Traditional Islamic House (Ottoman House) Architecture, in Old Fatimid Cairo and Rosetta Cities, Egypt - An Example of Sustainable Architecture

The unique Traditional Islamic architecture characterizes some cities in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The purpose of the study is to highlight the significance of the Traditional Islamic house design, architectural elements, and the use of low-technology in house construction concerning sustainable architecture, in Old Fatimid Cairo and Rosetta (Rashid) cities. The study's method includes a literature review; with an overview of the history, the urban form, and the Islamic house design and architectural elements influenced by the local Islamic context (natural and cultural environments). A field survey included: the selection of eleven examples, five from Old Fatimid Cairo city and six examples from Rosetta (Rashid) city representing the most famous houses including the different architectural elements, and analyzing its components, the house design, spatial organization, building materials, house elements, courtyard, Mashrabiyah, wind catchers, and the construction system. Moreover, a comparative study for the selected Islamic houses illustrates the contexts' impact on the house design. In conclusion, the study highlighted the significance of Islamic house design and low-technology in house design and construction, which could be considered sustainable architecture and developed in the form of advanced technology in the future.

The Wattled-Wall House of Salar People and Its Conservation and Development

Salar people are Turkic-speaking Islamic people and an ethnic group with a small population in China. Wattled-wall house of Salar people is a type of traditional house threatened by extinction. In 2008, the wattled-wall house construction skills were selected for the national intangible cultural heritage list. It is mainly distributed in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Qinghai Province of China. So far, Salar people′s traditional wattled-wall house knowledge has been poorly documented. Therefore, a study supporting cultural preservation efforts is needed, including preserving plants used in its construction. This study mainly applied ethnobotanical methods based on data collection through observation, interviews, and documentation. Additionally, ArcGIS data analysis is also used to supplement the evaluation of the traditional wattled-wall house. This study aimed to (1) document traditional knowledge about the wattled-wall house construction, (2) and evaluate the current status of the wattled-wall house from different angles like the environmental adaptability and internal advantages and disadvantages. The result showed that the local people still apply the knowledge about the wattled-wall house from generation to generation. However, due to some practical reasons, the wattled-wall house is on the verge of extinction. There are 11 plant taxa used as construction materials in wattled-wall house. Conservation efforts for species involved in the wattled-wall house are needed, especially the ones with limited availability. Re-use of wattled-wall house is needed in order to maximize the economic benefits and to safeguard its historical and architectural values. It is recommended that the conservation of this cultural heritage needs more attention and effort from the local government or the society.

Hvordan endret byggeskikken seg på Borg? En analyse av fire utvalgte hus på Borg, Vestvågøy fra yngre jernalder til høymiddelalder

The purpose of the analysis was to highlight how the building tradition at Borg, Lofoten, Norway, changed from the Late Iron Age to the High Middle Ages. The construction elements such as roof-bearing posts, doorways, fireplaces, walls, and room divisions were compared between Borg I:1a, Borg I:1b, Borg II and Borg III. The results of the analyses emphasized that the building tradition at Borg changed in regard to house construction, size of the buildings and the division of rooms. The residents of Borg traditionally built longhouses with combined living room and byre from approx. 600 AD to the year 1300 AD. It is argued that limited access to local resources, such as timber, led to the residents retaining much of the same building tradition for approx. 700 years.

