In her article “The Case for Beauty in Architecture,” The Slow Space Movement co-founder Mette Aamodt wrote that, “for a building to be good, it must be beautiful.” The fundamental aspiration for all good architecture to be beautiful then inevitably begs the question: What makes a structure beautiful?
No single answer can satisfy. No one building can unarguably be the world’s single most beautiful. And if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, no two people will see a built structure in the same way. Nevertheless, in our quest to at least approach a truth and to inspire discourse, we revisit the legendary Alhambra with architect and educator Irene Hwang. Hwang lived in Spain for a decade, where she worked for Pritzker-Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo. She later brought architecture students from America back to Spain, as part of a summer studio she was teaching. Exploring the geographical, political and cultural borders between North Africa and southern Spain, the itinerary had taken the group to Morocco, Gibraltar, Cordoba and, eventually, the Alhambra.
A place built by culture: The citadel and its grounds are a World Cultural Heritage site. Photo: Irene Hwang
The Alhambra throughout the centuries
The Alhambra rises majestically above the city of Granada, Spain, as Europe’s preeminent paradigm of Moorish architecture. Qa’lat al-Hamra in Arabic means “crimson castle.” A forbidding defensive wall with numerous towers, including one enormously imposing square watchtower, surrounds a world of intricate architectural splendor, with the countless characteristic delicate pillars, ornate windows, stunning tile work, elaborate stucco walls, ravishing fountains.
In 711, an Arabic-Berber army from North Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. For the almost 800 years that followed, Andalusia stood under Arabic hegemony, flourishing into a vital center for the arts, humanities and science. The first kings of Granada, the Zirites, built their castles and palaces on the hill of the Albaicin. Nothing remains of them. The Nasrites probably started building the Alhambra in 1238. The founder of the dynasty, Muhammed Al-Ahmar, began with the restoration of the old fortress, and his successors continued with the repairs, constructed palaces, added towers, chambers, rooms and baths.
Christian kings gradually reconquered Spain, and in 1492, the Alhambra fell into the possession of the Spanish crown. The new rulers set their power and Catholic believes in stone, literally, and King Karl V. commissioned an imposing palace to house his private quarters.
Today, the Alhambra is an amalgamation of different eras of architectural style, construction phases and states of preservation. Much of the original structure was lost over the course of the centuries. And yet, the Alhambra is one of the best-preserved palace complexes of medieval Moorish architecture and remains one of Spain’s most popular tourist destinations. The citadel and its grounds are a World Cultural Heritage site.
Layers of detail at the Alhambra. Photo: Irene Hwang
The architecture instructor and her students were wowed by the incredible beauty of the Alhambra. Photo: Irene Hwang
Building culture
When Hwang herself studied the architectural history of Spain, the layering of architecture, inhabitation and history fascinated her immensely. “This idea of the recycling of things, the understanding of how things came to be in the loss and regain of knowledge was very interesting,” she recalls. She wanted to convey a sense of that layered history and architecture to her students, too, when she took them to the Alhambra. “There is a great Moorish-Islamic history to it, but also, there’s such strong Catholic occupation,” she says. To Hwang’s mind, architectural history, in this context, is important because it reveals how culture is built. History, movements and occupation become visible, manifested. “There are just so many teachable moments in seeing it,” Hwang remembers most about taking her American students to the Alhambra. “What I was hoping they would learn is to understand these borders. America is such a new country, and everything in the States is so regional. The thing that people don’t realize is that culture is built by the place, and the place is built by the culture.”
The thing that people don’t realize is that culture is built by the place, and the place is built by the culture.
Layers of history shown in one facade. Photo: Irene Hwang
On their tour through northern Africa and southern Spain, Hwang particularly wanted to show her students the layers of parts of buildings getting reused and grafted: ”It’s interesting to see what parts get taken away and what parts get kept,” she notes about the Alhambra’s history of Moorish and Christian occupation and influences. During the Ottoman Empire, southern Spain was part of Africa, not of Europe as we understand it now. “Seeing that history in layers of architecture was so interesting, and the students were really wowed by how beautiful everything was, and how you can destroy things but still keep them.”
Seeing that history in layers of architecture was so interesting, and the students were really wowed by how beautiful everything was, and how you can destroy things but still keep them.
The Alhambra is an amalgamation of different eras of architectural style, construction phases and states of preservation. Photo: Irene Hwang
The Alhambra’s unusual visual harmony
The Alhambra’s visual harmony is difficult to expound for Hwang, and she observes it’s not something we are used to seeing. “There is repetition, which is part of what makes harmony interesting, but where beauty comes in is hard to define, especially when you are teaching architecture students.” A good architecture project, she wanted her students to learn from the Alhambra, comes down to understanding the rhythms, the harmonies and the proportions, and, moving forward into the future, understanding the essence of sustainable building. “We can’t keep building cities out of nothing, so we have to recycle them. We have to graft onto them. And that’s what’s beautiful about the Alhambra. It’s hundreds of years old. People grafted onto it, and they weren’t single-handed about it. You can see the rhythms; the proportions of the plaster work, the spaces themselves, the gardens.”
We can’t keep building cities out of nothing, so we have to recycle them. We have to graft onto them. And that’s what’s beautiful about the Alhambra.
The Alhambra rises majestically above the city of Granada, Spain. Photo: Irene Hwang
What’s beautiful architecture to you?
What makes architecture beautiful in your eyes? What built structure in the world quintessentially represents this quality of elevated architectural allure, to your mind? Share your thoughts with us by posting a comment below!
The Alhambra remains one of Spain’s most popular tourist destinations. Photo: Irene Hwang
