As a young woman walks into a city, she sees skyscrapers and homes all around her that are built from earthly materials and decorated with unique geometric patterns. Even though natural materials like mud and bamboo are common, using them to build makes the structures rare.
In Sana’a, Yemen’s ancient walled city, the mud architectures are so special that the city is a part of Unesco’s World Heritage sites. Unesco described Sana’a’s environment, saying, “As an outstanding example of a homogeneous architectural ensemble reflecting the spatial characteristics of the early years of Islam, the city in its landscape has an extraordinary artistic and pictorial quality. The buildings demonstrate exceptional craftsmanship in the use of local materials and techniques.”
Using mud to build structures will boost our society’s rate of healing and protecting the environment. The construction industry is responsible for 38% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and constructing buildings out of concrete accounts for 7% of the globe’s CO2 pollution. Every year, the world’s population utilizes 4 billion tons of cement, with concrete being the key component.
Trevor Marchand, who is an emeritus professor of social anthropology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies stressed the importance of using natural materials properly, noting that using mud for construction should be completely sustainable and should not decrease land availability. “It can be a solution, but only on a certain scale,” he says, acknowledging that the global population’s growth is predicted to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050.
Marchand also elaborated on Djenné, Mali’s yearly event of re-claying and repairing their community mosque, saying that the residents work together to improve the city, and the group effort allows the neighborhood to become tighter knit. “Everyone takes part. Boys and girls mix the mud, women bring the water and masons direct the activity.”
The mud-built homes are also sturdy and adaptive to the surrounding temperature. Architects say that the mud buildings are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Since mud walls have a high thermal mass, they gradually absorb heat and store it, which prevents a building’s temperature from increasing.
Pamela Jerome, a US architect, and the President of the Architectural Preservation Studio said “Mud walls collect heat during the day from solar radiation and release it at night. The temperature never fluctuates – it’s always at a comfortable level.”
Scientists predict that extreme weather will become more frequent as temperatures continue to skyrocket, and mud structures are sturdy and resilient to turbulent and intense climates.
Because mud structures are environmentally friendly and have features that allow them to withstand harsh conditions, their use will impact the world and move it closer to a pollution-free society.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220705-the-sustainable-cities-made-from-mud
In Sana’a, Yemen’s ancient walled city, the mud architectures are so special that the city is a part of Unesco’s World Heritage sites. Unesco described Sana’a’s environment, saying, “As an outstanding example of a homogeneous architectural ensemble reflecting the spatial characteristics of the early years of Islam, the city in its landscape has an extraordinary artistic and pictorial quality. The buildings demonstrate exceptional craftsmanship in the use of local materials and techniques.”
Using mud to build structures will boost our society’s rate of healing and protecting the environment. The construction industry is responsible for 38% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and constructing buildings out of concrete accounts for 7% of the globe’s CO2 pollution. Every year, the world’s population utilizes 4 billion tons of cement, with concrete being the key component.
Trevor Marchand, who is an emeritus professor of social anthropology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies stressed the importance of using natural materials properly, noting that using mud for construction should be completely sustainable and should not decrease land availability. “It can be a solution, but only on a certain scale,” he says, acknowledging that the global population’s growth is predicted to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050.
Marchand also elaborated on Djenné, Mali’s yearly event of re-claying and repairing their community mosque, saying that the residents work together to improve the city, and the group effort allows the neighborhood to become tighter knit. “Everyone takes part. Boys and girls mix the mud, women bring the water and masons direct the activity.”
The mud-built homes are also sturdy and adaptive to the surrounding temperature. Architects say that the mud buildings are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Since mud walls have a high thermal mass, they gradually absorb heat and store it, which prevents a building’s temperature from increasing.
Pamela Jerome, a US architect, and the President of the Architectural Preservation Studio said “Mud walls collect heat during the day from solar radiation and release it at night. The temperature never fluctuates – it’s always at a comfortable level.”
Scientists predict that extreme weather will become more frequent as temperatures continue to skyrocket, and mud structures are sturdy and resilient to turbulent and intense climates.
Because mud structures are environmentally friendly and have features that allow them to withstand harsh conditions, their use will impact the world and move it closer to a pollution-free society.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220705-the-sustainable-cities-made-from-mud
