plan. Some mashrabiyas are open and not lined with glass; the mashrabiya functions as a balcony and the space enclosed is independent of the upper floor rooms and accessed through those rooms with windows opening towards it. Sometimes the woodwork is reduced making the mashrabiya resemble a regular roofed balcony; this type of mashrabiya is mostly used if the house is facing an open landscape such as a river, a cliff below or simply a farm, rather than other houses. Functions Social One of the major purposes of the mashrabiya is privacy, an essential aspect of Arab and Muslim culture. From the mashrabiya window, occupants can obtain a good view of the street without being seen. The mashrabiya was an integral part of Arab lifestyle. Typically, people did not sleep in any assigned room, rather they would take their mattresses and move to areas that offered the greatest comfort according to the seasons: to the mashrabiya (or shanashil) in winter, to the courtyard in spring or to vaulted basements in summer. Environment The wooden screen with openable windows gives shade and protection from the hot summer sun, while allowing the cool air from the street to flow through. The designs of the latticework usually have smaller openings in the bottom part and larger openings in the higher parts, hence causing the draft to be fast above the head and slow in lower parts. This provides a significant amount of air moving in the room without causing it to be uncomfortable. The air-conditioning properties of the window is typically enhanced by placing jars of water in the area, allowing air to be cooled by evaporative cooling as it passes over the jars. The projection of the mashrabiya achieves several purposes: it allows air from three sides to enter, even if the wind outside is blowing parallel to the house façade; it serves the street, and in turn the neighborhood, as a row of projected mashrabiyas provides shelter for those in the streets from rain or sun. The shade in normally narrow streets will cool the air in the street and increase the pressure as opposed to the air in the sahn, which is open to the sun making it more likely that air would flow towards the sahn through the rooms of the house; the mashrabiya also provides protection and shade for the ground floor windows that are flat and usually