Sustainable Local Materials: A Study of Adobe Bricks in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The importance of local building materials has long been a significant point in all communities for thousands of years. It is well established that local materials form the backbone of construction in societies as they are the best response to the region's climate conditions. This study aims to determine the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing local materials in building construction. Specifically, it focuses on analyzing adobe bricks and examines whether it is suitable for the modern times. Saudi Arabia, a country that extensively relied on petroleum to flourish, is re-establishing itself by introducing the Saudi Vision 2030, a call of action to rely on available sustainable assets to develop the country. In this context, this research intends to demonstrate how promoting local materials' usage in construction would correspond with the vision's aims. This paper attempts to raise awareness about the local alternatives available and encourage utilizing them rather than the conventional building materials widely used, which are often not entirely suitable for Saudi Arabia's harsh desert climate. To further support this research, historical research proved that buildings built with local materials had withstood the test of time. This paper explores adobe as a case study because it is a unique building material in its style and sustainability. The intensive research results revealed that adobe bricks are a versatile material that gives different characteristics depending on the mixture of materials used to make them. On this basis, this paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of adobe bricks while proposing potential solutions to overcome the drawbacks.

Urban Heritage Conservation in Saudi Arabia Toward Sustainable Reuses

“…The literature review about heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and the Gulf regions [3,[15][16][17][18] is rich, with particular attention to urban heritage [19][20][21]. However, only a few researches have been conducted about sustainable interventions and reuse in the area [11,16,22] since the topic only recently has been applied to a historical urban heritage site or the built environment [2,4,19].…”

“…The literature review about heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and the Gulf regions [3,[15][16][17][18] is rich, with particular attention to urban heritage [19][20][21]. However, only a few researches have been conducted about sustainable interventions and reuse in the area [11,16,22] since the topic only recently has been applied to a historical urban heritage site or the built environment [2,4,19]. More projects are going in this direction under the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to enhance the value of national heritage sustainable development approach to analyze the heritage practices [2] and proposing proposed a model for assessing the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings in historical cities in Saudi According to many authors, many methods have been adopted for preserving the heritage and to allow for new uses to bring the building to a new life.…”

“…At the same time, the other two villages, Ushaiger and Rughabah, are famous touristic sites included in the Heritage Commission list for Urban Heritage. The methodology for sustainable urban heritage reuse assessment was based on the literature review and the World Heritage definition of sustainable reuse, referring to social, cultural, environmental, and economic criteria promoted by the United Nations General Assembly [8][9][10][11] and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO-ICOMOS) [24]. The survey for assessment has adopted the following criteria and principles for assessing sustainable reuses of urban heritage cases studies: A) Socio-economic criterion; Al Ula Old Town Village.…”

Urban Heritage in Saudi Arabia: Comparison and Assessment of Sustainable Reuses

“…There is a large body of research addressing heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] and the Gulf regions [2][3][4]6,18,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42] with particular reference to urban heritage [43][44][45][46][47]. In contrast, the notion of sustainable heritage reuse is newly targeted.…”

“…In contrast, the notion of sustainable heritage reuse is newly targeted. Only a few investigations have analyzed sustainable conservation in the Gulf regions and Saudi Arabia [3,29,34,42,48].…”