Traditional Najdi Settlement Architectural Elements: Harmonizing Function, Aesthetics, and Shared Socio-Cultural Meaning

Abstract

The built form contains symbols (“architectural elements”) that express embedded meanings about the place and about those to whom the symbols belong. The architectural elements presented in this paper provide evidence for how deeply felt socio-cultural principles were transmitted to tangible physical objects and how those physical objects then embedded socio-cultural meanings to inhabitants. Examining the architectural element from the perspective process of making them helped to identify several concepts and principles that directly influenced the traditional Najdi built environment. The aim is to understand how the aesthetic appearance of the elements characterized the identity of traditional Najd settlements and how these elements contained multiple functions and varied meanings as understood, and as agreed to, by the local inhabitants.