PRO PO RTIO NS AND HUMAN SC ALE IN DAMASC ENE C O URTYARD HO USES M. Salim Ferwati & M. Alaa Mandour Arc hne t-IJAR, Inte rna tio na l Jo urna l o f Arc hite c tura l Re se a rc h C o p yrig ht © 2007 Arc hne t-IJAR, Vo lume 2 - Issue 1 - Marc h 2008 - (00-00) 1 Abstract Inte rio r de sig ne rs, a rc hite c ts, la ndsc a p e a rc hite c ts, a nd e ve n urb a n de sig ne rs, a g re e tha t e nviro nme nt, a s a fo rm o f no n-ve rb a l c o mmunic a tio n me a ns, ha s a symb o lic dime nsio n to it. As fo r its a e sthe tic dime nsio n, it se e ms tha t b e a uty is re la te d to a c e rta in p ro p o rtio n, p a rtia lly a nd a s a who le . Suita b le p ro p o rtio n le a ve s a g o o d imp re ssio n up o n the b e ho lde rs , e spe c ially whe n it ma tc he s huma n p ro p o rtio n. Tha t in fa c t wa s the unde rlining b e lie f o f Le Co rb usie r, a c c o rding to whic h he de ve lo p e d his Mo dula r c o nc e p t. The study se a rc he s fo r a mo dula r, o r p ro p o rtio n, syste m tha t g o ve rns the de sig n o f Da ma sc e ne tra ditio na l ho use . By g e o me tric a l a nd ma the ma tic a l e xa mina tio ns o f 28 tra ditio na l ho use s, it wa s fo und tha t a c e rta in p ro p o rtio na l re la tio nship e xiste d; ho we ve r, the se p ro p o rtio na l re la tio nship s we re no t fixe d o ne s. The study re lie d o n analyzing the Iwan e le va tio n a s we ll a s the inne r c o urtya rd p ro p o rtio n in re latio n to the b uilding are a. Charts, diag rams and ta b le s we re p ro duc e d to summa rize the re sults. Keywords Pro p o rtio n; huma n sc a le , tra d itio na l a rc hite c ture ; Da ma sc us; c o urtya rd ho use s. Introduction All o ve r the wo rld , the re a re p le nty o f e vid e nc e s of adapting common systems to produce d iffe re nt tra d itio na l b uild ing s tha t a rc hite c tura lly sig nify va rio us func tio ns in re sp o nse to use rs’ ne e d s a nd c ultura l b a c kg ro und . As a huma n fine p ro d uc t, b uild ing s c a n no t o nly b e lo o ke d a t a s p la c e s tha t fulfill c e rta in func tio ns o r g e nuine ly d e sig ne d to ho rmo nio usly fill a sp a tia l g a p within the urb a n fa b ric , b ut it is a lso a fo rm, g e o me tric a lly sp e a king , tha t visua lly p le a se s the b e ho ld e r a nd p syc o lo g ic a lly e ffe c ts his/ he r me nta l a nd e mo tio na l sta tus. Arc hite c ture se rve s multi-p urp o se s. The c o nc e rn in this stud y, ho we ve r, is the p re se nc e , mo re o r le ss, o f huma nistic a sp e c ts in a rc hite c ture . Built e nviro nme nt in Muslim a re a s is the sub je c t o f the stud y. The q ue stio n fo rwa rd e d in this re se a rc h is whe the r the re a re g e o me tric a l a sp e c ts tha t p la y a ro le in c o mp o sing a rc hite c utre in the Isla mic wo rld . A c a se stud y is ta ke n in re la tio n to the Damascene house to show that there a re syste ms o f p ro p o rtio n tha t g o ve rn the c o mp o stio n o f a rc hite c utra l c o mp o ne nts.