2. * Whether it is boned with mortar, or simply used dry, stone is not the most extensively used material , though it is in Western Europe and parts of India and the Middle East. * Throughout Africa , Central and Southern America , much of India , China , and South East Asia , the principle building material is MUD . * Chemically, there are many types of soil, some alkaline (hard), and some are clays (soft ). Molded in Clay
3. Molded in Clay Podzolics: Extremely acid, unsuitable for buildings. Desertic soils have allowed for notable architecture Laterites: Similar characters of he rocks becoming hard when exposed to air. Poor for agriculture.
4. * The soil type variability makes it possible for multi-story buildings to be constructed in North Yemen for example, but not in many other regions.
5.
6. MUD = (Coarse sand + smaller sand particles + silt + fine clay) mixed with water + chopped straw x trodden in a pit until it is the appropriate consistency. * The method of preparation depends on the kind of soil , and each region has developed its own. * In its plastic state, mud is malleable , capable of being molded to forms that are scarcely achieved with manual means in any other materials.
7. Typical molded earth dwelling in north Ghana and Burkino Faso (Gurunsi Compund) Popular from Senegal to Cameroon. Moulded by hands in convex surfaces, hollows, and runs as free of edges as the human form, the buildings have human-like shapes.
9. An Open Ended Frame: – An open-ended frame in the form of a box closed at one end is constructed, some 18 inch (45cm) wide with planks on the two long sides. – With the “form work” in place the box is filled to a depth of about 4 inch (10cm) with loose earth, which is then pounded or rammed with heavy poles. 18 inch 4 inch
10. – The compacted earth is further mixed with straw bonded by seed oil or with a loose straw paper mixed with lime, which is soaked in water and pounded in with the soil. – More soil is rammed until the top of the box frame is reached.
11. – It is left to dry (by evaporation. The soil shrinks and the particles are drawn closer together. Most of the elasticity is lost and it becomes dry soil) but before complete dryness, another layer is built on top. – When it is finished the wall can be given a mud plaster or washed down to produce a skin, which when dry, takes a whitewash or other suitable treatment.
12. Rammed Earth Rammed Earth is a rediscovered ancient technique of building. Walls are formed by pounding a mixture of soil, cement, and water into reusable forms using pneumatic tampers. The resulting house is extremely efficient, owner friendly (basically no maintenance) and a house unlike any other in terms of beauty and stability.
13. Earth Bricks * They are common in the Middle East, North Africa, parts of Europe (notably Spain), and in the America. * In Iran the use of sun-dried mud bricks (Khesht) is widespread. – Local desert sand (high relative sand content which makes it effective material) while the general heat and aridity greatly assist the drying of the bricks. – These are molded in a simple wooden form, thin and square with the dimensions 3” x 8” x 8” (8cm x 20cm x 20cm).
14. Earth Bricks Ameri-Indians manufacture large quantities of adobe blocks. Finished blocks are stood on end in rows to dry. New Mexico, USA.
15. – They are bonded by a mortar of wet mud (of the same consistency as the bricks). – Knocked into the hand to form the mould, the bricks are stacked on end to dry in rows, or like dominos in a continuos winding line. Colby, West Kansas, USA
16. * Earth Bricks (adobe) * Arab brought the technique to Spain where the word “atobe” was adapted to “adobe”. * As they dry out adobe behave more like a stone , though they shear and crack easily if they are not well-compacted. * Consequently, adobe are mainly used for load-bearing walls in compression, but it is not uncommon to see them employed in ways comparable with stone buildings, even to the construction of timberless domes by the corbelled techniques.
17. * Earth Bricks (adobe) * In northern Syria, parabolic corbelled domes are constructed above cells of a square plan, with layers of sun-dried bricks laid and gently cantilevered to the apex.
18. * These domes have an egg-like section which efficiently distributes the stresses on the shell surface and is therefore very strong . * Finally, the whole dome is covered with a plaster of mud and straw to give a smooth, rendered surface which reduces erosion.
19. * Adobe blocks * Adobe blocks can be used for building a variety of forms , but the most common is the rectilinear plans . – Where palm, bamboo, or timber are available they will be used to form the roof structure , resting on the mass wall and often with a low parapet to give added protection at the meeting of the materials .
