2. GERMAN ARTIST
GAZMEND KALEMI
has been capturing the soul and
subtle melody of ancient adobe
buildings in Oman for many years.
He deftly employs pencil drawings
and watercolors to bestow those
almost ephemeral structures eternal
life – in an artistic sense — before
they fade into oblivion. His works
seek to highlight the inherently
subtle synergy between art and
architecture, and how art defines
the spatial narrative of architecture
which no artist, architect or designer
could afford to ignore.
W
hat’s so special about
Oman’s ancient adobe
builings, one may
wonder. The person
who can best enlighten
us in times of such subtle aesthetic
confusion is a German artist, and
his name is Gazmend Kalemi. Softly
waking up from a kind of deep
meditative union with one of his half-
done sketches that lay on the work
table, a considerable area of which
was consumed by colour-spilled
books including “The Thinking Hand”
by Juhani Pallasmaa, he declares
the truth which most of us fail to, or
don’t want to, comprehend: “There
is an element of in-built surrealism
in the ancient structures of Oman,
but this is perceptible to only those
who can bond with nature.”
Old buildings lie scattered, and
mostly neglected, across the length
S D Nambiar
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Heritage
3. and breadth of Oman, especially in the interior
regions such as Manzafa, Qanatir, Mudairib,
Nizwa, Birkat al Mawz, Fanja, Mirabat, Salalah,
and Wahiba Sands. However, their true value
is appreciated by only a few if not none.
Certainly Gazmend is one among those few.
“The fantastic fragments of mysterious
in to the pressures of urbanization and
population expansion. The views of German
critic Walter Benjamin who spoke convincingly
about the urgency of capturing images
before they disappear forever assume
In all possibility, Juhani Pallasmaa is
right. Architecture, especially ancient
architecture, has inherent existential
and embodied wisdom. But do we see
serious efforts by authorities or cultural
groups towards conserving them?
architectural aesthetics, Oman’s traditional
adobe structures communicated a totally
different reality to me. I stayed in one such
ancient house in Al Hamra in Nizwa for a few
days some six years back. And what a lovely
without any air-cons and any other so-called
modern amenities! The peculiar combination
of mud and wood, the composition and
distribution of inner space complete with
courtyards, as also the minimalist designs and
overall simplicity are what make them unique.
You can’t miss the fact that those houses
are a natural extension of the surrounding
environment. The adobe interiors radiate a
peculiar positive aura as the structures are
designed to allow in maximum natural light.”
On a different note, Oman’s ancient
architectural marvels that cry for our
attention and efforts to save them from
ruin, have great tourism value. “A large
number of foreign tourists to Oman are
enchanted by the artistic and heritage value
of these old clay structures…,” he paused
abruptly to visualize something which I
will never know. But the sentence got
completed in my mind effortlessly: “… which
are nothing less than the very essence of
generations of indigenous experimentation
with living in harmony with nature.”
As such there is urgent need to conserve
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Heritage
4. On a different note,
Oman’s ancient architec-
tural marvels that cry for
our attention and efforts
to save them from ruin,
have great tourism value.
them to enhance the tourism
potential of the Sultanate.
With a bit of refurbishment,
such traditional dwellings can
be used to accommodate
tourists, who would cherish
the experience of living
in such ancient
hutments.
Also,
by conserving them, future
generations may develop a
proper perspective about the
rich architectural traditions of
the Sultanate, he continued.
One can only hope that
time and effort to preserve
the nation’s ancient and
traditional architecture
that shuns complexity and
A keen observer can easily
connect with its subtle grace
and sophistication which
castles, forts and walls as well
as houses. Underscoring
the heritage value of Oman’s
architecture, structures such
as the Jabreen Castle and
Bahla Fort and
Walls (Sur
Bahla)
have been
included
in the World Heritage Sites list.
Temptations of modern
ways of living and
compulsions of the fast
paced life might have forced
villagers to abandon their
traditional dwellings, but
to disconnect with their
ancient hutments in places
such as old Ibra, Al Hamra
and Salalah. They follow a
closely knit community living
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Heritage
5. style with all the houses
spatially connected with
one another, he noted.
Gazmend has been
capturing the soul and
subtle melody of ancient
adobe buildings in Oman
for many years. He deftly
employs pencil drawings and
watercolors to bestow those
almost ephemeral structures
eternal life – in an artistic
sense — before they fade
into oblivion. His works seek
to highlight the inherently
subtle synergy between art
and architecture, and how art
of architecture which no
artist, architect or designer
could afford to ignore.
Gazmend has had many
encounters with the
mysterious. Years back, while
out exploring the desert
wilderness of the Sharqiyah
sands, he spotted an old
mosque – in fact a very
old, ramshackle mosque
— and felt a great urge
to sketch it. He did make
a sketch and left. After a
couple of years when he
came back to the spot to
have a relook, he became
distraught to see a modern
mosque in its place. “The old
mosque had been razed to
build a new one. With little
effort, Oman lost a part of
its priceless architectural
heritage… I’d have appreciated
if the old structure was
conserved and a new one
built beside it,” he said.
During another exploration
in search of answers to
complex issues involving
brisk development and its
architectural impacts in
Muscat, a large deserted
yet outstandingly charming
clay structure with its ever-
changing morphology
shrinking of building
mass, and evening out
and dissolution of clearly
him even more forcefully
to document the still
existing forms before those
highly evocative structures
merge harmoniously
with the surroundings.
Thus began an arduous
seeking through sketches.
As an associate professor of
visual arts at the department
of Urban Planning and
Architecture at the German
University of Technology,
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Heritage
6. Oman, Gazmend feels,
“My drawings are aimed at
bringing the focus back on
the style and philosophy
of Omani architecture. By
sketching and exhibiting
them, I hope to generate
an appreciation for those
cultural symbols. Introducing
students to the aesthetics
of adobe architecture is
my ideas and understanding
of ancient Omani architecture
with Omani students during
in architectural heritage
where ancient mud and
stone structures still exist.”
Gazmend considers drawing
as an amazingly vibrant mode
of engaging with structures.
“We can’t deny the role of
advanced design tools, but
freehand drawing, where
one spends considerable
of the structure helps
to capture it in its myriad
mysterious shades. You
literally breathe the structure
and its aesthetic dimensions.
Drawing involves internalizing
the object, feeling it in your
being and starting a dialogue
with it. It is, of course,
thinking with the hand.”
His drawings and
watercolours exploring the
architecture and landscapes
of Oman were exhibited
recently at the XVA Gallery
in Dubai, and also at the Bait
Muzna Gallery, Muscat, last
year. Not all of the rundown
yet rich structures we see in
his drawings might have yet
dissolved, but certainly there’s
no room for complacency.
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