For a basic description of units and attitudes to residential space see Bianca (2000, 73-80). But what are the key elements that we might expect to see within the Islamic house that might be recognisable within the aerial photographic/satellite imagery?
Domestic buildings were seldom constructed as free-standing individual entities, but rather shared common walls. Indeed, one hadith states that neighbours should grant permission to fix beams in the outer walls of houses to enable such construction (Bianca 2000, 76). For the majority of domestic housing, therefore, we might expect to identify broader blocks of housing units rather than individual buildings.
The house was recognised as needing to provide 'a peaceful environment protected from inappropriate intrusions' (Bianca 2000, 73), indeed the very name dar means not simply house, but also has wider meanings, reflecting a sense of community (loc. cit.). The internal structure of the Islamic house was usually based on a number of major cellular units which were grouped around a central distribution space, a courtyard or light well. This space, to maintain 'protection' would not have been immediately accessible to the street frontage, but rather would have formed an internal circulation space within the private area of the house. So the identification of such spaces might indicate domestic units. In addition, it was rare for domestic properties to have more than one courtyard or circulation space and so we might make the assumption that each courtyard space indicates a single residential unit (but see c).
In important houses reception space took on a more formal character and required the establishment of exclusive and permanent places for this purpose, preferably close to one of the main entries to the property (Bianca 2000, 79). These could occupy a considerable part of the house, so perhaps we might expect to be able to identify some properties with two courtyards, where one courtyard was closer to the main street access.
Subdivisions of houses took place when sons married: creating a 'house within the house' (Bianca 2000, 75). It is, however, unlikely that such divisions could be identified within the existing plan data, but it is a factor perhaps worth bearing in mind.
There was a tendency for richer and poorer families to live in the same districts; indeed important families often had a circle of clients and their households within the immediate vicinity. As such, we might expect variability in the size of domestic properties within any given district of the town.
Suggestions that many of the best reception rooms would have been open to the courtyard and north facing, as the coolest aspect.
Gardens may have been an important component of elite residences.
