrative offices, and governmental headquarters. Those are

often spread throughout the residential neighborhoods. According to AlFowzan

(The Ministry of Education Secretary of Building department) there are more than

5205 schools leased by the government throughout the Kingdom. However, the

Ministry of Education has declared that their goal is to dispense all rented school

buildings by the end of the Eighth, Five Year Plan in November 2011 (Asharq

AlAwsat (Arabic newspaper), 2005). This decision doesn’t include the private

sector; therefore, converted houses to educational facilities will continue to appear

in the future but with less intensity. On the other hand rough statistics revealed

that 82% of public clinics are in rented converted houses (Asharq AlAwsat

(Arabic newspaper), 2007). In the eastern region alone there are 126 leased public

clinics (Ministry of Health, 2008). Although many might disagree with this

approach, it can provide very creative solutions if handled well. Very interesting

examples in North America and Europe of transformed educational facilities from

churches, houses, palaces…etc. proved their success, such as the Packer

Collegiate Institute in New York (reviewed in the previous chapter). Nevertheless,

the problem with converted buildings in Saudi Arabia, especially governmental

projects, whether educational, institutional or health facilities is the poor

conditions they suffer. In most of these projects the choice to reuse existing

buildings is based on economic factors. Moreover, the requirements of the

concerned authorities prior to obtaining the license is generally outlined and not

detailed, which allows for abuse and misuse to appear in some aspects, as

explored later.

In light of the history of urban development in Saudi Arabia, reviewed above, the

history of adaptive reuse of building can be divided into three phases, as explored

next.

3.3 Phases of Adaptive Reuse in Saudi Arabia

3.3.1 Phase I: Antiquity, until 1902: “Reuse as a common sense”

As other civilizations, the Arabs who lived in the Arabian Peninsula have developed

their regional architecture through conventions and accumulated experiences, these

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regional patterns, which are referred to as traditional patterns have matured

throughout the immense history of the Arabian Peninsula.

Regardless of their apparent differences traditional buildings in Saudi Arabia shared

general features which gave them enough latency to accommodate future demands.

Such latency has been originated from design simplicity and the integration of social

life with systems with the physical environment. Thus adaptive reuse of building in

this phase was a process of a common sense and a reaction toward emergent needs

such as adding a new room, or expanding horizontally or vertically to accommodate

the growing number of family members. Most changes were respondent to the strong

social relationships among the extended family and the tribe. AlNoiser (1999)

affirmed that usually three successive generations exist in one household. Yet, it is

important to mention that use in the traditional home environment was constant over

time, despite the series of small changes that were continually occurring in its "micro

level" (AlNaim, 1998). Total conversion of residential neighborhood as occurs in the

contemporary environment was never countered in the traditional settings, and as

AlMubarak (2004) mentioned, land uses in the traditional environment were limited

and dominated by residential use. Other uses include the mosques, qasabat, madafin

(cemeteries), the Friday market, the treasury, congregational and public open spaces

(Eben Saleh, 1995). Nevertheless, the research revealed limited cases where rooms in

the house were changed or converted to shops or tailoring workshop, however these

activities were confined often by female users to maintain the territorial hierarchy of

spaces in the traditional neighborhood as discussed below.

Some of the common characteristics of traditional buildings that helped increasing

their flexibility and latency are:

1. Spatial distribution was based on territorial hierarchy rather than on

functional use. The hierarchal divisions of space, to which the whole design of

the traditional built environment was based upon, expresses a clear balance

and transition from the very private to the very public, within a territorial order

(AlNowaiser, 2010). This allowed for multiple or mixed uses of one space,

which many of the current approaches of sustainability advocate, for example

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in the eastern region both "muraba'a" and "liwan"2, located in the family

territory, served as multi-functional spaces (Fig.5). Muraba'a as AlNaim

(1998) described, could be used as a treat for women or visiting relatives in

day time, in night it is transformed as a bed room for the head of the family,

while liwan served as a kitchen and or used for family purposes. These

territorial divisions start from the entrance that separates the indoor space from

the public outside, then the spaces gradually tend to be more private, moving

from the hospitality and male guest territory in the frontier of the house, to the

sanctity of the house where the family and women meet, overlooking the

internal courtyard. The latter territory which is considered the most private

zone of the house, lead to sleeping zones and storages which usually occupy

the upper zones. These are sometimes used for female sittings and other

activities. Another territory is the service zones located in the back of the

house enclosing many services such as the kitchen, barns and bathrooms.

