Desert Architecture Research Articles

Extracting sustainable design strategies for hot arid regions from vernacular desert architecture: a case study of Jordan

Extracting sustainable design strategies for hot arid regions from vernacular desert architecture: a case study of Jordan

Extracting sustainable design strategies for hot arid regions from vernacular desert architecture: a case study of Jordan

Extracting sustainable design strategies for hot arid regions from vernacular desert architecture: a case study of Jordan

Cultural Identity of Desert Architecture: Exploring Strategies for Integrating Traditional and Modern

Predictions for desertification on a global scale, under an unusually variable climate, ecological vulnerability, and further expansion of human activities have become important in helping people build sustainable, green buildings in sensitive areas and exploring the possibility of better habitats in desert areas. The main objective of this study is to explore the possibilities of different types of desert architecture to provide sustainable habitats by combining desert traditional architecture, with modern architecture and human activities, to provide an alternative perspective on habitats on a global scale, and to predict their future evolution. Desert traditional architecture has always been a product of sustainable and green building, but the influence of globalization has made the people in the desert areas gradually lose their traditions and move towards industrialized construction and the use of materials, people are looking for modern living facilities to meet the needs that are not met by the traditional dwellings. In order to avoid the loss of traditional tangible and intangible architectural knowledge, this study focuses on how contemporary desert architecture can be adapted to meet the needs of modern lifestyles while still retaining the beneficial aspects of traditional techniques. Using examples of desert architecture from different periods in several countries, the study explores the differences and commonalities and summarizes the possibilities for sustainable development of traditional architecture in desert areas. In addition, the new architecture is categorized into three directions. The three directions of architectural design explore different possibilities for future desert architecture.

Wind Tunnel Experiments and Field Observations of Aeolian Sand Encroachment around Vernacular Settlements in the Saharan and Arabian Deserts

One of the key repercussions of the desertification process in the Sahara and the Arabian desert is increased aeolian sand drift and sand deposition. Despite its isolated location and severe desert climate—particularly in terms of solar radiation, sand drift, and sand deposition—the region of El-Oued Souf in the Grand Erg Oriental in the Algerian Sahara has been a key cultural and trade center for many centuries. To resist the extreme weather conditions, the architecture of the vernacular settlements in the region of El-Oued Souf has unique design traits. Newly constructed buildings, on the other hand, frequently employ technologies based on models imported or imposed from climates that bear little resemblance to the desert. As a result, the inhabitants of these structures live more ‘in the desert’ than ‘with the desert’. This study investigates the impact and the effectiveness of vernacular desert architecture to resist aeolian sand encroachment problems in sandy desert areas. The sand accumulation patterns around vernacular buildings were identified and quantified using wind tunnel experiments. The size and shape of the buildings, as well as their geometric configuration within the settlement, were investigated in relation to the shape and dimension of sand accumulation formations. Field observations in north Algeria and the United Arab Emirates confirmed the accumulation patterns produced by the wind tunnel experiments. The study proposes possible design indicators for building forms to minimize the impact of sand deposition on such forms.

The Algerian Sphinx: Le Corbusier’s other colonialism in the M’Zab

The post-colonial project of historical revision has recently precipitated — not without polemic — in the defacement of statues during the Black Lives Matter protests. Yet, despite the monumentality of the iconoclastic event, the discipline of architecture has only started to weigh up its own historical figures against the colonial background. This article proposes a revisit of Le Corbusier’s journeys in French Algeria to critically unravel different forms of embedded colonialism. While acknowledging the claims by other authors of Le Corbusier’s colonialist mindset as revealed in his journeys, the article uses the archival material and the texts published after the journeys to propose a different form of colonialism that has escaped post-colonial critiques. Le Corbusier was not predominantly projecting an orientalist view over the African country; rather, he was paradoxically learning from desert architecture in order to trace a project for the aggrandisement of France. Disillusioned by the colonial government that spurned his projects, Le Corbusier operated a shift in colonialism away from politics into poetics, and condensed it in Poésie sur Alger (1950). This form of colonialism does not operate through power-struggle and imposition, but rather through a subtler appropriation of a lyrical other.

