Hassan Fathy's 1980 Murad Greiss House could (overlooking a couple of things) as well have been built in 2020 A.D. or 2020 B.C. for a high ranking government official or land owner. Hand built in local limestone and lime mortar. Animated CGI here:
Minus the swimming pool and the picture windows it is not difficult to imagine how a well to do ancient Egyptian would have instructed his architect and builders on the site. Here are photos from the 1980 construction site. ImageImage
The barrel vaults and the domes were made in slightly stiffer mortar and what looks like fired clay bricks (ancient Egyptians would have used sun dried bricks which probably works just as well). The wood construction beams would have been removed and reused: wood was valuable. ImageImageImageImage
3D Sketchfab by @ArchMaher in Jordan. This is true vernacular architecture. In the West you would be called horrible names and ridiculaed in nation-wide media if you suggested building something as sophisticated yet vernacular as this. sketchfab.com/3d-models/1980…

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More from @wrathofgnon

16 Oct
The most insidious aspect of modern architecture is how it pretends to be considerate of the common good: a friend of the people. "Modern buildings are so much safer to construct. You wouldn't understand!", "Modern buildings are so much more economical. You wouldn't understand!" ImageImage
But the worst is also the boldest lie: "Modern buildings are so much more beautiful. YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND." ImageImage
"Modern construction and modern ideals are the only way to house the poor: it is called progress. YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND." ImageImage
Read 5 tweets
14 Oct
“No house can be conceived more warm and cosy than that built of cob, especially when thatched.”
— A Book of The West, Sabine Baring-Gould, 1899
“Cob walls for garden fruit are incomparable. They retain the warmth of the sun and give it out through the night, and when protected on top by slates, tiles, or thatch, will last for centuries.” — A Book of The West, Sabine Baring-Gould, 1899
“Walls of mud, or of compressed earth, are still more economical than those of timber, and if they were raised on brick or stone foundations...their durability would be equal to that of marble, if properly constructed and kept perfectly dry.” — An Old Authority, 1833
Read 9 tweets
9 Oct
Gus Willard Van Beek (1920-2012, Dept. Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution) on the thermal properties of traditional earth and mud homes, citing a 1970s experiment in Iran. Stellar result from the "free dug at site material". ImageImage
A preliminary understanding of how soil and earth works as a building material can be easily tested digging a hole and measuring the temperature therein. (Photo of the authors at a site in Egypt.) ImageImage
In the late 1950s James Marston Fitch and Daniel P. Branch measured temperatures in traditional adobe homes in the U.S. Southwest. You really do not need air conditioning in a house built like this: the interior temperature is stable. (Example of a traditional home to the right.) ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
5 Oct
Thread of threads on how to reduce the urban heat island effect. #1: Plant more street trees to reduce heat accumulation in streets and buildings.
#2: Allow where suitable natural climbing vines and vegetation to help shield buildings, keeping them cooler, reducing the need for air conditioning.
#3: All this street vegetation and the many trees will require a lot of water. To help, make all buildings water independent by encouraging rainwater harvesting. The goal should be to cover 100% of domestic use.
Read 14 tweets
4 Oct
At its time the Indus Valley Civilization city of Dholavira, founded in 3000 B.C. might have been the most technically advanced city in the entire world. Here as it might have looked around 2100 B.C. With a population of 15,000-20,000 at 0.6km² a density similar to Manhattan.
Located on the island of Khadir in the great salt desert of the Kutch, just on the edge of the monsoon region, meaning that its ground water was salty or brackish, and the monsoon rains often failed: it could go several years without a drop of rain. But the city had ample water!
One third of the city was devoted to water management: huge reservoirs cut deep into the rock was used to store fresh water from two rivers that only came to life during monsoons. These reservoirs linked to wells, silting tanks, etc. offering better water than many modern cities.
Read 7 tweets
29 Sep
Why did Khmer and Mesoamerican cities collapse between 900-1500 while more rural surroundings survived unharmed? The common theme seems to be a long term investment in soil and water management resources. Meanwhile, us moderns are doing nothing of this. sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/n…
The ancient cities that survived for more than half a millennia all had two things in common: they took relatively good care of their surrounding forests and soils and they did not hesitate to pour any amount of resources, land, effort, labor into securing good and healthy water.
Read 4 tweets

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