Abstract
This paper reviewed related research works and developments on the traditional architectural element “mashrabiya” focusing on its history, design and structure, typology, and functions in hot climates. Moreover, the paper assessed the effect of the traditional mashrabiya on the indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort in a selected case study building. For this purpose, two similar rooms were investigated in a selected historic building with abundant mashrabiyas located in the Makkah Region, specifically in Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The field tests were conducted during a typical hot summer month with two different configurations. The study demonstrated that opening the mashrabiya allowed more airflow into the room during the day and reduced the indoor temperature by up to 2.4 °C as compared to the closed mashrabiya. Besides, the building envelope played an important role in preventing the high fluctuation of the indoor air temperature, where the fluctuation of the rooms air temperature ranged between 2.1 °C and 4.2 °C compared to the outdoor temperature which recorded a fluctuation between 9.4 °C and 16 °C. The data presented here can be used for the future development of the mashrabiya concept and the potential incorporation with passive cooling methods to improve its design according to the requirements of modern buildings in hot climates. Moreover, further studies and tests on mashrabiyas under different climatic conditions are required. Also, the different strategies or materials can be incorporated with mashrabiyas in order to improve its thermal performance.
Highlights
The accelerated development of Saudi Arabia during the last decades led to major changes in the economic, social, and buildings fields and experienced a high increase in energy demand
The thermal mass and closed mashrabiya delayed the heat flux into Room 2 up to three hours per day while the open mashrabiya in Room 1 reduced the time lag to one hour as shown in the open mashrabiya allowed more airflow, which mostly lowered the
This paper reviewed the mashrabiya through several aspects: definitions, history, design and structure, typology, and functions focusing on related research work and developments in hot climates
Summary
The accelerated development of Saudi Arabia during the last decades led to major changes in the economic, social, and buildings fields and experienced a high increase in energy demand. The high temperatures throughout the year in Saudi Arabia make cooling systems a necessity to achieve human comfort [1]. Several architectural elements were employed effectively and widely on the traditional housing in the Arab Gulf region such as mashrabiyas, courtyards, and windcatchers that have demonstrated to meet the needs of the population and have strong local climate compatibility. In a number of old cities in the Middle East such as Jeddah, Makkah, Yanbu, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Tunis, mashrbabiyas still exist as one of the most prominent traditional architectural elements [3]. Mashrabiyas have been found and adopted widely in different countries around the world from the Far East to South America such as India, Japan, China, Portugal, and Spain
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