Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

308
the rising demand for upgrading the civic space, the municipal staff neither respected the
prevailing architecture nor the contour of the traditional massed area when it recreated the
new commercial center. In typical haste, the municipality substituted the quaint, organic
fabric with a cacophonous jumble of architectural styles, freestanding and patched to the
old adjacent structures.(Figure 8.8).
Following the construction of the new suq, the municipality turned to the old meat
market, which the staff did not deem compatible with municipal hygienic standards. The
improved town's economy resulted in a rise in income by residents and expatriates who
were imported to work in the various sectors of the economy, hence demand for better and
more local crops and imported goods multiplied. A new specialized market for meat and
produce was constructed in 1969. In addition, a new, well-equipped abattoir was
constructed outside the town offering free service to the town's meat merchants and the
public. The municipality paid the full cost of the two projects which amounted to SR
392,200 ($98,000) a considerable sum by the town's standards during that time.
Meanwhile, the municipal staff was considering a profound move to build a new
roadway which would split asunder the traditional tissue. In 1973, the municipality
completed the construction of the 15-meter wide street which penetrated the old town, and
connected the towns' tree-like circulation network to the road leading to Riyadh (Figures
8.5-8.7). The municipality paid SR600,000 ($150,000) for the compensation of
properties, and the paving and lighting of the central road project. In the process, some of
the buildings were left half-demolished lending a scene reminiscent of a war-torn zone.
The project of the central road did not include funds for landscaping. 15 Nor was minimum
respect paid to the old system of open space. With the destruction of the traditional fabric
to allow for the new road a tenacious network of social ties and neighorhoodness were
shattered as well. Consequently, in addition to the half-demolished dwellings, a tier of
buildings adjacent to the road fell to ruin as residents evacuated the area due to the inroad
on the residents' privacy brought about by traffic generated by the new road (Figure 8.9).
If anything has marked the municipality's enthusiasm for modernity then it was its
undisputed and remarkably negative attitude toward traditional architectural heritage. This
apathy could be attributed to the substantial number of foreign-educated technical staff in
the municipal staff, most of whom were foreigners, hence less attentive to local heritage.
The anti-vernacular attitude must also be blamed on the calculated attempts by the state to