Skyscrapers are an unmissable characteristic of contemporary settlements. From São Paolo to New York, from Seoul to Dubai – these towering structures are a ubiquitous part of the urban fabric. The conventional image one has of these structures is of curtain-walled facades, but in Yemen – an ancient example goes against this trend. Central Yemen is home to the city of Shibam, surrounded by a fortified wall. It’s also home to a dazzling example of architectural ingenuity – tower houses that date back to the 16th century, stretching up to seven stories high.
Constructed out of mud brick, they provide shade for the streets below, housing complex living patterns. Tools and animals, for instance, are kept on the ground floor, with food on the second. Elderly people usually live on the third floor, with the fourth floor used for entertaining.
Amidst the domestic uses of these mud-brick towers are the reasons why these “mud skyscrapers” look the way they look like. These reasons include fortification, and security from conflict, as the city of Shibam itself was built with a fortified wall – an intervention that protected the city from rival tribes and acted as a vantage point from which approaching enemies could be analyzed. The height of the tower-houses, while functioning as a symbol of wealth for families seeking to array their riches, also greatly reduced potential vulnerabilities from attack.
Within the extensive variety in Yemen’s built environment, a recurring typology emerges, that of an architecture of fortification, where the craftsmanship of the wooden entrance doors to the mud-brick tower houses exists hand in hand with heavy timber doors clearly designed for defensive purposes.
Despite these ancient defenses – Shibam’s architectural heritage has been left vulnerable, while largely escaping the direct conflict of Yemen’s complex civil war. Declared a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the Old Walled City of Shibam is straining under the weight of years of neglect, a common sight across other cultural sites in Yemen’s rich architectural landscape. What this explicitly displays, as Shibam’s 3,000 or so residents continue to follow traditional living patterns, is the permeability of conflict, and how conflict contributes to the destruction of architectural heritage – without the necessity of a site being under direct attack.
Yemen’s civil war – which has been going on since 2014 – has killed hundreds of thousands, while decimating the built environment of those who have survived the conflict. The war has seen cultural artifacts looted and smuggled abroad, while prominent urban landmarks such as the Miqshamat al-Qasimi have been deliberately targeted by airstrikes.
The permeability of conflict has resulted in the exodus of young people as they seek better pastures, leaving Shibam’s buildings vulnerable as a segment of the population vital for making mud bricks and the re-application of mud coatings to buildings leave the town. The 444 buildings present in Shibam are vulnerable to wind, rain and heat erosion, an outcome caused by a lack of funding directly attributed to the conflict. An added problem is that damage caused by extreme weather events is further heightened. The tropical cyclone that flooded Shibam in October 2008 is a relatively recent reminder of disastrous natural events that can further add to the plight of the region.
Upon the breakout of the civil war, UNESCO added the Old Walled City of Shibam to the list of endangered heritage sites. One of the world’s worst humanitarian crises has meant that restoration of Shibam’s buildings damaged by rains and flood is slow and that skilled manpower for said restoration is largely reduced, exacerbating the vulnerability of a settlement that is still largely self-sustaining.
As Shibam’s residents grapple with the possibility of being the last generation to have a memory of the town’s rich architectural history, Shibam’s tower houses are a reminder of innovative building techniques that go back centuries. The tower houses are also a reminder of how examples of historic building types such as these are under threat through the indirect spread of conflict. Conflict, far from directly felling buildings, contributes to systemic neglect, and increases the possibility of cultural and architectural heritage being lost to future generations through the slow process of disrepair.
