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The dream

For the middle class Bahraini family, the dream was a house that caters for the needs of their modern lifestyle as much as it reflects their inherited cultural identity. The role hence was to resolve this dilemma and to materialize the dream within the available resources.

The vision

To transform the dream to reality, the dialogue between the contexts of place and time came into action. The introverted directions of activates within the house was the answer which reflected the cultural identity and responded to the location constraints of the site which is surrounded by neighbors from three sides. The functional statement then, was broken down to specific activities and uses, which led to the logical versatility of the internal courtyards.

Order

The physical formation of the house was not a goal in itself as much as means to contain life. This creative process was controlled and regulated by a geometric order, which has been widely used in Islamic architecture to achieve the aspired balance between the tangible and intangible or the spiritual and the physical.

Design

The design process in this context was the natural result of subjecting the vision that reflects the idea or the human dream to the law or geometric order of this site in particular within the boundaries of the specific time span.

The transformation of the architectural vision by means of the geometric order into a complete spatial design for the house was affected by the constraints of construction, technology and materials of the local environment. The spatial design thus evolved from the basic quid lines of the geometric order, reflecting the vision of the morphology of spaces.
Bashmy Residence

Client: Ibrahim Bashmy
Location: Riffaa, Bahrain
Year: 1989
Status: Completed
Team: Tarek Waly