Lecture 1. Brick: A building and Writing Unit

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created by:

Christian A. Hedrick, Mohammed Alkhabbaz


from the module:

A Global History of Islamic Architecture

This lecture begins with an examination of brick and its development and history before Islam. Next, brickmaking and the use of brick is charted through the Islamic culture. The lecture concludes with contemporary uses of brick and the evocative meaning of such use. The history of brick architecture is the history of civilization. With the spread of Islam new urban centers were created, and the technology of making bricks, fired and glazed bricks, transported where Islamic rulers occupied. Central Asia became the focal point where brick architecture was most inventive and most creatively used. References: Rael, Roland Earth Architecture. 2009 Campbell, James W. P., and Will Pryce. Brick: A World History. Compact ed. 2016. Ettinghausen, Richard (1987). The Abbasid Tradition: In The Art and Architecture of Islam 650-1250. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hoag, John (1987). "Abbasid Architecture". Islamic Architecture. Grabar, O. "The Earliest Islamic Commemorative Structures." Ars Orientalis IV (1966): 7-46. Jeremy Johns “The ‘House of the Prophet’ and the Concept of the Mosque” in Bayt al-Maqdis: Jerusalem and Early Islam, ed. Jeremy Johns, Oxford Studies in Islamic Art 9, 2 (Oxford University Press) 1999 Spencer, A.J., Brick Architecture in Ancient Egypt (Warminster 1979) Wright, G. R. H. Ancient Building Technology. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2009.

supporting documents:

Handout

Quiz with Answers

Lecture Notes