Abstract
The concept of "inhabiting" a space or a "dwelling" has proven contentious in architectural theory and practice. Although the existential significance of dwelling in a space has been innate in humans since the beginning of time, only in the mid-20th century it was highlighted philosophically by Martin Heidegger. The conference paper "Building dwelling thinking" by Heidegger is an important philosophical work that inspired architects. The philosopher looked up the word's etymology to get at its core meaning and use. As an etymological archaeologist, Heidegger worked back and forth in the core meaning of the word until he connected it to, Being-in-this-world and Being-towards-death. Through an analysis of the Arabic parables "Maskan" and "Manzel," this study aims to provide a more nuanced explanation of the word "dwelling" by drawing connections between the word's etymological finding in Heidegger's philosophy and the term's meaning in the Arabic language and culture. In this paper, I examine architectural typologies that corresponded to both existential meanings according to inhabitants of a certain region.