Cultural Echoes in Stone & Concrete: A Journey Through Time and Architecture in Historic Jeddah’s Al-Balad

Abstract

Located in the western region of the Arabian Peninsula on the Eastern coast of the Red Sea, my hometown, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been a significant part in connecting extensive trading networks for centuries. Serving as the gateway to the holy cities of Mecca and Madinah, it is a harbour for Muslim pilgrims from around the world. Over time, it became a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities, which shaped every aspect of the local lifestyle. Jeddah’s geographic location also unquestionably influenced its architecture in several ways; climatically, religiously, and culturally.

The town’s architectural designs, building materials, traditions, and lifestyle were all in response to its context. The beautiful traditional houses were constructed using old building methods, with a combination of local and imported materials. The buildings functioned adequately to suit and serve the local lifestyle before the unification of the kingdom, and the discovery of oil, electricity, and concrete. Those pivotal historical events that took place in the 1930s marked the beginning of a transformative phase for Jeddah. The traditional construction methods and lifestyle were left in the past as Jeddah went through a stage of modern development. New buildings lacked cultural identity as a result of modernism and carbon energy.

This dissertation is an autoethnographic study of the history of Jeddah’s old town of Al-Balad from both a technical and lifestyle perspective. Leveraging personal connections to the subject, I was able to visit the old town and acquire authentic information and material from primary sources, which helped me picture and analyse life in Al-Balad more vividly. This paper carries out an in-depth exploration of Jeddah’s history while examining the link between architecture and lifestyle in response to its diverse context, and the reasons why the traditional way of living was abandoned.