The term ‘architect’ as a profession was introduced to Dhivehi discourse quite recently – around the 1980s with the first few university educated architects returning from aboard.  The Dhivehi meaning ascribed to the word ‘architect’ is farumaa kuraa meehaa – the one who designs. Several records on the history and development of types of Maldivian architecture exist in our literature. However, architecture as a concept is missing from our discussions and literature.

We are interested in exploring the term ‘architecture’ – how it is manifested in our collective native psyche and how the definition of it may be changing in relation to the demands of our current environment. As a start, we will be introducing this series of posts under Exploring the ‘Architecture’ in Dhivehi Language, which will include selected historical and current ideas and texts published on the origin and evolution of architecture in the world and here in the Maldives.

Our first post in this series is a Dhivehi translation we have produced on a section of The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius published in 1914. We have selected Chapter I: The Origin of the Dwelling House in Book 11.

If you are interested in contributing an article or opinion to this discussion please email us at fenda@m-s-p-a-c-e.com.