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‘physical appearance of modern cities in Asia and A&ica. In such cities as Cairo, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh

and Kuwait, the most brutalized philistine westerniza .. tion of architecture has taken pJace over the last few

decades, leaving hardly a trace of the original city land-acape intact. Westernization of architecture is

,~unchly upheld for “prestige” and .national “statusseeking” purposes and deenled a necessity for “modernization” and “progress.” But how far is this subjection

to the god of “progress” beneficial to the people who

must live in these places?

We know that a glass wall lets in asmuch ·as ten times more heat than a solid brick or adobe wall tour inches thick and that ….. wall 3 by 3 meten exposed to the direct rays of the tropical desert sun lets into the interior 2.000 calories of heat. per hOur, requiring two tons of refrigeration per hour. By shading this glass, using any of the devices available such as the brill.sou#, now mand.toryinall modem buildings, we cut down this amount to one third. which still leaves us with 300 % more heat dlan with the solid four-inch traditional wall. So the architect who builds sllch a solar furnace in Kuwait or’ 1Uyadh~for example, and then brings in a vast refrigeration

.. ·P.tant a,ad expensive air-conditioning units to make it habit-

able is wmecessarily complicating his problems by insisting on ~ style of architecture entirely unsuited to the indigenous climatic anCtgeographic conditions, not to mention violating the cul~ tUral and spiritual traditions of the people.

It is thus hoped that before it is too late, Near Eastern architects will come to realize the intrinsic value of their indigenous . architectual heritage. In so doing they will reap the . rich .. rewards of the accumulated urban experience thatwa. left to . them by their ancestors and will produce successful jDd·endur- .Jns works of art. Let them not suppose thatthis~~on will . ~amper them. When the full power of human. imkgination is