AL MUFTAHA
HERITAGE HOUSE
ترميم البيت الشعبي بالمفتاحة
Putting an Asiri
house back together.
A traditional Asiri folk house in Al Muftaha, the heritage quarter at the heart of Abha. It is built the way the mountain houses of Asir have always been built: thick walls of mud laid in courses, a flat slate band at the top of every course to throw the rain clear of the wall, small deep windows, a juniper roof and a whitewashed crenellated parapet, with the lower walls painted in the bright bands of Asiri colour. By 2018 the middle of the house had collapsed. The restoration for Aseer Amanah set out to rebuild it in its own materials and its own way of building.
The survey of the house as found, the restoration studies, the technical drawings and the BOQ (bills of quantities) for the restoration of the Al Muftaha folk house were prepared by Mohamed Bider for AMSY Group.
- Survey of the house as found
- Restoration studies
- Technical drawings
- BOQ — bills of quantities
Wings still standing in 2018: the long painted wing and the tall corner wing.
Traditional materials: mud, slate, stone and juniper.
Asiri colours on the lower walls: blue, yellow, red and green.
Restoration for Aseer Amanah.
In the heart
of Abha.
The house stands in Al Muftaha, the old quarter in the centre of Abha that is home to the Al Muftaha art village, a short walk from the city centre and below Shamasan Castle.
- 1Al Muftaha folk house — approximate
- 2Abha city centre
- 3Shamasan Castle
- District
- Al Muftaha (outlined in red)
- Setting
- Within the Al Muftaha art village
- Client
- Aseer Amanah
The house
as found.
The survey of 11 November 2018. The long wing still carried its painted bands and the corner wing stood to its full height, but the middle of the house had fallen: walls split open course by course, roof timbers down, and the rooms filled with their own mud. The survey records the house as the clearing of the fallen rubble began.
Studies.
The compound as found, the house taken apart layer by layer, and a section through the wall to show how an Asiri mud house is built. Select a study.
Materials
& colours.
The materials of the house itself: mud laid in courses with straw, flat slate for the rain bands, rough local stone for the plinth, juniper for the beams and lintels, lime whitewash for the parapet, and the four Asiri colours for the painted bands.
Scope
Survey of the house as found, restoration studies, technical drawings and BOQ.
Status: restoration for Aseer Amanah, 2019–21.
Client: Aseer Amanah. Restoration: AMSY Group. Sources: the site survey photographs of 11 November 2018; studies drawn from the survey.
The survey of the house as found, the restoration studies, the technical drawings and the BOQ (bills of quantities) for the restoration of the Al Muftaha folk house were prepared by Mohamed Bider for AMSY Group.