Old and Modern Construction Materials In Yemen: The Effect In Building Construction In Sana’a

Abstract

Sana'a city in Yemen is one of the oldest cities in the worlds, which has different forms of building built with different types of materials. In the present work, the old and new forms of building construction and the building materials used in Sana'a, the sources available for the new material, the effects of new material usage on building forms are all presented with the advantages and disadvantages of each material. The old shapes of buildings in Yemen and the classical and modern forms of construction using different types of materials are considered in the study. Survey is used to investigate the building forms and material types in Sana'a. Several conclusions are submitted showing that, the new building material, such as concrete block, is preferred in building comparing with old material, such as stone, which makes it the best choice for the low income people but sometimes the limited resources make old material the only available choice. Several steps needed to develop and encourage the use of new building materials are recommended.

Identification of significant factors influencing housing cost in Yemen

“…The high cost could also be due to using cement mortar to fill irregular empty spaces between adjacent stones. This finding is the same as the study conducted by Al‐Kahtani and Al‐Darzi (2007), which found that concrete blocks was the best choice available for low‐income people in Sana'a as the cost of stone was about ten times that of the concrete block.…”

“…“Traditional methods used” is ranked last implying that it is timely that method be replaced for better quality housing. According to Al‐Kahtani and Al‐Darzi (2007), using new building material such as concrete block appears to be the best choice available for the low‐income people in Yemen. Although the cost of stone building is about ten times more than concrete block, the use of these materials was still widely accepted because of the poor quality of concrete block.…”

“…This has increased the land demand and hence the cost of land in Sana'a. In addition, according to Al‐Kahtani and Al‐Darzi (2007), the cement material has mainly affected the building cost. In Yemen there are five cement‐producing factories, which could not meet the domestic demand and this has resulted in the price increase.…”

“…The use of concrete block recommended by Al‐Kahtani and Al‐Darzi (2007) as a new and more beneficial alternative can be adopted in the housing construction industry for the low‐income group in Sana'a. The utilization of new building materials as well as concrete blocks is inevitable for sustainable development.…”

Developing affordable housing design for low income in Sana'a, Yemen

“…To increase efficiency in the systems design process, the engineer (designer) can increase the probability that the first design(s) concept is close to optimum by recognizing that the unique environmental and socio‐economic conditions of a location will directly influence the physical characteristics of a house design. This section provides recommendations to help the designer concept a near optimum initial design alternative (Alaghbari et al , 2004; Salama, 2006; Al‐Kahtani and Al‐Darzi, 2007).…”