Journal of Research in Architecture & Planning
NED University of Engineering & Technology

ISSN 2519-5050 (Online), ISSN 1728-7715 (Print)
Listed in HEC recognized Y category Journal
Journal DOI: www.doi.org/10.53700/jrap_neduet
Listed in Ulrich Periodicals Directory, Scientific Indexing Services & Cross Ref.
   


Previous Volumes

   
THE ‘TREES FROM THE SEA’ CORAL ARCHITECTRURES AND INDIAN OCEAN MARITIME RESOURCES
  Stephane Pradines

Article DOI: www.doi.org/10.53700/jrap3412024_1

ABSTRACT

This article presents the author’s experiences, over the past twenty-five years, in coral stone architecture. The use of marine porite coral is a technology that unites different cultures around the Indian Ocean, from the Maldives to the Swahili coast in Africa. The paper focuses on the use of environmental constraints and local resources for the construction of maritime mosques and coral buildings. The pre-Islamic origin of coral architecture is located between India and Indonesia around the first century AD. The diffusion of this technology was supported by Abbasid travellers and merchants in the Western Indian Ocean, and in Africa around the 9th century, as well as its globalisation under the Buwayhids and the Fatimids in the 11th century. This article shows how international maritime trade and Muslim diasporas disseminate a unique technology and how local populations assimilate material cultures, new technologies, new building material and how they share a common Indian Ocean identity.

Keywords:

Coral Stone, Indian Ocean, Swahili, Maldives, Islamic, Abbasids, Buddhism
Volume 34 Issue 1
ISSN (P) 1728-7715 - ISSN (E) 2519-5050
Issue DOI: www.doi.org/10.53700/jrap3412024
 
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