AlNaim (1998) divided these territorial hierarchies into three distinct zones,

guest, family, and animal (Fig.5). The territorial sequence elevated the

building adaptability as long as the privacy territorial sequence is maintained.

Figure 5: A typical traditional house from the eastern region reveals the trritorial division of use: The male reception, the family and utility/animal zones.

2 Muraba'a, is an internal space of traditional house stands for a square room, in Arabic it means square. Liwan locally refers to long rectangular room, opening to the court (AlNaim, 1998).

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Source: AlNaim, 1998.

2. Layout; Plans were of simple layout, usually acknowledged with certain

modular division, which made expansions and divisions more facilitated.

3. The ease of building process and affordability of cost, due to availability of

materials, community participation, and above all the tolerance of regulation

system based on conventions, traditions and compromise among neighbors

made construction and future alterations available to every resident (Alshiha et

al, 2005)

4. The structural system; In Eastern and Western regions, the structural method

was most receptive to adaptive reuse process as skeletal system characterized

by prominent pillars and thick non-load bearing walls built of stones gave

more freedom to change (Fig.6).

5. The inner courtyard, to which most of the rooms open, provided more

flexibility in controlling rearranging and the internal spaces.

6. The introduction of new land use in the traditional neighborhood, whether

residential, commercial, services or farmland is permissible only after securing

the affected parties' rights (AlMubarak, 1999).

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Figure 6: two Examples of Traditional house layout plan from Western region (Left) and Eastern region house (Right). Source: (Al Shiha et al, 2005)


Yet in this phase it was unlikely to see examples of building total conversion from

residential to commercial as noted nowadays. However, there were variable cases of

building partial conversion to different uses. There were several female activities took

place inside the house to support family income especially if the family looses their

main supporter, tailoring workshops, mini shops to sell female clothes and cosmetics

that took place inside the residence rooms were common. Moreover, in large houses

that contained an oven or a grinder, female gather to bake or grinding collectively

(AlNaim, 1998; AlNoaiser, 1999). This was due to the nature of the traditional city

form based on conventions and residents' agreements, where residential and

commercial practices (craftsmen workshops and traders' shops and stores) were

separated to avoid harming others and violating privacy. Most public activities were

assembled in the traditional city, in the centre, surrounding the Grand Mosque

(AlNoaiser, 1999; aljwahrah, 2003; Sauod, 2001). However, even if cases of total

buildings conversion were to befound, in the traditional building form, it won't be

difficult process for users to carry on, as it has been proven in countless conservation

projects especially in the Levant countries, Egypt and gulf regions, where old

traditional buildings were converted to different contemporary uses like restaurants,

museums and shops (Fig. 7). Undoubtedly, the traditional built environment proved to

be sustainably adaptable over centuries.

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Figure 7: Example of traditional house conversion to resturant, in Syria. it reveals the potentiality of traditional building layout especially the court yard.

Source: the researcher.

During the early years of rapid modernization in Saudi Arabia, the disregard of

decision makers and development promoters to the effects of rapid urbanization and

industrialization on the fabric of the traditional culture has led to serious damages on

the national level (Al Saud, 2010). Creating a gap that prevented the normal

development of the traditional architectural style, and separated between modernity

and other traditional built environment. The impacts of this rapid transition with

disappeared traditional forms and mechanism had serious impacts on the continuity of

the built environments.

3.3.2 Phase II: Introduction of Modernity, 1938- 1979: "The beginning of new era"

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the introduction of modernity to the Kingdom

started with the discovery of oil in 1938. Within less than 40 years, attributes of

modernity have spread across the country. In this period there was an urgent need for

new infrastructure, housing programs, services, schools, clinics, commercial and,

institutional buildings…etc to cope with the emerging leap. In this context, reuse of

existing building stock was disregarded, because it doesn’t match with modern

premises and standards. Therefore, decision makers had to sacrifice all of the existing

building stock for more contemporary modern imported structures. This is hardly

effected the traditional built environment in rural villages, away from urban centers.

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Yet, building reuse appeared in some individual cases throughout the modern age in

Saudi Arabia, driven by necessity in city centers and within traditional and workers

settlements, these cases continued to increase by time.

