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Appropriate Building
Patterns for
Saint Catherine, Egypt
A Building Guideline Egyptian Earth Construction Association
June 2010
Appropriate Building Patterns
for Saint Catherine, Egypt.
A Building Guidebook
Nashwa Ibrahim
Assisting in editing: AbdulRahman El‐Taliawi Text editing : Dr. Mona Gado
Centre of Building Crafts, St. Catherine Egyptian Earth Construction Association www.eeca.net
PUBLISHED BY:
The Egyptian Earth Construction Association (EECA) is an Egyptian non‐governmental/non‐profit organi‐sation concerned with Appropriate Building Technol‐ogy (ABT) as a tool for sustainable development and community building. 4 Abu‐Hureyba St, Al‐Darb Al‐Ahmar, Historic Cairo, Egypt The Centre of Building Crafts (CBC) is established in Zaitouna, Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Egypt. Its es‐tablishment was funded by the EU through the South Sinai Regional Development Programme (SSRDP) in 2007.
The content of this building guideline is the responsi‐bility of its author. The EU committee does not hold any liability to the information stated herein. © 2010 Humanity as a whole, No rights reserved! All parts of the information contained in this book may be reproduced and disseminated worldwide. Please note that this information should be used with due respect to nature and it should aim at sus‐tainable development. Kindly acknowledge the source of information if you feel like disseminating it.
Only for Allah;
who inspired and supported.
Finishing
Landscaping
Systems
Social
Patterns
Contextual
Patterns
Foundation
Walls
Roofing
Table of contents: Acknowledgements Preface How to Use this Guidebook
Social Patterns
Contextual Patterns
Foundation
Walls
Roofing
Openings
Systems
Landscape
Finishing
Page 1
2
3
4
8
12
14
18
20
26
30
32
Open
ings
Contents
Acknowledgements
Nashwa Ibrahim
Khaled Fakhr, Mohamed Mansour, Ahmad Hamdy, Ramy Osama, Moushira Elamrawy, and AbdulRah‐man El‐Taliawi
Maged Magdy and Ahmed AbdulWahab
Gemei’ Farag
Hussein Khedr
Farhana Mousa
Project Director:
Architects:
Accountants:
Foreman:
Driver:
Secretary:
1
This book is translated into Arabic by: Mahmoud Qutb
This building guidebook is one of the outcomes of the project: “Architectural Character Development Process for Authentic Bedouin Settlements of South Sinai,” is funded by the European Union (EU) through the South Sinai Regional Development Program (SSRDP). The project embodies the ideas and objec‐tives of the Egyptian Earth Construction Association (EECA) through all its practices and achievements. It is hereby that the project team would like to thank the association members who participated in formulating the outline of this project in the proposal writing phase: Zeiad Amer, Mona Farouk, Heba Badr, Dr. Amal Aldeberky, Nevine George and Mahmoud Qutb. We would also like to acknowledge the dedicated technical assistance of Wael Sabry during the implementation phase, and to all trainers from EECA: Osama Abdel‐Qawi, Ghada Embarek Zeiad Amer, and Wael Sabry, as well as the secretarial assis‐tance of Shaimaa Omar and Doha Zaki throughout the project. Gratitude is also due to Sheikh Mousa Aboul‐Heim who has always been keen on providing all information needed about local life.
Special gratitude is also due to the authentic Bedouins, the Jebaleyah tribe, whose uniqueness can rarely be matched. Those local inhabitants of Saint Catherine have revealed a deeper appreciation of life and sustainability than any outsider, and have been, themselves, the real teachers of this product.