تجانس أنماط العمارة الإسلامیة التقلیدیة فی مصر وشبه الجزیرة العربیة فی ضوء عمارة مدینتی العلا والقصر الإسلامیتین

إن البيئة الصحراوية قدمت موروثا معماريا متوافقا مع مناخ البيئة الصحراوية من خلال استخدام مواد البيئة المحلية، التي تتطابق مع نمط وأسلوب حياة السکان هناک, وهذه العمارة الصحراوية استمرت عبر القرون تعکس ثقافة وعادات مجتمعات الأقاليم الجبلية والصحراوية أينما وجدت, وتبرز مفردات ورموز معماريه خاصة بهذه الأقاليم, إلا أنه على الجانب الآخر- لابد أن يوضع في الاعتبار أن هذه العمارة قد تبلورت صورتها من الطرز المعمارية الرئيسية. وفى صحراء مصر الغربية, وأيضا في المنطقة الجبلية الواقعة غرب شبه الجزيرة العربية تقع أفضل أمثلة المدن الإسلامية المحصنة التي تعکس طابع البيئة المحلية, ففي الأولى تقع القصر الإسلامية التي ترجع إلى العصر الإسلامي المبکر , وفي الأخيرة تقع العلا الإسلامية التي تعود کذلک إلى بداية العصر الإسلامي, وفي کل منهما تنقسم العمارة وتتنوع ما بين العمارة الدينية والجنائزية والمدنية والدفاعية, والتي تؤلف نسيجا معماريا تأثر بالفقه الإسلامي والتقاليد الاجتماعية والظروف الاقتصادية والمناخية السائدة في هذه الأقاليم , هذا النسيج المعماري الذي يقع عند التقاء طرق التجارة والقوافل التجارية , امتدت جذوره في کلا المدينتين إلى عصور ما قبل الإسلام, فقد ظل مأهولا بساکنيه حتى وقت قريب. The homogeneity of the type of Traditional Islamic architecture in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula in light of the Islamic cities of Al-Ula and Qasr. Abstract The desert presented an architectural heritage compatible with the climate of the desert environment by using the local environmental materials, which correspond to the lifestyle of the inhabitants there .And this desert architecture continued to reflect the culture and customs of mountain and desert regions societies wherever they exist .It shows the architectural elements of these regions, on the other hand - it must be borne in mind that this architecture has crystallized its image from the main architectural styles. In the desert of Western Egypt, and in the mountainous region west of the Arabian Peninsula. The best examples of fortified Islamic cities that reflect the character of the local environment are located, First: The Islamic city of Qasr, which dates back to the early Islamic period is located.In the second: The Islamic Al-Ula, which also dates back to the beginning of the Islamic period is located. Both of them include religious, funerary, civil and defensive architecture. Islamic jurisprudence, social traditions, economic conditions, and climatic conditions prevailing in these regions had formed these city buildings. These cities located at the convergence of trade routes, and their origins extended to pre-Islamic times, as it remained inhabited until recently.

Public Buildings of North Chile’s Desert Architecture

This article discusses public buildings located in northern Chile. The Atacama Desert provides many examples of relationships between architecture and the natural and cultural landscape. From Antofagasta to San Pedro di Atacama, we can encounter many examples of such buildings, such as museums, astronomical observatories and hotels, as well as buildings housing tourist-oriented services. We can also experience large-scale changes to the landscape associated with open-cast copper mining. One example of such a landscape is that of the Sierra Gorda mine jointly owned by Polish and Japanese companies. This paper explores the emergence of new architectural forms built in the desert and using desert materials.

