Medina of Tunis

This paper traces the material and the spiritual dimensions of light in the architecture of Islam. In a Quranic chapter called “An-Nur” or the light, and in a mystical group of lines “The verse of light”, God has explained how light is the essence of life on earth comparing his divine image to the light of heaven and earth. This metaphor clearly explains its sacred dimension confirming its importance in the architecture of Islam. The phenomenal experience of this natural element is created in the interiors of buildings and transforming them into an element that enlightens the soul and energizes the space.
Light is a timeless, dynamic, and transformative entity that shapes the configuration of space and enhances its dynamism. In the architecture of Islam, it is ingeniously transforming buildings into living entities. Its penetration and its reflection through patterns and on colours accentuates the dynamism of the interiors and calls for an exploration of the duality between light, pattern, and colour. The solid surface then becomes fluid and a myriad of patterns transforms the meaning of the architectural space. Each pattern, geometry and form is a living element inside the building. Muqarnas cells beneath domes are reflecting and refracting elements depending on light quality.
This research investigates the dimension of light in Islam and explains how this dynamic entity coexists with surfaces, patterns, and colours creating a unity within a diverse architecture. The sublime becomes architectural and its fluidity then reveals an intimate relationship between the spiritual and the material.

Keywords:  Islamic Architecture, light, Quran, Muqarnas, Dar Lasram, Tunis.

The cultural heritage is presented in different, physical and non-tangible forms and attributes. Cities of the middle age are a glorious testimony and a singular trace of a specific architectural vocabulary, and also, an urban and social networking reflecting a particular way of living of the previous civilizations.
The Medina (old Arabic city) of Tunis is a city which flourished in North Africa since the 8th century. Until the present days, it is a place of living and attracting tourists coming from all around the world to experience the Arabic spirit and atmosphere in its alleys and streets. However, located in the heart centre of the Tunisian capital, the Medina had to endure the negative aspects of the urban growth pressure. This problem has become steadily more critical since the implantation of the modern city during the French colonization.
The objective of the paper is to present the rehabilitation project of the Medina of Tunis, which was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1979. We will analyse the interaction between the tangible and intangible values of a city, from the one side, and the social needs and practices, from the other side, starting from a global context to the particular case of the Arabic Islamic city of the Medina. In addition to that, we will evaluate if the social implication and participation are taken into consideration in the main urban projects and interventions in the city.
As a conclusion, we will suggest a reflection of how to consider the different tangibles and intangibles parameters of the city and involving the social groups to preserve the city’s identity and respond to its users’ needs.

The Medina of Tunis, or the vernacular heart of the Arabic-Islamic city, has been known for centuries as an important center of Muslim civilization and a crossroad of Muslim and non-Muslim cultures in North Africa. Its urban fabric, its built environment, and its architectural patterns are a manifestation of a creative and a sustainable process whereby the environment has had an important effect on the planning of the Medina. By analyzing the structure of this vernacular settlement, this paper aims to explore the concept of sustainability in this settlement while referring to the studies of 14 th-century master builder Ibn Al-Rami. Its environmental qualities are explored through the gradual exploration of its urban components from the level of the street to the level of the courtyard to explain their participatory role in enhancing cultural and social values of Islam.

