The Biophilic Design of the Interior Environment in Mamluk Architecture (An analytical study of the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Applied Arts - Helwan University

2 First settlement, New Cairo

3 Interior design and furniture, Applied arts, Helwan, Egypt

Abstract

The Mamluk era, in its two historical periods, whether the Bahri Mamluk era (1250 - 1382) AD, or the Circassian Mamluk era (1382 - 1516) AD, is considered one of the brightest Islamic eras with its various Islamic facilities. The distinction of our current era, as it relied in its composition on social, environmental, climatic and religious factors, thus fulfilling the requirements of life for the user of the place.

The Mamluk Islamic architecture was characterized by its natural environmental orientation and its interest in creating interactive relationships between man and the natural environment around him. The different architecture that helps it communicate with nature, either directly or indirectly, taking into account the nature of the place being created, and through which it was able to leave behind a sustainable architecture that loves nature and has privacy.

Achieving a relationship between the human, nature and the built environment is one of the architectural philosophies that seek to achieve harmony of architecture with nature through the so-called biophilic design (passion for nature). Between the human and natural biological sciences, the biophilic approach has emerged as one of the modern concepts that seek to respect nature, preserve it, interact with it and achieve it in the built environment, whether it is an internal environment or an external environment. The Mamluk Islamic architecture in particular was one of the buildings that sought to communicate with nature to achieve comfort. Psychological and environmental in its architectural elements and this is what the biophilic approach seeks.

In this research, an analytical study will be done for one of the most important buildings of Mamluk Islamic architecture in Egypt, the "Sultan Hassan Mosque".

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