The effect of Acculturation on the Plans of Iraqi Origin Elites during the Late Ottoman Rule (1830-1917)

Abstract

Generally, different propositions show that culture changes because of many factors, and acculturation has emerged out of important operations which lead to cultural change as a result of contact between different societies or cultures. Since the cultural environment with its varying effects plays a major role in the formulation of architectural products, the research defined its research problem as follows: There is need for knowledge to specify the results of acculturation at the level of plans of house architecture belong to Iraqi elites in Baghdad city during the late Ottoman rule in Iraq(1830-1917). The research depends on the comparative procedure to define the acculturation results, so the plans character of the house of Iraqi origin will compare with the plans character for Iraq’s houses before the Ottoman rule in Iraq, and with the plans character of Turkish houses in Anodal during the Ottoman rule. The final conclusion shows that the result of acculturation between the two cultures during the late Ottoman rule at the level of the plans of the Iraqi elite houses represented by the energetic maintenance of the characteristics of the local plan. However, this maintenance began to decline (the start of medium-sized maintenance) beginning at the end of the period studied.