The History of Qatari Architecture 1800 - 1950

The first book that examines the geographical, historical, and functional aspects of architecture in Qatar. Historically, in the old architecture of Qatar, the urban development of cities and villages was based on the creation of agglomerations of housing units. These agglomerations were the essence of traditional Qatari architecture which can be defined as architecture of social values, derived from a combination of different factors such as religion, privacy, and the extended family. After the discovery of oil, Qatar became a wealthy country and saw the introduction of a new modern language which did not reflect the vernacular architecture. The purpose of this book is to tell the history of Qatari architecture through the description of old cities and villages, public buildings and domestic spaces declared as cultural heritage. Following a multi-disciplinary approach that emphasizes sociological aspects, it examines the architecture of individual houses, and also structural materials used for their construction, in addition to those of palaces, funerary monuments, and mosques.