Geometric Decoration / Geometric Decoration in Architecture

‘Interior walls were clad with panels and friezes, as if they were fine fabrics..’

Interior walls were clad with panels and friezes with geometric patterns in relief that would originally have been coloured, as if they were fine fabrics.
This type of decoration appears in muqarnas in the West and in the East and was used on window cornices and arches. It is made up of interconnected prismatic parts of different shapes.
Finally, geometric calligraphic decoration in kufic script adorns the friezes of religious and civil buildings.

NameDynastyDetailsJustification
Buinaniya MadrasaHegira 751–6 / AD 1351–6MarinidFez (Old Town / medina), MoroccoThe walls of the courtyard are covered with richly sculpted plasterwork above the ceramic plinths.
Qasr al-Hayr al-GharbiHegira 109 / AD 727UmayyadSyrian Desert, SyriaThe portico is clad with plasterwork panels with geometric designs (squares, rhomboids, circles, hexagons) that frame sections of floral decoration.
NameDynastyDetailsJustification
Qasr al-Hayr al-GharbiHegira 109 / AD 727UmayyadSyrian Desert, SyriaThe portico is clad with plasterwork panels with geometric designs (squares, rhomboids, circles, hexagons) that frame sections of floral decoration.
Zisa1165-1180NormanPalermo, Sicily, ItalySmall, differently shaped prisms are combined to create a three-dimensional architectural element.
NameDynastyDetailsJustification
Zisa1165-1180NormanPalermo, Sicily, ItalySmall, differently shaped prisms are combined to create a three-dimensional architectural element.
Fragment of a friezeHegira 296–467 / AD 909–1074Rustamids of SedrataNational Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts
Algiers, Algeria
This frieze, which separate the roof from the wall, has an epigraphic band with the word baraka (blessing) repeated in kufic characters.
Teak PanelHegira 3rd / AD 9th centuryAbbasidThe British Museum
London, England, United Kingdom
Geometric decoration was also used on wooden objects, such as the doors or on pieces of furniture.