Portuguese architect Fernando Varanda’s reference photographs of 1970s Yemen. Part Two.

*Hajja. Construction in brick and stone.*

These photographs were taken in 1970s Yemen by a Portuguese architect and urban planner named Professor Fernando José de Sá Martins Varanda. In 1973, Varanda began extensive research specifically on built spaces in Yemen.

Every image is titled with architecture and urban planning in mind. Varanda was interested in how the Yemeni’s construct their buildings, how they utilise them, plan them, live in them. Not in photography as art. His images are simply architectural research documentation. Each image is captioned with reference in mind: cheap stone constructions, constructions in brick and stone, house types and spaces, mountain houses, alabaster windows and facades, elementary shelters, tents, cave dwellings, temporary shelters, thatched houses, etc.

Some fifty years on, Varanda’s images have moved beyond their original purpose and live (in the archives of Lisbon’s Biblioteca de Arte da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian) as mighty fine images of one of the most difficult and dangerous places on earth for us to visit today.

They have aged very well.

This is part 2. Part One is here.

*Al Tuhaiyta. House types and spaces, mountain houses and Tihama (coastal strip), brick houses.*

*Sana’a. Construction. Sana’a and city transformation*.

*Khawkha. House types and spaces, mountain houses and Tihama (coastal strip), brick houses.*

*Sana’a. Windows, stained glass and facades.*

*Haraz. House types and spaces, mountain houses, diwan, bedrooms and mafraj.*

*Mansuriya. House types and spaces, mountain houses and Tihama (coastal strip), brick houses.*

*Sana’a – Madina. House types and spaces, mountain houses, diwan, bedrooms and mafraj.*

*Dhibin. House types and spaces, mountain houses*.

*Zaydiya. House types and spaces, mountain houses and Tihama (coastal strip), brick houses.*

*Cheap Elementary shelter, tents, caves, temporary shelter and dwellings.*

*Sana’a. Construction in brick and stone.*

*Al Zuhra. Types and spaces of the house, mountain houses and Tihama (coastal strip), thatched houses, interiors.*

*Bani Ghuthaiymi. Plants and cutting, watchtower.*
*House types and spaces, mountain and Tihama houses, maps and diagrams.*

*Dumran. House types and spaces, mountain houses.*

*Al Sawidiya, plant. House types and spaces, mountain and Tihama houses, maps and diagrams.*

*Shibam. Elementary shelter, tents, caves, temporary shelter and dwellings.*

*Thula. Elementary shelter, tents, caves, temporary shelter and dwellings.*

*Al Swaidiya. House types and spaces, mountain houses.*

*Ta’la. Types and spaces of the house, mountain houses, toilets, kitchens and parapets.*

This is part 2. Part One is here.

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Portuguese architect Fernando Varanda’s reference photographs of 1970s Yemen. Part Two.