Traditional building trades and crafts in changing socio-economic realities and present aesthetic values : case studies in Syria

Abstract

Traditional building trades and crafts made a major contribution to the quality and the character of architecture in the past. The advent of industrialization in the name of modernization eclipsed these building trades and crafts and caused rapid changes of the urban character as well as of the architectural components, resulting in an alienation of the society from the contemporary environment. Basing the thesis on my study in Syria, I have looked at how the technological development in the region, changes in the socioeconomic conditions and the present aesthetic attitudes are affecting favorably or unfavorably these traditional building trades and crafts in all three levels-- men, processes, and products. The thesis undertook to examine the revival of these traditional building trades and crafts as a potential solution to estrangement in architecture, to look at the feasibility of the return of these crafts to contemporary architectural production, and to study the nature of a reconciled relationship between the two realms of production.