ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Sustainable Design and Construction
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1683871
Ornament and Efficiency: Material Performance and Environmental Logic of Arabesque in Bayt Al-Razzaz
Provisionally accepted
- 1Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport - Cairo Campus, Cairo, Egypt
- 3Architecture Engineering Department, Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Islamic structure is distinguished by using its integration of ornamentation, cultural symbolism, and environmental responsiveness. One of its maximum iconic capabilities is the arabesque—an intricate, rhythmic design that embodies religious which means and artistic sophistication. In historical Cairo, specifically for the duration of the Mamluk and Ottoman durations, arabesque flourished as a defining element of architectural identification. Simultaneously, conventional Islamic structure hired passive layout techniques that enhanced indoor comfort and reduced energy intake. This research specializes in the housing heritage of ancient Cairo, with particular emphasis on Bayt Al-Razzaz, to discover how ornamentation and environmental design coexisted. The study examines the use of high thermal mass materials, which includes forty cm limestone, which has a low U-value and efficaciously regulates indoor temperature, in evaluation to fashionable substances like 12 cm and 25 cm CMUs with decrease thermal resistance. Key indoor environmental parameters—temperature stability, carbon dioxide concentration, and energy use—are analyzed to understand the overall performance of conventional strategies. Furthermore, the research reframes arabesque as extra than ornamental art, highlighting its function in conveying values of sustainability, identification, and cultural continuity. By revealing the synergy between form, function, and symbolism, this will enhance re-integrating passive design and ornamentation into contemporary sustainable architecture.
Keywords: Arabesque, Geometric patterns, heritage, Mamluk, Ottoman era, Islamic Cairo, passive environmental design, Sustainable heritage
Received: 12 Aug 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abdelalim, Esam and Fahmy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marwa Abdelalim, mabdelalim@psu.edu.sa
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.