The Art of Building in Yemen

by Fernando Varanda, Martha Mundy (Introduction)

This is the first systematic survey of the architecture of Yemen, covering the full range of vernacular building types, styles, and materials found throughout the country. It may also be the last look at this architecture in its purest, most homogeneous form as Yemen becomes increasingly susceptible to the Western influences which have already begun to alter the environments of its richer neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula. The carefully chosen photographs and line drawings make this a definitive reference book for architects, travelers, and readers interested in a remarkably varied and elaborate architectural tradition.Part one, "Space and Form," covers the environment and its control through dams, terraces, wells, and moats; the basic types of shelters from tents and caves to the remarkable "tower houses" (commonly six stories high) and the basic types of settlements from desert outgrowths and hilltop hamlets to urban centers of trade and polity; building methods and materials, including mud, plaster, stone, and brick; and architectural elements such as roofs, walls, gratings, doors, and windows (many with brilliantly colored glass).The book's second part, "Regional Surveys," notes architectural variations and distributions from the coastal strip to the midlands, highlands, and plateau, and includes a separate chapter on urban development.Fernando Varanda is an architect who has spent a number of years in Yeman under the auspices of the United Nations and later the Art and Archaeology Research Papers of London.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published July 22, 1982

About the author

Professor Fernando Varanda is a Portuguese architect and urban planner. He graduated in architecture from the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, received his master's degree in urban and regional planning from New York University and was awarded a PhD. in human geography from Durham University. He is currently a professor in the department of urbanism at the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon. Since 1973, he has undertaken extensive research on built spaces in Yemen, published in both monographs and specialised publications, notably The Art of Building in Yemen (1982); he has also undertaken research into the built environments of Portugal, and published Mértola no Alengarve in 2002. Dr. Varanda is also in private practice in Lisbon with a variety of projects for the public and private sectors, especially those involving the rehabilitation of buildings and building technologies, as well as the integration of new structures in historic centres.