This research stems from a theoretical study of the Medina of Tunis, as a continuity of the author's doctoral research. The broader study from which the concepts are drawn is part of a PhD project, in architecture and humanities, focused on the effects of globalization on the Medina of Tunis. Studies and publications of the houses of the Medina of Tunis are lacking from the literature, in the Anglo-Saxon world, thus the interest of the author is to build a new body of knowledge examining historical restoration projects in Tunisia. This research article traces the challenges faced by the Medina of Tunis in the twenty-first century. It does so by evaluating a restoration and conversion project of seventeenth century Dar Ben-Gacem into a boutique hotel or 'Hotel de Charme'. The project is unique as it reflects an architectural and entrepreneurial initiative of its owners aiming to work alongside the Medina's small businesses, local artisans and the community at large. In this context, this research examines the architectural and socio-cultural challenges faced by the owners as well as the architects to preserve the identity of the building while diversifying the use of its spaces. This study first examines the history of Dar Ben-Gacem and the transition of the traditional courtyard house into a 'cosmopolitan' guest house that attracts visitors and tourists from all cultures and nationalities. Later, it explores the motivations and commitments of the owners to revive tangible and intangible artefacts through architecture as well as the social and cultural entrepreneurship of Tunisia's rich cultural history. Ultimately, this theoretical study evaluates the challenges faced in such projects to revive the cultural heritage of the house while shaping a 'story' of a generation. Restoration projects in the Medina vary in scale and purpose. The consideration of both tangible and intangible artefacts in this historical context is highly important as it delves into the question of heritage in the age of tourism and globalization.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, much was written on aḥkām an-naẓar (the rules of viewing in Islam) and aḥkām al-bunyān (the rules of building in Islamic cities). Both legal texts derived their rules from the Sharia and more specifically, its primary sources, the Qur’ān and ḥadīth. The implications of these legal texts can be noticed in some aspects of Islamic culture and behaviour as well as in the streets and organic structure of traditional Arab-Islamic cities. This research argues the rules of vision (naẓar) and building (bunyān) in both manuscripts base their theories on the Qur’ān and ḥadīth. Both legal texts also influenced people and the socio-spatial organisation of domestic architecture and the city in medieval Islam. A correlation, which exists between aḥkām an-naẓar and aḥkām al-bunyān, managed visual contacts and shaped socio-spatial arrangements in the urban design of North African Islamic cities. This research relies on analysing two medieval Islamic manuscripts: Ibn al-Qaṭṭān al-Fāsī’s book Iḥkām an-naẓar fī aḥkām an-naẓar bi-hāssat al-baṣar (Scrutinising the Rulings Concerning Seeing with the Sense of Vision) and Ibn al-Rāmi’s Kitab al-I’lan Bi-Aḥkām al-Bunyān (The Book of Pronouncing Judgments in [Matters of] Building). This research first sets the historical context in which these texts were written and discusses their influences on vision, being an inherent concept in Islam, and building, as the physical context around which life takes place. Additionally, it examines the connections between both legal texts to determine how the Qur’ān and ḥadīth shaped visual contacts in Muslim societies as well as socio-spatial structures in Islamic cities. Lastly, this research evaluates the findings based on the implications of both legal texts on the socio-spatial organisation of a specific settlement: Medina of Tunis.

Keywords: aḥkām an-naẓar, aḥkām al-bunyān, Islamic law, vision, planning, Medina of Tunis

This research stems from a theoretical study of the Medina of Tunis, as a continuity of the author's doctoral research. The broader study from which the concepts are drawn is part of a PhD project, in architecture and humanities, focused on the effects of globalization on the Medina of Tunis. Studies and publications of the houses of the Medina of Tunis are lacking from the literature, in the Anglo-Saxon world, thus the interest of the author is to build a new body of knowledge examining historical restoration projects in Tunisia. This research article traces the challenges faced by the Medina of Tunis in the twenty-first century. It does so by evaluating a restoration and conversion project of seventeenth century Dar Ben-Gacem into a boutique hotel or 'Hotel de Charme'. The project is unique as it reflects an architectural and entrepreneurial initiative of its owners aiming to work alongside the Medina's small businesses, local artisans and the community at large. In this context, this research examines the architectural and socio-cultural challenges faced by the owners as well as the architects to preserve the identity of the building while diversifying the use of its spaces. This study first examines the history of Dar Ben-Gacem and the transition of the traditional courtyard house into a 'cosmopolitan' guest house that attracts visitors and tourists from all cultures and nationalities. Later, it explores the motivations and commitments of the owners to revive tangible and intangible artefacts through architecture as well as the social and cultural entrepreneurship of Tunisia's rich cultural history. Ultimately, this theoretical study evaluates the challenges faced in such projects to revive the cultural heritage of the house while shaping a 'story' of a generation. Restoration projects in the Medina vary in scale and purpose. The consideration of both tangible and intangible artefacts in this historical context is highly important as it delves into the question of heritage in the age of tourism and globalization.