Understanding The Meanings of Built Environment Within Urban Educational Environments: A Critical Analysis of the Qatar University Campus

This dissertation focuses on examining the significance of the Qatar University campus as designed by its architect Kamal El Kafrawi. The study takes on a multi-perspective view. The underlying and unifying approach is based on Amos Rapoport's concept of the meaning of the built environment. Rapoport is an architect and scholar, and founder of the field of Environment-Behavior Studies (EBS). Rapoport's early work contrasts 'high culture' design by architects that tends to be self-referential with 'vernacular' buildings by non-architects that respond and speak directly to its users.1 However, I propose to consider El Kafrawi's approach as an exemplary case of bringing both of those aspects together to create an environment that allows buildings (primarily students and faculty) to unfold layers of meaningfulness that the architect intended through a very culturally-sensitive design. This study thus seeks to unearth the meanings associated with the various spaces of the campus areas as built by El Kafrawi and as perceived by its users. The purpose of the project is to find answers to the question, "In what ways and on what basis do people react with their environments, and what meanings and character do those environments develop?"2 Rapoport stresses the meaningfulness of an environment as a key factor that allows inhabitants to feel connected to a place. Author Norberg-Schulz conceptualizes the meaningfulness of the built environment through his theory of Genius Loci as a place with meaning, identity, and history providing a phenomenal or total architectural experience. As per the author, if we consider the physical and symbolic values of the environment, it leads to engagement of human senses at a holistic level - the constructing and construing of architecture. Rapoport outlines a direct approach for the analysis and study of a built environment starting with an assumption that social and cultural factors are the most influential in a built environment. Based on the same concept, the study will critically look at the built environment as designed by El Kafrawi, whether it provides a harmonious blend of culture, traditions, religion, and technology, and whether the amalgamation gives the campus a special meaning and character worthy of the concept of genius loci. Thus, the study aims to unearth the meanings of the thoughtfully designed campus buildings to expose the underlying meaningfulness of the built environment. Rapoport has conducted various studies on the relationships between culture and architecture, notably concerning the influence of environment and behavior, leading to finding the meanings of the environment. He has sought to construct a unified theory on this subject. Rapoport's methods and views will be utilized to identify and investigate the context of this relationship. Based on Rapoport's model, the study will use a three-step approach consisting of dismantling, analyzing, and synthesizing. Firstly, the concepts of culture and the built environment will be identified and dismantled into variables and components according to Rapoport's approach. Then the relationship of these variables with the components and the relationships between the components will be analyzed. Finally, the dismantled and analyzed variables will be gathered and synthesized. Their interrelationships and their ties will be established to understand the significant linkages between forms and their cultural contexts. Integrated with this methodology, the study will look at the meanings of individual design elements from various perspectives and then their integration as a whole to form the character of the built environment.