Houses Facades Development in Erbil

1-Houses Facades From (1900s-1930s) Traditional Courtyard House

In the early of twentieth century, unlike the considerable evolution, which was happening in various aspects such as social, economic, political, and technical in the western world, Erbil society was isolated from any changes and evolution. Whereas Erbil society was were contented by the primitive civilization, the society progressively started to grow and be mature through the experiences and go beyond by knowing its demands. Although needs and uses helped the society to achieve all the experiences, values and ideas of each part of society reflected that particular part of the society. Architecture in general terms and house facade design in specific are those aspects. Therefore, it is seen that social privacy and the values of society is reflected by the traditional house facades in Erbil city.

At the level of planning, it is observed that closure of the city was owing to the women’s Hijab, which was the most general case. The connection between inside and outside area was also affected by the woman’s hijab concept at the neighborhoods and the alleyways areas. Whereas, the alley is the beginning of the hierarchy nature of the social relations and thereafter the hierarchy nature goes through the entrance pathway. In fact, the principle of privacy was confirmed by introducing this crucial. The outside is linked to the inner courtyard by this element, which is the circulation key n ode in the house.

The town walls, which enclosed narrow streets and building with enormous complexity, are the main reasons that can be used to recognize the specific architectural features of the old city. The walls and roof in the most houses are made by mud and in accordance to socio-cultural stimulus; there is a courtyard on central interior space. Hardness solidity is the major issue in order to define the characteristic feature of house facades. In most cases, the houses are two storey unites that small openings in its facades and thick walls are the main characteristic features. Despite the limitation in width of facade, the feeling of warmth, comfort, and shelter are given by the house façade. Moreover, the street scene is more homogeneous and smooth because of the facades. There is a complete privacy for the spaces and components of the house due to the cover, which is provided by traditional forms of facades. In addition, the inhabitants have more protection and safety against outsiders.

At the ground floor, the visual relationship does not exist between the outside and inside. In order to highlight the principle of social privacy and isolating interior from outside as well, in first floor the inside is connected to the outside in one direction only through a visual contact that is in closed areas, which is over on the alleyway, and other semi-closed areas. In traditional house, regarding the location of house mass in the plot area, the boundaries of the house is defined by the external walls. Therefore, there is not enough space for the exterior design of the house. In the traditional house, the dominant element is the inner courtyard where the family spends more time and most activities are taken place in. Furthermore, safety and privacy are provided for the inhabitants in the courtyard as well as fresh air and sunlight in the courtyard.

2-Houses Facades in Erbil City From (1930s-1980s) Colonial Period

During World War I, a modern city was created as an instrument to control the colonization when Britain occupied Iraq. It was the turning point and birthplace of a series changes such as social, cultural and technical changes. These changes had affected the society due to the fact that there was huge differences between new socio-cultural ideas and Ottoman empire which was the most influence region in that time.

Consequently, the old neighborhoods in the Citadel with the old traditional houses were left and inhabitants started to migrate to the new buildings owing to the conformity of new neighborhoods to the ideas of modernity. However, the indigent people who could not afford to move to the new neighborhoods did not leave; moreover, refugees and squatters after migration to Citadel occupied abandoned houses in old neighborhoods.Generally, in this period of time large external windows, transparence windows, doors and plaster decorations, raised on a defined pedestal, and new paving tiles defined the characteristic feature of house facades. There were no significant changes in the originality of internal courtyard and it was used changeless until it completely disappeared in 1950s. On the other hand, the necessity of balconies, using different colors in facades, emergence of columns caused transformation in traditional house facades and introduced new characteristic feature for house facades.

Regarding the relationship between house mass and plot area as well as location of house mass, it was defined as below:Traditional houses are known as and characterized as closed houses which are neighboring with each other, while there is a direction in which the house are framed in more than one side by open spaces. Moreover, the location of house mass was shifted toward the street to form a large area as a garden in the back of plot area, which created a privacy space for family that it was not available in traditional house design.Creating the front garden and moving the location of house mass at the back of plot area as a western culture style as well as the necessity of boundary wall.

