By: Grace Liu
Mud buildings are very effective at keeping people cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. Some architects are looking to the past and considering the use of this very old construction material. These houses can be found in African countries, India, Afghanistan, and more.
In an ancient walled city named Sana’s in Yemen, tall skyscrapers soar into the sky. All the buildings there are made from earth and mud. The color of the buildings blend into the mountains nearby. The buildings are thousands of years old, but they are still standing, and some are still inhabited. “Salma Samar Damluji, co-founder of the Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation in Yemen and author of The Architecture of Yemen and its Reconstruction. says it is easy to see why these mud buildings have not lost their appeal – they are well-insulated, sustainable and extremely adaptable for modern use. It is the architecture of the future.”
The city of Djenné in Mali was founded in 800 AD. It is known for its building, the Great Mosque, which is the largest mud building in the world. Every year, citizens gather to repair and reclay the mosque.
Mud walls have high thermal mass, so they slowly absorb heat and store it. “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,” says Pamela Jerome, a US architect and president of the Architectural Preservation Studio, which focuses on restoration projects around the world.
The construction industry is responsible for 38% of the global carbon dioxide emissions. According to BBC Future, “Concrete, a staple of modern construction, has a huge carbon footprint. Building with concrete accounts for around 7% of global CO2 emissions – substantially more than the aviation industry which is responsible for 2.5% of emissions. Worldwide 4 billion tons of cement, the key component of concrete, is produced each year.”
Not using concrete and using less polluting construction materials would be critical to achieving climate goals and preventing further global warming and pollution.
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