Saint Catherine lies at the heart of the topographically mountainous area of
South Sinai. It exists where Prophet Moses is believed to have lived part of his life and where he has received the 10 commandments of God. Saint Catherine's tour‐istic significance lies in its religious, ecological and geographic nature. Lately, it has been registered as a world heritage site on the UNESCO map. It also contains Byzantine archeological sites yet to be discovered. Accordingly, there has become a great demand for its eco‐touristic/architectural nature among local/external investors. Bedouins of St. Catherine are mostly from the Jebaleyah tribe which, historically, was based there to guard the monastery 1400 years ago. Bedouins have started living in wall‐bearing houses since the Israeli occupation. Before that, they used to live in their portable Bait Sha'ar (Bedouin tents) where roofs were made of black goat hair, and side partitions were made of sheep/camel wool; they trav‐eled as nomads, moving from one place to another in search for water and/or better weather conditions. Each detail of the Bait Sha'ar tells a wisdom of com‐patibility with the environment, economic efficiency, and adaptability to socio‐cultural needs. The shift of building patterns into fixed, immovable houses is yet to mature, and is affected by influences coming from the Nile valley in a way that makes contemporary building not as congruent as it used to be. Recent demands to conceive an architecture that is economical, ecological and responsive to social life provoked our project: to study contemporary life patterns that govern build‐ing production, analyze its information, and recommend suitable architectural solutions for each pattern. It is hoped that it, in turn, may trigger tribe builders to express such patterns in their own Bedouin character. Any expert outside the community who tries to introduce new ways of building can bring a number of solutions that do not spring from the cultural context of St. Catherine. However, the project has made it their mission to envision a Cath‐erinian architectural character capitalizing on the support of the local community. All patterns presented might be adopted, as well as further developed, by local Bedouins only if this project honestly reflects their intrinsic Bedouin culture. The building patterns presented in this booklet allow users to compose different architectural solutions through their own approaches. We do not offer ready‐made answers. The outcomes can never be predicted. Only time can show results and offer more to be learnt.
Nashwa Ibrahim
St. Catherine January 2008
2
Preface
Up to bottom: 1‐ Nawamees site, Wadi So’aal 2‐ Old stone wall built by local Bedouins 3‐ Gra Safha near Sheikh Awwad, Wadi Gharba
3
How to Use this Guidebook
This guidebook aims at helping the building community in Saint Catherine to apply values that are economic, eco‐friendly, and culturally responsive to the social needs of South Sinai Bedouins. In addition, it is written in such a way to guide non‐specialists towards self‐help building. Each chapter of the manual is divided into sections to ease locating the needed information.
The division of each chapter runs as follows:
1‐ Background: describes in one page the factual context of each section.
2‐ The building patterns: each discussed in one page; the outline of the discussion runs as follows :
Pattern title: reflects the main building value to be discussed. This part lies at the right top of the page.
• Traditional/Conventional building values: documents the existing and traditional values of the building pattern. This part lies at the top of the page.
• Issues: raise functional, economical, ecological, structural, or social questions. This part lies at the left side of the page.
• Recommendations: help develop the discussed building pattern to resolve the mentioned questions or conflicts. This part lies in the grey square in the middle of the page.
Efficiency: helps evaluate the recommended solutions from the economi‐cal, ecological and/or social point of view. This part lies at the bottom of the page.
References of information are an incremental interaction with local people during 33 months, experimental construction projects applied during the same duration.
All photos are by the author except for those mentioned beside.
Background
The nomadic culture of the Bedouins of St. Cath‐erine is more extrovert than most urban cultures; Bedouins are very close to nature and can adapt their lives to minimal available resources; this is reflected, for example, through their economic and balanced use of water.
For decades, Bedouins have been working exten‐sively in camel tourism due to the topography of St. Catherine. Female Bedouins are known to have positive characters and are hard workers. A visitor who can hardly see or talk to a female Bedouin might have a different impression, thinking she must be marginalized or excluded. The reality is that women take their farm animals daily to mountain hikes, feed them plants, and weave using their hair and/or wool to produce textiles used as ceilings/partitions in their Beit Sha’ar (woolen tent/house). In an attempt to color and soften men’s tough lives, female Bedouins also weave many colorful products such as sugar and tobacco cases, camel rags and water‐bottle hold‐ers, all of which men use during their daily moun‐tain trips. Motifs used in weaving are unique and are influenced by the natural heritage of the place. Women’s contribution to architectural products disappeared since the new ways of build‐ing no longer depend on women's products; they
rather depend mostly on building materials pro‐duced by the suppliers of the Nile Valley.
