Old Cities, Living Traditions

Part of 12/12 initiative by Dar Al Mussawir, The Image Festival Association – Zakira invites you to the photography exhibition: “Old Cities, Living Traditions”

This exhibition displays old parts of four cities: Isfahan (IRAN), Cairo (EGYPT), Sana’a (YEMEN) and Jeddah (SAUDI ARABIA). Built over centuries, the heart of these cities was layered by people who have mastered the art of construction in extreme climates, using the local materials with ancestral knowledge and wisdom to create a well tempered environment tailored on the human scale. These photos, six for each city, show the genius of the place (genius loci) and highlight the vernacular architecture proper to each city.

Arcade or Arab Research Center for Architecture and the Design of the Environment aims to establish research and communication as the basic tool to investigate investigate in depth the wealth of solutions imbedded in the vernacular architecture and develop innovative and sustainable approaches for the built environment. Its founder and managing director, Samir Nicolas Saddi is an registered architect in Lebanon and Canada with over 35 years of international experience in design, management and professional photography.