Over time when the population of Erbil city grew and political, social, cultural, and economical changes took place Erbil city was developed and expanded particularly in all direction from the citadel. The traditional compact pattern, which was the urban fabric of the Erbil, was influenced and turned to the grid iron system due to the changes and different policies, which was adopted from residential areas, designing and planning conforming to the western styles. Therefore, the new system developed the neighborhoods and residential areas in accordance to the modern styles. Unlike the old system in which the roads were twisted and alleys were narrow the roads, which passed through the neighborhoods in new system, were wide and straight areas. Accordingly, a new basis was created by this new system as well as an extreme change in architecture.

The new connection, which was made between external and internal areas, caused that the relation between these two areas was developed which owed to the nature of relationships. It reflects that the design has been affected by the modern influences, which come from west. In this new relation, which is unlike traditional houses, the main internal area (courtyard) highlights and emphasizes the openness toward the outside. In addition, there is more possibilities for inhabitant to either exit or enter from the house. The existence of this new relationship has caused a flexible movement and easier communication between internal and external spaces. Furthermore, the transitional space in front of the plot area and between internal and external space has created an area for car parking.

3-Houses Facades (1980-2003)

In 1980, Iraq fought with Iran, which this war lasted to 1988. Iraq invaded to its neighbor in 1990, which was Kuwait and caused an unequal war between United States of America and its allies. Finally, Iraq lost the war and was defeated and knocked off from Kuwait in 1991. After Iraq’s defeat, the United Nations imposed sanctions and economic embargoes on Iraq. Consequently, many political conflicts happened in Erbil city, which caused massive migrations from small cities towards large cities.

The incidents and developments that had occurred have completely altered the housing sector generally in Iraq and particularly in Erbil. In 1996, in most cases the process of building new houses had shrunk significantly, except for building process of some villas, which were owed by rich people. As a result, various hybrid elements were utilized in order to fill the house facades, which affected visual appearance and built fabric of the streets . On the other hand, only the front side of house facades in lower class and poor neighbors is filled and covered and visual appearance is neglected in most cases. The general improvement was made in Iraq when Iraq was allowed to sell and export the oil to import food for people in return by the United Nations after 1995. Therefore, the building process of housing units was begun along with more difficulties than before, which resulted in extreme confliction in the visual features of house facades. Moreover, building many new housing units in order to accommodate poor inhabitants was truly needed. The special design in this period can clearly show this situation. The plot areas during 1991 to 1996 were getting divided into two different parts which was owing to the devastated economic situation.

All evolutions, developments and and transformations that happened during these years in the architecture, framework and structure of house design are compiled and summarized as follows:Since the plot area was divided into two parts and also its smallness (100 m2, 150m2, and 200m2), the number of levels of house design was multiplied (ground, first and second floor) which is not seen in the pastThe open areas (gardens) were either disappeard or decreased, since the houses were next to each other on three sides.

4- House Facades (2003 – 2016)

In 2003, the Iraq was liberated and the current government was collapsed in Baghdad, which was a turning point for Iraq in different aspects such as economic, democracy, relative prosperity, and peace. A state of contradiction was created in all areas during the stage of restructuring and rebuilding the houses between architectural forms and development. Recently, the economic developments in Erbil city has led the huge changes and fast transformation. The penetration of strange ideological orientation into the frame of tradition caused designing the house facades conforming to western style regardless of the privacy and community condition. Consequently, a confusion was a generated in architectural privacy of house facades specifically in term of visual privacy. The differences in rebuilding the houses caused huge variety in entering and exiting between interior and exterior designs (multi-entrance).

In addition, it is obvious that the built up area is influenced by the rising of real estate prices. Therefore, in order to assist and accommodate low-income people the terms of subdivision is brought as a solving key, which caused compressing and reducing the garden area. As it mentioned earlier, the house facade was affected in this period in term of privacy, which made the local architects in Erbil city find a solution for the missed visual privacy of houses facades.Lastly, it can be said that the privacy term of house facades is relatively influenced by technological development, which is due to the impressionability of cultures and ideas on each other, along with multiplicity and diversity of the needs and demands of life.