20. – For the problem of all earth construction is that it is subject to erosion , and is particularly susceptible to rain . – Plasters of mud and dung, or macerated okra and leaves, may repel water and protect the joints from seepage (leak). – These weaknesses are considerably reduced or even eliminated when fired or “burnt” bricks are used. A hut from the Masai Manyatta. Kenya and Tanzania
21. * Bricks and Mortar * Fired bricks are more expensive than sun-dried bricks ; producing them in a specialized process and hence lead to craft differentiation, while the heat necessary to fire them consumes large quantities of fuel . * BUT, they are durable , fire-resistance , and relatively impervious when used with suitable mortar which make them an attractive choice for those who can afford it. Pazawah or “clamp” kiln being dismantled, revealing the system of stacking. Women carry fired bricks in baskets; temporary shelters are made of unfired bricks. Terraces in the background result from clay-cutting.
22. * This was evident in the early development of brick in England , from 14th to mid 17th century, fired bricks was exclusively used for the castles and halls of the gentry and few public buildings. * Frequently, buildings of fired bricks are to be found in communities where mud bricks are generally in use, and are some indication of relative prosperity . Street in a small Dutch town. Both houses and road are entirely of bricks. Roofs are covered with flat tiles or wave-like pantiles, and tumbled (angled) bricks have been laid for a gable (right).
23. * Producing fire brick has cost to the consumers as well as on the environment: a firing of 25,000 bricks consume some 40 forest trees . The rate of deforestation in Sri Lanka alone of around 3/4 of a million trees a year. * Because of the heavy consumption of timber other fuels are also used: from large quantities of rice husks in Indonesia to a mixture of cow dung and coal cinders in parts of India.
24. * One of the attraction of fired bricks is that it does not need to be plastering , it can be used decoratively. – Brick walls are constructed by “bonding” the bricks, laying them in arrangements of “stretchers” (the long dimension) and header (the narrow dimension) * Though fired clays may still be porous, bricks are resistant to water penetration and erosion by wind and sand so that their use is particularly suited where these forms of severe weathering are a problem.
25. * Fired Clay * Fired clay, in the form of tiles , is widely distributed form of roof covering . * It is believed that the use of clay tiles stemmed from China, and that the Romans were responsible for their introduction into Europe. – Very popular is the half-cylindrical but slightly tapering tiles laid with concave surface uppermost, overlapped by corresponding tiles with their convex surface visible, to give a ribbed texture to the roof. – Clay tile roof is heavy , necessitating the use of substantial timbers in the structure . Spanish tiles roof, with stones along the eaves to prevent lifting by the wind.
26. * Many ingenious ways of spanning spaces with the same inert stone, clay, or bricks which walls are constructed have been developed in vernacular traditions. However, the majority of dwellings are not built of a single material but of several, of which the organic, fibrous ones with their elasticity and tensile strength are especially important. Peasant house, Central Serbia
27. Engineer Hassan Fathi was born on March 23,1900. He studied architecture at the School of Engineering in Egypt, then at the Faculty of Fine Arts in France. He was a talented artist who was also interested in music as he played on the violin . He became a teacher of architecture at the Faculty of Fine Arts until the year 1957. Together with his colleague Ramses Wassef, they adopted the idea of "locality and environment" in architecture. Architect Hassan Fathi (1900 - 1989) Hassan Fathi is a brilliant architect famous for his theories which he applied in Egypt, the Arab world and Africa as well as in the United States.
28. In 1945 he started Al Qurna village project on the Nile west bank in Luxor. It was a pioneer settlement project in which he adopted the building technique and expertise of Nubian masonry which is mainly based on the system of supporting walls, and domed ceilings and vaults made of mud brick due to its low cost, insulation property and availability in local environments. The project was a success at both local and international levels, despite the difficulties to move to the new village.
29. However, the village of Al Qurna has become a site of great cultural significance to anyone interested in urbanisation based on social, humanitarian and natural factors. In the early sixties Hassan Fathi followed the same technique in the oasis of Paris at Al Kharga, which is an environmental heritage based on the philosophy of Egyptian and Islamic architecture.
30. Hassan Fathi wrote a number of books. But his "Architecture of the Poor" was the most renowned. It was translated into 22 languages and the theories therein are studied in more than 42 universities in the entire world.
