The Color Scheme of the Riverfront Elevation of the Old City in Mosul

Abstract

Color is an important architectural element that expresses a nation's culture, traditions, and unique social behaviors. Color is influenced by the place's geography, the nature of the land, prevailing climatic conditions, and available local materials. All of which contributed to building color schemes associated with specific regions. The Old City of Mosul is one of the earliest urban centers influenced by the Islamic conquest. Located on the western bank of the Tigris River, it possesses a rich architectural and historical legacy that reached its peak during the Umayyad period. The recent war in Mosul has caused significant destruction to the urban fabric of the old city. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the color scheme of the riverfront of the old city in Mosul, with a view to leveraging it in the rebuilding and restoration of this devastated city. The methodology of the practical study began with drawing the river façade in AutoCAD, followed by analyzing digital images in MATLAB to identify the characteristics of the façade's color scheme and its color relationships, which varied in hue, color intensity, and light value. These contributed to the formation of dark and light areas, generating a scene of color blocks superimposed at different levels, unified through color harmony and contrast relationships, which maintained the unity and continuity of vision at both near and far distances along the river façade. The research found attractive color points along the riverfront, the most important of which are deep shadow spots with achromatic color, which are concentrated in the central area due to accumulation, mass overlap, and high building density.