The house as an expression of social worlds: Irbid's elite and their architecture

This paper shows howarchitecture can be explained through the ideaof the Social World. The social world isan abstract concept defined as a cultural area,the boundaries of which are defined by thelimit of effective communication. Within thesocial world there are special norms and valuesand a common outlook towards life. Itencompasses factors like identity, culture,social communication and economic and politicalconditions without being limited to one singlefactor. The paper establishes a link betweenthe contemporary villas of Irbid, the secondlargest city in Jordan, and the social worldsof their inhabitants. The paper focuses onIrbid's University District (UD)differentiating between two groups of socialworlds, the old elite and the new elite. Itshows how the meaning of the house is differentamong the two groups. While the villa among theold elite is treated as a functional object forliving, it is now dealt with as a statusobject – an object for displaying theself – among the new elite.