The first factor that needs to be considered when designing a building, whether it is a private house, a shopping centre or an office building, is the user’s daily needs and requirements. However, sometimes this is not enough, and a sound knowledge of the traditions and culture of the user of the building is also necessary in order to enhance the design and help optimise the performance of the building .

Each nation has its own traditions and culture which are largely  influenced by the  religion and beliefs of the people. These factors have a great influence on the design of the houses people live in, the buildings they work in and the markets in which they shop. Before the effects of culture on design are discussed, there is a need to define what Culture is.  

Culture is sometimes defined as the  result of  the interaction between man and his environment when man attempts  to satisfy his physical and spiritual needs (8).

  Also, it should be stated that a house is not only a shelter for the individual but also a  representation of the traditional and cultural values of society (9).

 House and house forms are not simply the result of physical forces or any single causal factor, but are the consequence of a whole range of socio - cultural factors  seen in their broadest terms (4).

As an Islamic country, the traditions and behaviour of  the people of Saudi Arabia are according to Islamic rules. Islamic laws have influenced the formation and organisation of the community and its houses. For example the orientation of the mosque towards the Holy City of Mecca dictates the orientation of the houses surrounding it. The requirements for privacy govern the height of the house with respect to adjacent houses.  A main factor which also has a great influence on the daily life of Moslem society is the segregation of men and women in all aspects of life. Therefore, each house has separate quarters for men and women.

The religious aspects have directed the arrangement and organisation of  the community to suit its requirements, together with the consideration of  the climate. As the topography of the country changes from region to region, the climate  also changes. Even if  the religious laws and rituals are the same in every region the climate is not. So, in each region of Saudi Arabia, house design is specific to the traditional way of that region. Thus the houses of each region will suit the requirements of the Islamic law and will also suit the climate of the region. Houses in all regions will have similar design features in order to accommodate the Islamic laws, yet they will differ in the way they deal with the climate and environment. The variation in climate from hot and dry, hot and humid, moderate, and cold rainy, forces house design to respond to the climate of each region.

In a traditional house, a typical Saudi family may consist of  the parents and six to eight children. When these children grow up and get married, they tend to live in the same house if space allows. If not, an extension to the house is added in order to accommodate the extended family. This may be because their income is limited and they cannot afford a new house.

 After the discovery of oil, the Saudi society was invaded by multi-cultural social forces formed by the newly arriving labour force to work and support the fast developing oil industry and its associated activities. Development was everywhere and in all fields of modern life, including the people, the way they thought, the way they lived and the places in which they chose to live. This caused an interaction between traditional Saudi culture and the arriving cultures. A higher income enabled Saudis to improve their life style. A consequence of this was a change from their old houses to a new, modern western type design of house. This design was strange to the people’s culture and was different from the type of housing system they were accustomed to. The new houses were designed by European and American designers without responding to the need to suit the requirements of the Saudi culture and were characterised by new building materials and new design strategies which ignored the culture and climate and resulted in a distraction from the Saudi architectural heritage.

This will show you a table containing all types of traditional houses in Saudi Arabia