3.3.3 Phase III: The shift 1980 “Dual perspective”

Nowadays adaptive re-use of buildings in Saudi Arabia

can be categorized under two main driving forces:

Necessity, and Identity Crisis. Necessity

which was and still is the intrinsic

generator for building reuse can be simply

defined as the need for change; however,

the need for change may take several

forms. Akbar (2005) has counted factors

of change associated with the dynamism

of the built environment to include; change of owners'

needs and requirements, the human instinct desire to

progress and distinction, change in the surrounding

environment, and finally change in the economical

status. Of course, any change occurs in the state's economic, social or political

structure will lead to subsequent changes in the built environment.

necessity can lead to minor changes such as adding extra rooms or converting the

garage into a small grocery shop in order to improve the economic status of the

owner, or in other cases it can lead to massive transformations, such as the case in

many old city centers in the Kingdom where entire residential neighborhoods were

transformed into dense commercial

districts, as shown in chapter five.

Another aspect of necessity is associated

with the current changes in the Saudi economic and social structure which appears

today in full manifestation. Obviously, the economic prosperity prevailed in the 1980s

was over. Nowadays, the Saudi population is growing rapidly with young people

representing more than 60% of population, where as estimated, 73% of them live in

urban areas (The library of Congress country study; AlShiha et. al, 2005). This

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Figure 8: Necessity and Identity Crisis are the driving forces for building reuse in contemporary Saudi Arabia. source: researcher

Dual Perspective

Necessity

Identity Crisis

Figure 9: Leased public clinic in Hail, example of reusing villas for health facilities. Source: http://www.hailnewsup.com/hail//uploads/images/ha

ilnew-06f219b031.jpg

Figure 10: A house converted into public school in Jeddah. Source: http://www.aawsat.com/2007/12/02/images/ksa-local1.448062.jpg.


situation has formed a great pressure on

major cities. Accordingly, necessity has

led to the emergence of leased

governmental buildings such as schools,

clinics, and police stations within

residential neighborhoods (Fig. 9, 10) as a

quick and temporary solution to meet

community rising demands at minimum

costs. These public facilities mostly took place within private houses or towers rented

by the state, then converted and redesigned to fulfill their new public uses. This type

of building reuse is very common in Saudi Arabia; it is in almost all existing old

residential neighborhoods. Despite of the Ministry of Education tendency to eliminate

the rented school buildings and replace them with new school buildings, signs reveal

that this is difficult to achieve under the current circumstances. The transformation of

residential buildings into clinics or schools is a common trend in the private sector as

well.

Another form of necessity arises from the problem of old neighborhoods that were

established in the early stages of Saudi development and are currently of thirty to

forty years old. These old neighborhoods, which often perform as city centers, are the

largest living models employing principles of buildings adaptive reuse. What helped

these neighborhoods to continue and survive was their significant location and

commercial value. Unfortunately, in most cases, these dense transformed districts

suffer from poor physical and social conditions due to insufficient building design and

implementation, migration of indigenous Saudi residence and settlement of

unfortunate foreign workers, and other problems. However, recently, Municipalities

started to pay more attention to issues related to city centers. They released several

programs and regulations to preserve street identity, renew infrastructure, organize

uses and guarantee safety standards, for example Municipality of Jeddah initiated tier

program of renewal of Jeddah Alabalad and the historical attached sites in 2010, also

Municipality of Dammam has started their program for maintain city center in 2009

(Asharq AlAwsat (Arabic newspaper), 2009; Jeddah Municipality, official web site).

Typically, these neighborhoods when started, included residential use only, however,

as they grew older, commercial services gradually replaced some of the existing

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residential use. The case continued at different rates until reaching a complete

transformation of the residential neighborhood into a commercial or mixed-use dense

district. Examples will be explored in the case study chapter.

Identity crisis is another driving force for building reuse in Saudi Arabia. Since forty

years, the built environment in the Arabian Peninsula started to lose its regional

identity in favor of modern forms and architectural style, due to social and cultural

changes as well as institutionalized changes imposed by planning and architectural

practices (Eben Saleh, 1998). Moreover, countless numbers of our heritage legacy

have been lost due to obsolescence and neglect, or tore down and replaced with new

facilities. However, the Kingdom is currently living a cultural awakening and trying

so hard to rectify the wastes of its historical legacy and preserve its identity. This is

important not just for building preservation per se, but to support all approaches of

adaptive reuse of buildings. Preservation, conservation, restoration and reinstatement

are derived from the notion of buildings adaptive reuse, as mentioned in chapter one.

Indeed they are the most practiced and supported concepts among the rest. They also

present a key phase of the history of building reuse in Europe and North America, as

discussed in chapter two.

It can be argued that the Islamic-based ideological background that prevailed in the

Arab peninsula, particularly in the Saudi Kingdom, did not set the appropriate

environment for approaches of preservation and conservation to bloom, unlike the

case in western societies where nostalgia and appreciation of heritage were first traced

in early 1771, and challenged modernity dominating since the early 19 th century, as

mentioned in the previous chapter.