A Review and Insights for Eleven Years of Urban Microclimate Research Towards a New Egyptian ERA of Low Carbon, Comfortable and Energy-Efficient Housing Typologies

Since the mid-1970s, urban development in Egypt has sprawled far from the distinguished compact arid built environment, as the court-yarded housing typologies that completed the vernacular picture of desert architecture have been discarded in the early 20th century. This has motivated urban microclimate research in Egypt. The main objective was initially to improve outdoor thermal comfort. Therefore, Egyptian research started with assessing different existing patterns for the sake of climate responsive and sustainable urban design practice characterized with low carbon, thermal comfort and energy efficiency in such a hot arid conditions. That is why the review workflow of this article has followed a design progress workflow that led to solving design complexities with regard to generating housing urban forms on a microclimate basis rather than an article regular review workflow in order to extract the research gaps and conclude insights. After discussing a general framework for generating housing sustainable design identified from the concluded gaps, the main conclusion is a vision and a call to integrate the Urban microclimate-Building passiveness-Renewables design dimensions, UBR, towards the evolution of a new era of energy efficient housing typologies and a 5th generation of Egyptian sustainable cities where the 1st generation of new Egyptian cities started 1970s.

TO HOM EXTENT THE SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS IN GHADAMES OASIS AS AN APPLICATION OF DESERT ARCHITECTURE IN LIBYA

The compatibility and sustainability of desert architecture is the natural development for the desert community, they both shape a mechanism in order to seek the ecological balance between the desert community.The desert architecture is the same as old common desert community environments, that we can find that it has grew and developed in slow and steady way on the basis of compatibility and sustainability between man and the environment of desert community, which produced according to that forms of desert urbanism which has a local private imprint that indicates an accurate ecological balance for the desert community. The technological and economical progress by time to extension and linking the sustainable elements of desert architecture together, and this was reflected on the change of the design criteria of the desert architecture. In the context of the desert architecture affected by the modern era variables and that of the desert community’s image, the country aimed through a comprehensive strategic vision to prepare a development plans to achieve compatibility and sustainability of desert architecture, and exploitation of available natural resources in those areas, however, many of these desert communities were built on planning criteria and construction methods that did not apply accurate consideration to the impact of the change of the desert architecture’s design criteria, and the basics and criteria that is compatible to sustainability, also did not maintain of cultural privacy of the traditional desert community. The research study how much the sustainability criteria compatible on Ghadames Oasis as an application for the desert architecture in Libya, and how much we can get the basics and the criteria for the sustainable elements, and that’s through the impact of the change of the desert architecture’s design criteria to cope with the sustainable architecture in Libya, and how much it reacts with the surrounding environment. The research ended by presenting scientific results and recommendations and suggestions for how much the sustainability criteria is compatible with desert architecture and benefiting from the impact of change of the design criteria to keep up with sustainable architecture.

BIOMIMICRY AND ECHOMIMICRY IN IRANIAN ARCHITECTURE AND ITS SIMILARITY WITH THE IRANIAN DESERT ARCHITECTURE

Iranian desert architecture contains unique features that in addition of aesthetic needs also matches its natural and ecological capacities. In fact, many of the techniques used in this architecture include modern architectural concepts such as bionics and ecotect. Studies show that due to the growth of technology and raised topics and modeling of the nature and preserve natural features and respect to canvas wall keeping with the nature and also existence of suitable sources of energy (solar, wind, water ...) in our country, special features of desert area of Iran and architecture which lies in the context of nature, similarities between biomimicry and echomimicry such as modern science in architecture and Iranian desert architecture can be Found. after getting familiar with the basic concepts and mentioned new technologies in this article, it is hoped that be able to enhance the Iranian architectural values and try to preserve and restore it. May this article link between two generations in architecture.

