Critical regionalism in architecture, art and culture

The term (CRITICAL REGIONALISM) was widely used in the 1980s as a new trend in architecture, and a reaction to the loss of urban identity. As a result of modern architecture, with all its trends, sweeping the urban landscape in many countries of the world, especially the countries of the South, including the Arab and Islamic worlds. The term derives its legitimacy from its name: “regional and critical.” The first links him to his place, and the second provides him with a renewed self-motivation, which is criticism. This makes self-criticism of architecture from within the term itself, a curator of architecture and a corrector of it. On these two basic pillars (connection to place and self-criticism) critical regional architecture is based. In the sea of ​​​​contemporary architecture that is tossed around from all sides by its currents, institutions, seminars, conferences, codes, and legislation regulating it, is there anything more urgent than architecture’s belonging to its place and its need to reform itself? The term critical regionalism has remained in the orbit of writings about architecture, like any other architectural trend or school. In an era that only recognizes icons (star architect), the term has remained in the shadows. Like any other term in architecture and art, its understanding and application differs from one place to another, from one architect to another, and its evaluation from one critic to another. However, its regionalism and criticism make regionalism and self-criticism its two basic pillars, even if their standards and names differ. Under these two pillars fall what is known as the concepts of context and sustainability, and these are literally what is meant by territory and criticism. Thus, the term encompasses every building that achieves its belonging to the place and achieves the concept of sustainability. Thus the term becomes umbrellaIt is ample to accommodate many buildings and trends that achieve these two pillars. Within the traditional classification of architectural trends and buildings, India - before and after Partition - was perhaps the country in which critical regionalism found its purpose. As soon as modern architecture in India is mentioned, the architect Louis Kahn takes the lead on the scene there, with his works that cannot be enumerated in this article. There is also the building of the Belgian embassy in India, the work of Satish Gugeral, a local artist and not a star architect. And also the Olympic City in Delhi, the work of Raj Rawal and the work of the architect Charles Correa. In the Kingdom, we have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Riyadh, the headquarters of the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, and the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals mosque in Dhahran. These three works have won prestigious architectural awards. The term critical regionalism can be expanded to include every building that belongs to its place and is sustainable. Within special criteria for the concept of sustainability, humanization and other concepts that find their way to appear from time to time. Within this proposal, the metro stations in Riyadh may be among the buildings that can be classified under this term, and the Qasr Al-Hukm station comes at the forefront of them. The Palace of Governance station is a canopy that, with its oval, elliptical shape, looks like a radioactive meteorite that fell from the sky. Inside, the concept of earth architecture is evident in its most beautiful form, and it is enriched with touches of Salmaniyah architecture that connect it to its place in the heart of the desert. Qasr Al-Hukm Station, starting with its canopy and ending with its smallest details, is the jewel of Riyadh. If monetary regionalism enjoyed these two vital pillars, why did it remain in the shadows or perhaps completely disappear from our cities today? One of the most importantThe aspects responsible for this lie in the definition of architecture itself, as for some it has become a consumer commodity, and that it is completely fashionable, just as fashion products such as clothing, personal belongings, jewelry, etc. are affected by market forces, and the latter is affected by many social, economic, and political forces. However, if architecture is viewed as a fashion, critical regionalism can also be a fashion, but it is a fashion of a special kind. It is not subject to market fluctuations, nor to the criticism of professionals, nor to the differences in people’s tastes, desires, and need for architecture, which is already fixed. Its first and last reference remains its response to the place in which it is built with all its natural and cultural dimensions, and to be characterized by the spirit of the times and look to the future as well. This makes it a special kind of fashion, difficult to obtain, which takes it out of the circle of fashion and consumption that plagues architectural products today. If the term is understood in its geographical, historical and social contexts within a more comprehensive and broader concept, then all Islamic architecture over a period of more than a thousand years is a form of critical regional architecture, starting from the Dome of the Rock in Holy Jerusalem, to the “Taj Mahal”, one of the modern wonders of the world, and we have insight into that and any insight.