Beehive green architecture. Syria. By James Gordon
"According to Earth Architecture, half of the world’s population live of work in buildings constructed of earth. So rather than seeing earth architecture as something of the past we must accept that in some way and in some places, earth architecture still rules supreme. Mud, dirt and straw are the oldest building material on the planet as they are widely available, cheap and relatively easy to manipulate and build with.
Other earthen buildings in the Middle East include adobe (mud brick) houses in the Marshes of Iraq, the tallest city of Shibam in Yemen, the city of Bam in Iran as well as the eco-friendly architecture of the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy.
The beehive houses is an ancient dwelling with evidence of its existence going back to 3,700 B.C. There have been recorded examples of their construction in Palestine, Cyprus and Turkey although it is only in Syria that they have persisted to this day. The Syrian beehive-houses are located on the edge of the Syrian desert with whole beehive villages in Aleppo and are used for storage as well as housing.
It is believed that the conical homes continue to be built in areas of Syria as there are no alternative building materials available which were better suited to the environment. Beehive homes are built using mud bricks which are stacked in a conical shape which allows hot air to travel upwards allowing the ground floor where the residents live to stay cool."
Beehive green architecture. Syria. By James Gordon
From Arwa Aburawa's post:
Pictures by James Gordon http://www.flickr.com/photos/60095477@N08/
ReplyDeleteAs today is Hassan Fathy Birthday, a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt. Fathy was recognized with the Aga Khan Chairman's Award for Architecture in 1980. Architectural Model Making in UAE pays his tribute to Hassan Fathy.