Heritage, preservation and conservation are relatively new principles to Saudi Arabia.

It was until 1996 when Prince Sultan bin Salman established Al-Turath Foundation as

a response to the emergent identity crisis and the need to preserve Saudi cultural

heritage. Serious steps were taken thereafter in order to preserve antiquities and urban

heritage in the Kingdom, especially after the Foundation merged with the Supreme

Commission for Tourism in 2003 to become the Supreme Commission for Tourism

22 | P a g e


and Antiquities SCTA, and be responsible for

maintaining antiquities as well as for tourism

(SCTA official website). Saudi Arabia is

taking slow but steady steps toward

establishing a solid heritage-based tourism

development, which will have a positive

impact on maintaining national identity and

on buildings preservation and conservation

movement.

Nowadays, several agencies sharing the

concern for heritage and cultural identity such

as Al-Turath Foundation, the Supreme

Commission for Tourism and Antiquity (SCTA), and the Saudi Society for Heritage

Preservation established in 2010. With different working schemes and agendas, those

governmental organizations focused on preserving heritage of all forms.

As for buildings, SCTA has classified two types of "must preserve" sites:

Antiquity sites like Al Faw village, Mada'en Saleh, Souq Okaz, Ibrahim

Palace, Huzam Palace, and Juwatha Mosque.

Heritage sites include Masmack Palace, Al-Muraba' Palace, Nassif House,

and Souk Al-Majlis (Divan Heritage Souk) (Fig.11) which received the

award of “Urban Heritage Preservation” in 2008 (Alriyadh Arabic

newspaper, 2008).

The rising government attention towards heritage preservation and conservation has

inflamed an important principle of building reuse and saved many historical buildings

and sites. This attention focused merely on buildings that carry significant historic or

heritage value. The SCTA has succeeded in

restoring and preserving several essential

projects all around the Kingdom. Their plans

and strategies to protect the Saudi heritage is extended to include locating the

historical sites in the Kingdom, implementing renovation and maintenance programs,

enhancing monuments contributions to cultural and economic development,

23 | P a g e

Figure 11: Pictures from Souk Al Majlis (Divan Heritage Souk) in Maznab. Source: www.al-jazirah.com/20100710/pl9d.htm


participating in studies, conferences and

seminars, with Ministry of Islamic Affairs

and Al Turath Foundation, and

encouraging the private sector to take

precedence in establishing tourist facilities

through investment in the Kingdom. In

addition, SCTA aims to establish public

and specialized museums and reuse

historical buildings as cultural and

educational centers. The main objective of

these plans is to setup the framework

needed to stimulate the development of

tourism as a productive sector with

returning valuable benefits on the Saudi heritage. Nevertheless, more is still expected

and needed. Government actions alone are not enough; the situation needs solidarity

of public and private sectors in order to achieve the desired goals. This is why SCTA

is increasingly focusing on publicity and media role in educating and spreading

community awareness programs.

However, publicity and awareness alone are not enough to allure private sectors to

invest in preservation, conservation or even conversion of old historical building

projects, rather successful life case studies and adequate incentives are the key factors

to attract private investments.

Generally, restoration, conservation or conversion projects of historical or heritage

value are always associated with state intervention which lead ultimately to

governmental ownership. Several projects can be listed in that respect such as, Souk

AlMajlis (Divan Heritage Souk) in

AlMaznab (Fig.11), AlOgair coast in the

eastern region, House of Abu Dahils in historic Jeddah (Fig. 12), Souq Okaz in

Makkah and many more. While all of these projects present very bright examples of

reusing historical buildings, they were financed and owned by local municipalities.

Nevertheless, there have been recently some individual projects which were solely

24 | P a g e

Figure 12: Renovation work taking place at "House of Abu Dahils". Source: Eng. Al Shareef, 2009


sponsored and carried out by citizens such as Rujal Almaa' project, yet they are

limited cases and cannot be generalized. However, in unprecedented approach in the

Kingdom, private sector in corporation with Jeddah Development and Urban

Regeneration Company, owned by Jeddah Municipality, started the largest

revitalization program in Jeddah which include restoration of old Khozam palace. In

this massive project the developer was able to own more shares in the project than the

local state. Many regulations were adjusted to fit the specificity of this project. The

spread of similar projects with governmental support and provision will definitely

give the investor the courage to adopt such approaches. Consequently, adaptive reuse

of building in the form of preserving or conserving buildings of historical value is

gaining more recognition and support more than ever. Despite the delay in its

manifestation, adaptive reuse of historical buildings is taking slow but steady steps

towards achieving concrete and radical changes in the professional field.

