Exploring the Characteristics of Islamic Architecture in Educational Buildings: A Study of a Few Selected Muslim Countries

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the words that can be utilized in various approaches and meanings.
This research discusses the sustaining of architectural design styles that are related to Islamic
civilization and heritage. Institutional buildings (i.e., educational buildings) those are involved in
teaching Islamic education are somewhat following a few special sets of design criteria for their
unique architectural design sustainance that lead to permanence to be located in mostly the urban
areas. The Islamic Madrasa buildings (i.e., Sunni in particular) from the perspective of architectural
design, materials, constructional methods, structural methods, and other approaches adopted
solutions express the sustainable capabilities of the Islamic architectural Building types. This
research paper intends to highlight the need for a tool for assessing institutional buildings and
assembling critical information to understand similarities of architectural design based on several
evaluation criteria mostly in an urban setting. In doing so, the researcher has conducted a qualitative
research approach for collecting primary and secondary information from several institutional
buildings around the world. Furthermore, the researcher has evaluated building plans, designs, and
interior facilities of institutional buildings by collecting information from reliable websites. Note that
the researcher has explored the existence of building facades, courtyards, staircases, building
materials, color, water supply arrangements, and floor designs of the studied educational buildings
in common. After summarizing the information, the researcher insinuates that the evaluation method
adopted in this study may be useful for understanding and assuring the continuity of Islamic
architecture styles of educational buildings (Madrasa) in Islamic countries.