Families usually live together and an extended family represents the unit of a new settlement in St. Catherine. They cannot live apart from their social knot (neighbors/relatives) since socializing is the main entertainment they have. Female visits occur during daytime, whereas male visits take place in the evening. Among every group of houses there is a common Mag’ad, a gathering space where men can meet and socialize. How‐ever, female presence is not always restricted to the Mag’ad.
Houses are used for very limited activities such as eating and sleeping. Most of the daily activities are done outdoors, where Bedouins feel more comfortable. This is why Bedouins are not keen on interior decoration. Their motifs are not found any more in their houses like they used to be in the past. Nowadays, women weave using beads and embroider for commercial purposes rather than for their everyday life. Building industry of the present time is very much functional and tough. Encouraging women to contribute to building production using the inherited motifs, talents and skills may rebalance the relation between social patterns and building ones. This is a practical approach that can lead to cultural preservation.
Social
Patterns
4
Above: Bor’oa; that covers women’s faces during weddings Right: The Beit Sha’ar ceiling show‐ing the sheets of goat hair and the intersection with the tree trunk pillar which is called Ekfa
Left to right: 1‐ Weaving using beads pattern for a tobacco case 2‐ Embroidery pat‐tern for a sugar case 3‐ Melabba weaved beads used to deco‐rate and cover women's chests
Left: The way they tighten the roof of the Beit Sha’ar (woolen tent) to adjust the tension ratio as needed Right: The outdoor life of hiking among stones
Social
Patterns
Women and men cook outdoors. Women usually prefer to wash the dishes in an outdoor sunny court while sitting on their knees, rather than spending a lot of time stand‐ing in front of washing sinks in a dark indoor kitchen. An indoor courtyard, thus, usually exists in a traditional Bedouin house.
Although Bedouins are extrovert and like to spend time in nature rather than indoors, privacy remains a paramount need, especially for women. Courtyards are very signifi‐cant and represent one of the main features of the Bedouin house. Problems arise when a visitor tries to enter the front courtyard while women are sitting, washing and cooking. At the same time, the kitchen inside the house does not function properly when placed far from the court‐yard. This issue creates a need to connect the kitchen to an outdoor courtyard (for cooking and washing) aside from the main entrance courtyard, while redesign‐ing the interior of the kitchen for better lighting quality with the maximum required privacy.
Such a design concept can improve the life of local Bedouins. Moreover, linking the kitchen to the courtyard may allow adding an outdoor sink, which is better for hygiene and can be very cheap when made using Terrazzo. Some families may get into the business of producing these sinks, which means better job opportunities for the local community. It is also suggested to direct grey water to a constructed wetland, as will be shown later in the section entitled systems.
‐ A secondary court is sug‐gested, that is connected to the kitchen, for cooking/washing activities (as shown above). ‐ Kitchen/court window can be one meter bigger in width since the window won’t be seen from outside providing better lighting efficiency.
‐ The window on the oppo‐site side can be regular in size (60cmx60cm) to allow both privacy and cross venti‐lation. ‐ This design can only offer an example of ways to link the kitchen to a back court‐yard, which could also be used as a private sitting area for women when the main court is occupied by men.
‐ Gas pipes and containers could also be placed in the back courtyard since Bedouins prefer to place them outside their houses for safety rea‐sons. Usually the pipe is placed away from the sun exposure. In case it is directed to the sun it is recommended to build a small shelter to the north to be shaded by (as shown above).
Outdoor Cooking/Dishwashing Activities
5
Social
Patte
rns
Recommen
dations
Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Above: An outdoor sitting/washing device that can be home‐made out of Terrazzo and can start a family business.
