Development of the House Architectural Design in the Gaza Strip

The architectural design of house buildings in the Gaza Strip was developed considerably during the last century. It referred to various factors, which all contributed to create distinctive architectural styles of house buildings.This paper identifies three types of houses in the Gaza Strip classified as sandstone, mud and concrete houses, according to their construction materials. They represent three different styles of house buildings that prevailed in the last decades. The paper highlights the impact of the available building materials on the development of the house architectural design in the Gaza strip, which evolved from the primitive mud house to the new high rise concrete buildings. It analytically describes the distinctive architectural elements and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. The study finally suggests some recommendations, most notably the need to preserve the traditional house buildings because of their historic and cultural values and to benefit from their various advantages in creating a local architectural style using modern building materials and techniques.