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Overview:

The Department of Islamic Architecture was the first department in the college and one of its ambitious departments, which participates in developing human resources qualified to construct our nation. The department focuses on teaching the art and science of forming the constructional environment that contributes to the prosperity and welfare of human life. This takes place in compliance with the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah regarding all constructional aspects, and that is the basis of all curricula and subjects of the department. In addition, the Department of Islamic Architecture seeks to achieve the following objectives:

• Qualifying a generation of architects and planners who are fully aware of the teachings of the Islamic Sharee‘ah in such a way that enables this generation to undertake the mission of designing cities and buildings fit for Muslim communities.
• Promoting the profession of construction and planning in Islamic countries by adopting the call for applying and reviving the principles and objectives of Islamic architecture.
• Encouraging activities of writing, translation, and academic research on Islamic heritage and modern problems.

Equipments and resources of the department:

• Research and Library Unit: This unit was established to support scientific research in the department and it benefits the faculty staff and postgraduate students. It was also established to find out solutions for the problems of constructional environment based on scientific research. It is a known fact that any investigation or research must go through successive phases to be worthy of being part of true knowledge.
• Vocational Workshops Units: Developing local resources, methods of construction, and building-related professions represents an integral part of the local construction activities. It is impossible to study the professional content of any field of the constructional environment away from these dimensions that are related to the building industry.

Vocational workshops include a carpentry workshop, where the student learns how to deal with wood as an important building material. Wood is particularly important as it is used for various purposes, including building structure, skylights, doors, windows, and furniture.

Moreover, internal decorators use wood among several materials to design suitable furniture and optimize the utilization of available space.

Vocational workshops also include a building workshop, where the student learns the various building techniques, and the way of using blocks and bricks in building internal and external walls as well as the various methods of insulation.

As to the metals workshop, it develops the student's vocational proficiency and teaches him the methods of using aluminum and iron to form architectural elements, such as doors and windows, that are suitable for the local environment. There is also a ceramic laboratory, which acquaints the student with the ways of making ceramic, as it is an important material in finishing.

• Building sciences laboratories: Teaching technical aspects require laboratories to conduct various technical experiments and provide the student with the opportunity to practice and identify the characteristics of materials. Following is a list of the department's laboratories:

•Environmental laboratory: This laboratory is equipped with several apparatuses that are used in studying the thermal behavior and measuring humidity inside and outside buildings. In line with the importance of environmental researches, which are directly related to the comfort of people in their dwellings, the environmental laboratory was equipped with several apparatuses for the following measurements:

• Measuring heat and humidity continually over days, months and years
• Measuring the intensity of sunrays and the angle of incidence in different locations
• A planetarium that familiarizes the student with the fall of rays and the formation of shade and shadows practically
• Measuring air speed and direction and studying its connection with the thermal behavior
• Measuring air speed and behavior between buildings in the constructional environment using the "wind tunnel", in addition to knowing the process of wind pressure on different parts of buildings, which it may endanger the structural frame
• Measuring thermal conductivity of the different building materials in the presence of modeling and thermal simulation devices that shows thermal conductivity in different environmental circumstances
•  Measuring heat transfer inside and outside buildings through thermal analysis systems that are designed for buildings

• Light Laboratory:

This laboratory is equipped with several apparatuses that acquaint the student with light and its characteristics and behavior in different environments and under different conditions. In addition, the laboratory enables the student to define the concept of illumination and lighting and the techniques of using light in design to optimize the internal and external utilization of available space. This laboratory serves the following activities:

•  Measuring lighting intensity in different locations inside and outside the building
•  Acquainting the student with the characteristics of natural and artificial lighting in different environments
• Developing special lighting criteria for the local environment such as developing the "natural lighting factor"
•  Determining quality and quantity of lighting needed for different spaces according to the type of use

•  Sound Laboratory: This laboratory focuses on acquainting the student with the physical characteristics of sound under various environmental circumstances. Due to the importance of studying sound inside buildings, especially where meetings and lectures are delivered, this laboratory was established to achieve the following objectives:

•  Teaching the student how to measure sound at different distances from the source
•  Knowing the physical behavior of sound in various environments
•  Studying the phenomena of sound reflection and absorption in addition to identifying the characteristics of materials that reflect or absorb sound
•  Training the student on making a sonic map of different spaces over the day
•  Simulating and finding solutions for noise problems in areas near airports, factories, and highways
•  Identifying and finding solutions for problems of vibration inside buildings and their effect on the structural frame and comfort

•   Construction Laboratory: Undoubtedly, the theoretical subjects of construction are not enough to make students understand many of the structural terms and concepts. Thus, this laboratory was established to solve this problem and to acquaint the student with structural problems and mechanisms of force movement within the structural frame. Furthermore, the  laboratory aims at achieving the following objectives:

•  Acquaintance with mechanisms of ‎force movement within various structural frames
•  Measuring the amount and direction of forces on various surfaces
•  Acquainting the student with the concept of simple and continuous beams, one- and two-way slabs, and straining joints
•  Acquainting the student with iron structures such as trusses and space trusses and how to measure the forces on them
•  Acquainting the student with methods of measuring pressure, tension, and moments on different parts of the structural frame.

• Photography Laboratory: This laboratory is equipped with traditional and digital cameras of various sizes in addition to a development laboratory. This gives the faculty members, students, and employees of the department the opportunity to use these equipments in taking and developing photographs and slides. These materials are very important to the architect as they shed light on construction in different phases from design to implementation.

• Modeling workshop: Any architectural or planning work should be represented as a 3D scale model to reflect the proposed design before implementation. This worship helps in that regard by making scale models of the projects proposed by the department or its students using its equipment, including cutting and forming tools to build the scale models required for various projects.

•  Computer Laboratory: This laboratory provides the students with an opportunity to learn various technological skills and develop architectural design and constructional planning through learning computer-based architectural drawing programs such as PhotoShop, 3D, AutoCAD and similar specialized programs in addition to the various methods of presentation.