Middle East – Page 7 – EARTH ARCHITECTURE

December 12, 2003

Nader Khalili

Iranian born Nader Khalili, California architect/author is the world renowned Earth Architecture teacher and innovator, and author. He has been a licensed architect in the State of California since 1970, and has practiced both in the U.S. and abroad. Click here to visit Khalili’s website: Cal-Earth, The California Institute for Earth Art and Architecture.

His books, Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture: How to Build Your Own and Racing Alone document his life of searching for a method to fire mud houses and turn them to stone by firing and glazing an entire building after it is constructed from clay-earth on site.

December 9, 2003

The Architecture of Mud

The Architecture of Mud, a film by Caterina Borelli and Pamela Jerome, is shot in the Hadhramaut region in the south east of Yemen which well known for its mudbrick architecture. Throughout the centuries, the population has developed very sophisticated building techniques and created a unique architectural environment.

December 7, 2003

Yazd 2003

The Ninth Conference on the Research and Protection of Unbaked Mud Monuments opened at Dowlatabad Garden and was attended by a number of world experts. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Head of Yazd province Cultural Heritage Department Seyed Mohammad Beheshti reiterated the importance of the unbaked mud monuments and the inherent complexities of the material.

November 23, 2003

House of Earth and Light

The House of Earth and Light, a private residence designed by Iraq-born, Phoenix Architect Marwan Al-Sayed uses a 3-layer fabric roof to bring tension and lightness to the thick poured gypsum walls. Computer renderings of the building show the proposed quality of the architecture. More information can be found here in an article by the Industrial Fabrics Association International (.pdf format).

July 10, 2003

Ziggurat at Ur

One of the most intriguing monuments still standing in Iraq is the Ziggurat at Ur. A ziggurat is a colossal stepped platform; and it is thought that ziggurats supported temples at their tops. These ziggurats were built during the third millennium B.C. Archaeologists don’t know for certain what the purpose of these ziggurats was; however, it is speculated that they had some connection with religion. There are several ziggurats visible throughout Iraq, the most famous of which is the ziggurat at Ur in the south of Iraq. The core of the ziggurat at Ur was constructed using mud bricks which were then covered with baked bricks. The mud bricks were made out of mud and reed; the reed was pressed into moulds that had been left to dry in the sun. Each brick measured around 25 x 16 x 7 centimeters and weighed around 4.5 kilograms.

July 10, 2003

Ctesiphon Arch

The Ctesiphon arch is considered as one of the many architectural wonders of Mesopotamia. This arch was built in 400 A.D. by the Parthian Persians to be the largest single-span vault of un-reinforced brickwork in the world. The arch has a span of seventy-five feet and is about 110 feet high.It stands in the ancient city of Ctesiphon. Ctesiphon is a historically significant city that lies on the east bank of the Tigris River just south of Baghdad. The Ctesiphon arch is a pointed ovoid peculiar to Mesopotamian architecture; it was built using unfired, thin mud bricks which were laid on a slant.

July 8, 2003

Afghanistan Unreconstructed

Image from (Afghanistan) Unreconstructed, New York Times Magazine, Sunday 06/01/03

March 17, 2003

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein was born in Tikrit, Iraq on April 28, 1937 and grew up in the town of Al Dawr, a mud-brick town on the banks of the Tigris River. Adobe dwellings in Iraq date back as far as 8000 b.c. The earliest known form molded adobe blocks are also in Iraq (5600 b.c).

March 9, 2003

Architecture for the Poor

Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt describes Hassan Fathy’s plan for building the village of New Gourna, near Luxor, Egypt, without the use of more modern and expensive materials such as steel and concrete. Using mud bricks, the native technique that Fathy learned in Nubia, and such traditional Egyptian architectural designs as enclosed courtyards and vaulted roofing, Fathy worked with the villagers to tailor his designs to their needs. He taught them how to work with the bricks, supervised the erection of the buildings, and encouraged the revival of such ancient crafts as claustra (lattice designs in the mudwork) to adorn the buildings.

March 9, 2003

Terra2003

The 9th Conference on the study and Conservation of Earthen Architecture in Yazd, Iran from November 29 to December 2, 2003.