Ghadames is an ancient desert city located in western Libya that has developed unique architectural adaptations to the harsh desert climate. The city is centered around an artesian spring, with a compact layout of identical courtyard homes built from local materials like adobe, gypsum, and palm wood. Streets are narrow and covered, maximizing shade and privacy. Homes feature an inward-facing design with few windows, courtyards providing light and ventilation, and rooftop kitchens venting smoke. Through its vernacular architecture, Ghadames demonstrates environmentally sensitive construction techniques that promote thermal comfort with minimal resources in the desert environment.

1. THE ADOBE CITY OF
GHADAMES, LIBYA
BY : UJJWAL BANSAL , SUNIL YADAV

2. Introduction
SOURCE - UNESCO/YOUTUBE.COM

3. Geo Historic context
● Ghadames is located on the northern peripheries of the
Sahara desert about 600 kilometers south west of Tripoli,
Libya’s capital
● The city is the gift of Ain AlFaras (AAF), the eternal artesian
spring, whose warm water flowed naturally through 5
canals passing underneath or around the city to be used
sequentially for drinking, ablution and irrigation.
● Agriculture flourished ensuring food sufficiency and
providing building materials as well as an aesthetic
landscape. Figure 1: Location of the historic city of
Ghadames, Libya.

4. CLIMATE
● Type - Hot and Dry
● Ghadames lies in the eremitic (arid) climate zone
characterized by long hot and dry summers and slightly
cold winters
● Because of its desert location and relatively low altitude
(350 m AMSL), the city’s prevalent climate is eremitic;
extreme temperatures range from 55.2 o C to – 6.5 o C
● Precipitation averages only 36 mm/year, average
evapotranspiration rates exceed 2700 mm/year and
relative humidity averages only 33 %
source - http://naturalhomes.org/ghadames.htm

5. City Planning
● The city consisted of seven quarters each
having its own major street, alleys and
passageways with public places including
mosques, zawias, schools, public squares and
private houses forming 80 % of the city’s
buildings.
● The city is characterized by its covered streets
and compact wall-to-wall structures ensuring
environmental protection, privacy.
fig1: City plan Source: Researchgate.net

6. City streets, alleys and passageways were narrow,
dim, curved “winding”, had non-uniform dimensions
with widths decreasing from about 2 to less than 1
meter (Fig. 2).
They were lined with built-in sitting benches “majlis”
providing a meeting and resting.
To protect against harsh climate, they were covered
by buildings.
Natural light and ventilation were provided through
special shafts that are placed more frequently.
Streets
fig2; street view source: Researchgate.net
fig3: meeting places sources: Researchgate.net

7. House planning
● Ghadamsi houses were of courtyard plan type
with floor areas of 40 to 80 m2 , almost cubical in
shape and were of practically identical designs.
● They were constructed mainly in 2 floors.
● Ground floor consisted of entrance lobby and
store room.
● First floor consisted of courtyard with room
around it and a dry pit latrine.
● A small central opening in the roof to provide
natural light and ventilation.
● Its gypsum plastered whitewashed walls were
heavily and brightly decorated.
● The kitchen was located on the roof terrace to
vent smoke directly into the atmosphere.
first floor plan
ground floor plan

8. Building materials
● Adobe (sun-dried mud brick) is the basic material
of construction in Ghadames along with stones,
gypsum, lime, and palm trunks and leave
branches.
● Foundations are made using stone while walls are
made of adobe.
● Roof slabs were constructed with palm trunk
beams cut lengthways in halves, then covered
with a mat of palm fronds, a thin layer of palm
leaves, a 20-30 cm layer of mud “beaten earth”
and a 3-5 cm layer of gypsum plaster.
● The internal wall surfaces are plastered with
gypsum and covered with lime whitewash.
● External wall surfaces are plastered with adobe
mortar or left in their natural state.

9. CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE
● Building façades are equally modest consisting of low
windowless walls interrupted only by a single door.
● A structure’s size, shape or function are hidden completely
putting emphasis on enclosed space; it “must be experienced
by being entered and seen from within”
● Arches are used extensively in Ghadamsi buildings. They form
a distinguishing feature of the city’s architecture because of
their unique shape and purely decorative (non load bearing)
function. Loads are supported by palm trunks above.
● Floors are made using a 10-20 cm adobe mortar layer which is
sprayed to saturation with water, levelled and covered with a
4-6 cm layer of gypsum aggregate topped wit fine gypsum.
Figure 5: Unique Ghadamsi arches.

10. Vernacular architecture: features, qualities and values
1. Architecture of the veil -Building arrangements allow a minimum
number of external openings and facades are always oriented
inwards giving the city a forceful introvert orientation .
1. A “Covered” city - , streets, alleys and passageways were
extensive, relatively high and covered (Fig. 3), providing easy
access, shade and protection against the winds and privacy.
1. Full respect for the human scale - Structures and spaces’ size,
orientation, and form are tailored to the human scale.
1. Compact urban fabric. - Buildings including houses are built wall-
to-wall with other buildings on 3 sides. They are intertwined
“keyed” into each other horizontally and vertically
Figure : Covered streets

11. Vernacular architecture: features, qualities and values
5. Identical house designs. Houses are of an identical design
organized around a central covered courtyard - the major
distinguishing feature of vernacular architecture - with a clear focus
on the interior spaces as opposed to the outside or façade
6. Environmentally sensitive architecture.- Adobe architecture is the
product of scarcity of rainfall and cheap durable building materials. It
relied completely on local materials which were recycled extensively
(adobe), employed natural lighting, ventilation and renewable energy
while compactness and other treatments optimized volumes and
areas in favor of energy and materials used.
7. Purposeful use of decoration - Decoration is used heavily inside
houses to give a visual effect of unlimited space, a feeling of
weightlessness, and to undermine the role of structural support
elements (walls, columns, etc.), in addition to its aesthetic comforting
value
FIG ; Canal passageway
walls.