Investigating traditional natural ventilation methods used in El-Dakhla Oasis, old village

Several natural ventilation techniques are employed in traditional desert architecture across the hot-dry region. These techniques vary depending on the socio-climatic requirements of the communities. This article presents the results of a field study investigating the natural ventilation techniques used in a traditional Sahara desert village called El-Qasr located in El-Dakhla Oasis in Egypt. The study investigates the drivers of the natural ventilation systems used. It was found that the main drivers of natural ventilation in El-Qasr are: street canyon design; street and building wind orientation; building form and spatial planning; and opening design.

The Avenue of Ideas: A Sustainable, Affordable Housing Experiment

Abstract The metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona is a repository of traditions for dwelling in extreme conditions, as well as an incubator for new ideas about desert architecture. It is also a place with a long history of poverty and struggle for existence against harsh natural elements. With these conditions in mind, the City of Tucson partnered with five non-profit housing providers to build on one avenue an array of affordable housing prototypes that demonstrate to the public a variety of building systems that work to stabilize interiors from the diurnal temperature swings through insulation or thermal mass. Beginning in 1997, local non-profit housing providers designed and constructed sixteen residences representing five different methods of building low cost housing that comfortably mitigates the summer heat and winter chill. The last of the residences was completed in 2003; all are currently inhabited and in constant use. This article proposes a comparison of the environmental control strategies, b...

“SOLVENT”: development of a reversible solar-screen glazing system

Preliminary experiments with a novel glazing system developed at the Desert Architecture and Urban Planning Unit of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel indicated that it may provide improved visual and thermal performance in buildings with large glazed areas located in sunny regions, regardless of orientation. In winter, it reduces glare, local over-heating and damage to furnishings caused by exposure to direct solar radiation, with only a small reduction in solar space heating. In summer, it reduces the penetration of unwanted radiation without obstructing the view through the window, to an extent that may render external shading devices unnecessary. The SOLVENT project was contracted to complete the development of the glazing system, which is based on the concept of converting short-wave solar radiation to convective heat and long wave radiation. The glazing system was modeled and evaluated experimentally; a suitable frame was developed for it; and a design tool required for its application was developed. The current paper reports on physical modeling and experimental evaluation of the glazing system.

Radiative cooling of buildings with flat-plate solar collectors

Roof ponds cooled by nocturnal long wave radiation have often been proposed as a cheap and effective means of providing thermal comfort in buildings in hot-arid locations. Many of the schemes incorporate flat-plate radiators through which the water is circulated at night to be cooled. An analytical model originally developed for heating applications was adapted to the description of such a nocturnal, long wave radiative cooling apparatus. The accuracy of the model was verified on the basis of experimental data from three types of radiators tested at the experimental facilities of the Center for Desert Architecture and Urban Planning at Sede-Boqer, Israel, under a variety of operating regimes. The model allows accurate prediction of outlet temperatures, taking into account the design characteristics of the specific radiator, the environmental conditions and the pattern of operation of the system. Analysis of flat-plate solar collectors converted to radiative cooling of buildings suggests that under typical environmental conditions, they may be less efficient for this type of application than radiators having no fins.

Low-Cost Long-Wave Radiators for Passive Cooling of Buildings

Roof ponds cooled by nocturnal long wave radiation have often been proposed as a cheap and effective means of providing thermal comfort in buildings in hot-arid locations. Many of the schemes incorporate flat-plate radiators through which the water is circulated at night to be cooled. The present paper analyzes the parameters affecting the performance of radiators specifically designed for nocturnal radiative cooling. Two cheap, simple and flexible designs for a cooling radiator were suggested as a result of the analysis, and tested at the experimental facilities of the Center for Desert Architecture and Urban Planning at Sede-Boqer, Israel. The mean nightly cooling output of the radiators—due to the combined effect of radiation and convection—was over 90 watts/m2 under typical desert meteorological conditions. The analytical model adapted for this application allows accurate calculation of the fluid temperature at the outlet of the radiator, as a function of the properties of the radiator, the meteorological conditions and the operating parameters of the cooling system.