In general, these are the main phases through which adaptive reuse of building, in

Saudi Arabia was developed. It is necessary to point out that these phases of adaptive

reuse in the Kingdom share to some extent similar features with the phases of this

approach in Europe and North America. Nevertheless, differences are far more

obvious. Concerns for preserving historical buildings and monuments started early in

the 18th century before the emergence of modernity in the West. Preservation

regulations and reusing heritage sites appeared in the beginning of the nineteenth

century. After the spread of modernity the approach toward building reuse particularly

historical old buildings, began to dismantle as the new modern ideology rejected all

the past and its trends. However, it did not disappear entirely, but became vulnerable.

When modernism started to fall, a growing attachment to heritage and return to the

roots transpired once again, especially with the advent of postmodernism. On the

other hand, in Saudi Arabia, the approach of adaptive reuse of buildings of heritage

and historical value did not appear until the end of modernity. However, throughout

the Modern age in Saudi Arabia, society did not give up or repel his history, religion

or traditions. This indicates a potential susceptibility of Saudi society to accept

preservation and maintenance of heritage rather than dissipate it.

25 | P a g e


Recently, a new drifting force of adaptive reuse has emerged, that is sustainability.

Today, sustainability presents the ultimate motivation for building reuse in Europe

North America, and Australia. The concern for creating sustainable development that

fosters environmental strategies and contributes to solve contemporary urban

problems such as city sprawl, neighborhoods abandonment, and pollution, and fulfills

social benefits have accredited the concept of adaptive reuse the attention of

governments and many professional in the field. Unfortunately, such an approach did

not evolved to perform a driving force for building reuse in the Kingdom, yet. Despite

the effort of Saudi government to achieve sustainable development in the country,

adaptive reuse of buildings is not included in the adopted sustainable agenda, and

there is critical shortfall in addressing and organizing the process of building reuse.

As for professionals, entrepreneurs, academics and the public their perception of the

concept and its approaches will be thoroughly discussed in the next chapter.

The historical development of adaptive reuse of buildings and its application in Saudi

Arabia has revealed three different phases in approaching building reuse. The first

phase discussed adaptive reuse in traditional built environment before urbanization,

where building reuse was a spontaneous act governed by residents changing demands

and, consensual compromise between neighbors. Land uses in traditional built

environment were limited and almost constant due to their planning mechanism which

has accumulated along several centuries and different generations to support the

hierarchal territories of spatial arrangement.

In the following phase, adaptive reuse was drastically changing as the Kingdom was

moving toward modernization. In the begging of this period adaptive reuse continued

to be employed in the traditional settlements that were already existed, however, in

the new erected urban centers around oil fields, in Riyadh and main ports reusing

existing building stock was uncommon practice and hardly noticed. Later, with the

increased numbers of migrants from rural and overseas to main cities, which produced

the labors unplanned settlements, the adaptive reuse of building appeared within these

communities to reply to their increasing population and changing of their demands, in

organic hybrid forms. By the end of 1960s modern architectural styles, forms and

materials replaced the traditional environment, the imported buildings which were

26 | P a g e


designed by foreigner architects overlooked the cultural differences of the Saudi

society which created some sort of social resistance translated in form and spatial

alterations, in the case of residential buildings. Adaptive reuse also emerged in

congested city centers to resolve the shortfall in the provided facilities and services.

Since 1980s and until today, the concept of adaptive reuse of buildings was

approached in dual perspectives; necessity and identity crisis, as addressed earlier.

Yet, the concept did not emerge as a sustainable strategy fostered by the Saudi

government or acknowledged in the professional field, as increasingly established in

the western societies. Despite the rising need for reuse projects and applications in

Saudi main cities and urban centers, the process of adaptive reuse of buildings is still

an arbitrary process that need state intervention for controlling and regulating.

On the other hand, Saudi government is adopting and supporting the approaches of

reusing historical and heritage buildings through preservation and conservation

projects, to maintain the national identity of the country, and to encourage tourism

plans. This concern and attention toward reusing valuable and significant buildings

must expand to include the environmental and social benefits of the process of

adaptive reuse to embrace every suitable building.

Yet, to obtain a better understanding for the concept of building reuse and its

applications in Saudi Arabia it is important to cover the full preview of all the

different actors associated with the subject. This is what the analysis of the current

state, will provide in the next chapter.

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Documents

Reuse in Saudi Arabia (Historical reviwe) CH3