Theorizing Built Form and Culture The Legacy of Amos Rapoport

List of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

Acknowledgements

Foreword: about Amos
HENRY SANOFF

Introduction: the intellectual legacy of Amos Rapoport

KAPILA D. SILVA AND NISHA A. FERNANDO

PART I
Home and work environments 

1 Analyzing the transformation of the Kuwaiti house

MOHAMMAD ALJASSAR 

2 Amos Rapoport and my journey toward Culturally Enriched Communities

TASOULLA HADJIYANNI

3 Toward an understanding of environmental evaluations in urban residential areas: continuing the journey enlightened by Amos Rapoport

ÇAĞRI IMAMOĞLU

4 Integrating Amos Rapoport’s ‘systems of settings and activities’ and Anthony Giddens’

‘structuration theory’: the socio-spatial context of live-work environments

ATIYA MAHMOOD

5 Expanding on Amos Rapoport’s systems of activities and systems of settings in nursing workspaces

KAREN KEDDY

PART II
Cultural landscapes

6 Sensory experiences as cultural place identity: two case studies 

NISHA A. FERNANDO

7 Amos in Arabia: humanizing principles in the architecture and urbanization of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh

YASSER ELSHESHTAWY

8 Culture, race, and marginalization: the case of African American storefront churches in central city Milwaukee

ASHA KUTTY AND NEWTON D’SOUZA

9 System of settings and activities: a framework to study vernacular settlements and cultural landscapes in China

WEI ZHAO

10 The Santhal house and cultural landscape in Shantiniketan, India

AMITA SINHA, KAILASHPATI MAURYA, AND UPAMA SEN

11 Theoretical inspirations of Amos Rapoport: reflections on the International Studies on Vernacular Settlements (ISVS)

RANJITH DAYARATNE

12 Exploring heritage from an environment-behavior studies perspective

KAPILA D. SILVA

PART III

Environmental well-being

13 Ambiance á la Rapoport: indoor environmental quality and its profiles

IHAB M. K. ELZEYADI

14 Residential choice and fit in a Milwaukee refugee enclave 

LYNNE M. DEARBORN AND ANGELINA TSOUKALA

15 People-nature interactions within activity settings: understanding health-promoting mechanisms using Amos Rapoport’s three EBS questions

SUSANA ALVES AND GOWRI BETRABET GULWADI

16 Aging in place: the roles of food-related activities engagement among older Indonesian women

WIDYA A. RAMADHANI AND LYNNE M. DEARBORN

PART IV
Design theory, pedagogy, and practice

17 Amos Rapoport on design knowledge: enabling a theory for a trans-critical pedagogy in architectural education 

ASHRAF M. SALAMA

18 Pedagogical implications of Amos Rapoport’s theoretical views

HISHAM S. GABR

19 Connecting design to education outcomes

SEAN O’DONNELL

20 How does culture influence design? 

SANJOY MAZUMDAR

21 How does design affect culture?

SANJOY MAZUMDAR

Index

Biography

Kapila D. Silva is Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean in the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Kansas, USA. He has previously taught at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, USA, from where he received his doctorate, and at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, from where he received professional architectural education. He is the lead editor of four volumes on cultural heritage management in the Asia-Pacific region (all published by Routledge) and co-author of The Ṭämpiṭavihāras of Sri Lanka: Elevated Image-houses in Buddhist Architecture (Anthem Press, 2021).

Nisha A. Fernando is Director and Associate Professor of Interior Architecture at the University of Kansas, USA. Prior to joining KU, she was Professor of Interior Architecture at University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, USA, where she taught since 2001. She received her PhD in environment-behavior studies from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and a master of science and bachelor of science in architecture from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Her broad scope of research includes culture–space relationships, and her most current research includes sensory aspects of spatial experiences and design pedagogy.

"A must-read for anyone interested in the complex ways in which people interrelate to their built environments, Theorizing Built Form and Culture is a welcome tribute to the enduring legacy of one of the eminent architectural theorists of the second half of the twentieth century."

Marcel Vellinga, Professor of Anthropology of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University

"This collection provides an exhilarating synthesis of the intellectual legacy of Amos Rapoport, one of the most essential architectural theorists of the twentieth century. It offers a timely, provocative invitation to leverage this work for addressing twenty-first century challenges such as housing diversity, inclusive urbanization and decolonizing pedagogies and practices."

Keith Diaz Moore, Ph.D., AIA, Associate Provost, Institutional Design & Strategy and Director, Design Institute for Health & Resilience, University of Utah