Cultural Preservation of Panay Bukidnon-Halawodnons Amidst Emergent Society

Ethnic groups are known as minorities in any society. However, the richness of their culture can never be undermined, rather, it serves as defining stuff of history that is worthy of being upheld and preserved. This ethnographic study was specifically designed to investigate how the Panay Bukidnon-Halawodnons in barangay Agcalaga, Calinog, Iloilo, Philippines upheld their cultural society amidst the influence of the mainstream institutions in their community during the 1st quarter of 2019. The informants were chosen through purposive sampling on the basis of the inclusion criteria set before them. Permission from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the cultural community was secured prior to the conduct of fieldwork in the said area. The researchers performed data triangulation and ground truths for the validity of data and observed data saturation for the reliability of the gathered data. NVivo 12 Plus was used for conceptual analysis while the researchers themselves did the analytic analysis. Barangay Agcalaga is generally on its midway progress. Being a cultural community, the Panay Bukidnon-Halawodnons in this place maintain their cultures such as Council of Elders, "binanog" dance, rituals in farming, house construction, circumcision, dagaan, luy-a luy-a, and batak-dungan; bayanihan; babaylan; and love of nature while their lost cultures include binukot; serenade (harana); traditional IP house; burial rites (embalming); dowry system; primitive costumes (bahag and patadyong). The Philippine government is called to ratify the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169 or Convention 169 to fortify the cultures of the Indigenous Peoples not only in Calinog, Iloilo but also in the entire country.

Examining the current value of indigenous plant material culture in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Indigenous plant-derived material culture dominates many of the tools and utensils manufactured and used by communities that depended on the natural resources for their livelihoods. Endemic plants provide humans with essential materials for construction purposes and for the design of household utensils. The goal of this study was to describe the current value of indigenous plant material culture. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 127 respondents provide 13 native plants as sources of fibre, timber, culms, oil and dye used to make household utensils, huts, brooms, mats and baskets. The cultural significance of these materials includes the production, preparation, serving and storage of food; house construction; protection of courtyards; and cleaning. These materials are still valued in the culture of the studied community, and represent the tangible heritage of the community.

Ecological Aspects of the Detached House Construction

The article deals with the ecological impacts during a detached house construction and looks for the optimal way of its financing. The aim of the article is to evaluate how much the house construction costs would increase in the case of the use of materials, which production generates smaller volume of negative emissions. The issue of the environment in relation to ecological construction has been widely discussed in recent years. The construction industry burdens the environment already by the production of building materials, extraction of raw materials, energy consumption, through designing activities and construction itself, to the phase of the building use and its eventual liquidation. There are six basic requirements for building materials used in construction, which are required for the quality environmentally friendly construction: the statics and stability of buildings must be provided, noise protection, fire safety, hygienic safety and reduced environmental impact must be met, buildings must provide safe use and well-being, and last but not least energy efficiency. Already in the structure construction phase, it is necessary to consider the appropriate selection of building materials, for which it is necessary to take into account ecological criteria. Appropriate selection of building materials results in a positive effect on the environment. When optimizing the total cost of building a detached house from an ecological point of view, the procedure consists in replacing the most cost-effective items in the construction budget by alternative materials with regard to ecology. When choosing alternative materials, maintaining the standard of the brick building and the aesthetic character of the house are taken into account. When comparing the budgets of both variants, it was found out that a detached house built using alternative, more environmentally friendly materials, resulted more expensive. However, the price difference is slight. Own housing can be financed in several ways. One option is to use your resources. However, this method is currently unrealistic for most people, and therefore they often choose the option of combining their resources with external sources. The most commonly used products for housing financing are building savings loans and mortgage loans. Another possibility is to use subsidy programmes for housing to finance the house, which are often focused on supporting ecological construction and housing.

Gagauz people, housing, building ritual system, making a sacrifice, sacrifice for the building

In the article “The Building Ritual System of Gagauz People (On the Formulation of the Question)”, building rituals are considered in relation to the stages of the construction of housing and getting used to it. These include rituals performed prior to housing construction, rituals accompanying the construction, and rituals performed upon moving to a new house. An attempt was made to reveal the semantics of building rituals and to highlight the role of housing in the Gagauz perception of the world. Gagauz tradition has it that all the stages of house construction and the process of inhabiting it are accompanied by rituals, among which the most important are the rituals associated with the idea of the world tree and with the sacrifice for the building. According to popular belief, the performed rituals ensured the security and prosperity to its residents.