Analysis and experimental verification of an improved cooling radiator

Roof ponds cooled by nocturnal long wave radiation have often been proposed as a cheap and effective means of providing thermal comfort in buildings in hot-arid locations. Many of the schemes incorporate flat-plate radiators through which the water is circulated at night to be cooled. This paper analyzes the parameters affecting the performance of such a radiator, specifically designed for nocturnal radiative cooling. A cheap, simple and flexible design for a cooling radiator was suggested as a result of the analysis, and tested at the experimental facilities of the Center for Desert Architecture at Sede-Boqer, Israel. The mean nightly cooling output of the radiator - due to the combined effect of radiation and convection - was over 90 watts/m 2 under typical desert meteorological conditions. The analytical model adapted for this application allows accurate calculation of the fluid temperature at the outlet of the radiator, as a function of the properties of the radiator, the meteorological conditions and the operating parameters of the cooling system.

A novel thermal simulation model and its application on naturally ventilated desert buildings

A new thermal simulation model, QUICK II, is presented and numerous verification case studies performed on naturally ventilated buildings are discussed. Four new case studies performed on two buildings located in the Negev desert in Israel are discussed in detail. All the measurements pertaining to these new case studies were taken independently by the Desert Architecture Unit of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research. These measurements are provided, along with a description of the buildings. The verification results show a good correlation between the measured and simulated parameters. The simulated temperatures were found to be within 1 °C of the measured temperatures for 73% of the time, and within 2 °C for 95% of the time.

Simplified analysis of naturally ventilated desert buildings

The verification of a simplified thermal analysis procedure and its application to naturally ventilated desert buildings are discussed. Measurements for buildings in the Negev Desert, done independently by the Desert Architecture Unit of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, were inter alia used to verify the simplified thermal analysis procedure QUICK, developed by the Centre for Experimental and Numerical Thermoflow. As detailed information for validation purposes is not always readily available to researchers, the measurements as well as the buildings' descriptions are given in detail in this paper. The effect of natural ventilation strategies on the indoor air temperatures is also investigated for the desert buildings. A simplified but novel procedure to calculate the air change rates through the building from the measured wind speeds, building geometry and surroundings is proposed. Hourly air change rates determined with the proposed procedure are employed in the simulations with QUICK. The simulations and measurements showed that sensible ventilation strategies for certain buildings may reduce the maximum indoor temperature by as much as 2°C. It is now possible to establish such strategies at the early design stage.

Vernacular climate control in desert architecture

Architects today have at their disposal a rich variety of mechanical means to control the climatic environment in buildings they design. Consequently, it has become a common tendency to rely entirely on engineers and their equipment to achieve comfortable climatic conditions in building spaces. Yet, this attitude appears to carry along unwelcome side-effects: not only has a building's initial cost risen considerably, but smooth functioning of artificial systems requires periodical and costly maintenance, in addition to the need for energy over the life of the building, and all this accompanied by other environmental drawbacks such as noise, pollution and various hazards. It is an unrealistic standpoint to reject what modern technology can provide to ensure a better building climatic environment. However, instead of relying wholly on mechanical means, the architect should, through a meaningful design, direct his efforts to achieve the best possible natural climatic control which, then, may be supplemented by artificial processes. The paper discusses how vernacular architecture, sited in the extremely harsh conditions of the desert context, has tackled the issue of climatic regulation and efficiency relying only on natural means.

A Desert Solar Neighbourhood in Sde-Boqer, Israel

A desert solar neighbourhood, the first in its kind in Israel, was designed by the Desert Architecture Unit of the J. Blaustein Institute for Desert Research. This project became feasible mostly due to the fact that the Unit is an academic research body, and that the future residents of the neighbourhood are people who already live in Sde-Boqer and are familiar with the desert. A special effort was made in the design of the neighborhood to respond to questions of orientation, solar rights, circulation, building clustering and the relation between open and closed spaces.