Washing
Sitting
Sewage
Enterance court
Kitchen
Cooking court
Social
Patterns
Cooking/Eating together are the most important activities in wedding festivals. Breakfast and dinner are prepared onsite in a tent separated from other guest tents. Food is then delivered in big round plates after being prepared with the help of eve‐ryone. Guest tents are usually sepa‐rate: one for men and the other for women.
Holding food plates from the cooking tent to guest tents is a celebrated event that Bedouins enjoy, al‐though 1. moving the plates some‐times can become very difficult, and 2. bringing the plates to the guests without spoiling them may constitute a chal‐lenge.
The design here is slightly more expensive due to the double column shelves. Functionally, it allows better performance. Such modification can be easily adopted by Bedouins since it re‐spects their cultural patterns and at the same time improves space function.
‐ A proposed arrangement that would offer optimum functionality for Bedouin social behaviors during weddings. 1– A festival path way from the cooking place to guest tents. 2– Installing low side shelves within the main wooden structure of the tent to contain food plates and ease moving around.
Festivals and Wedding Parties 1– Cooking tents
6
2
Above: Food preparation and delivering in a wedding, Abu‐Sila, 2009
Recommen
dations
Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Wedding Zoning showing proposed food pathway
1 Cooking tent
Guest tent (Women)
Guest tent ( Men)
Car Parking
Camel Show
1– Round sitting form is needed to accommodate Bedouin eating patterns, for they prefer to eat to‐gether rather than in sepa‐rate plates. The food plate is a big round one that can provide food for five to seven persons. It would be best if the spatial design accommodate these cus‐toms in such a gathering space instead of offering inappropriate linear ar‐rangements. 2‐ Car park usually cuts the view of a camel show/race taking place in bigger wed‐ding parties (as shown below). 3– Sharing sitting rags, tea cups and other dining tools is a persistent and signifi‐cant habit of the Bedouin wedding.
Festivals and Wedding Parties 2– Guest tents
Such solutions do not cost much. At the same time, they offer better sitting spaces to improve functionality. They have zero effect on ecology. Moreover, they respond ideally to the Bedouin cultural habits and capture their uniqueness. Entrepreneurial projects can emerge from these ideas, such as renting the portable tent. The tent’s size can change on demand and it is possible to move it from one place to another for wed‐ding parties or any other festivities.
Linear seating alcoves
7
Social
Patte
rns
Above: Mt. Sina ecolodge, designed and built after these recommendations, proves to be a successful example
Curved seating alcoves
‐ Dividing guest tents into seating alcoves surrounding a round table. These alcoves can be freely allocated in linear or curved forma‐tions. They could be created either in a tent or a building according to design. ‐ This concept could also be adopted in eating
spaces such as restau‐rants. Each alcove can be 2.4 x 2.4m which is enough for round 80 cm seats; this, in turn, leaves another 80 cm for moving around the table. ‐ The alcoves can be sepa‐rated by low partitions such as a timber log or a palm trunk. Seats can be optimally 20 cm high.
Proposed spatial arrangements
Above: Camel show in one of the weddings, 2009
Recommen
dations
Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
In weddings, breakfast and dinner are pre‐pared onsite in big quantities. Eating takes place in round floor sitting forms. Those round forma‐tions are the most significant eating pat‐tern.
Contextual
Patterns
Background
Water scarcity is a main problem that faces Sinaite Bedouins. Hence, botanic coverage is rare all over South Sinai. Palm trees can be found in Wadi Feran and El‐Tur, and a few Cypress trees (Sarw) rarely exist in Wadi Jebal and Wadi El‐Arba’een. Wood offered by these trees cannot be consid‐ered sufficient raw building material and, there‐fore, building demand cannot rely on it. Stones, slates, tafla (desert clay), sand, and rubble, how‐ever, exist abundantly in St. Catherine. Gypsum is available in neighboring Abu Zneima. All other building materials come to St. Catherine mostly from the Nile Valley through El‐Tur. Therefore, using natural resources in building can decrease building costs and may introduce better architec‐tural values.
Efficient use of stone is needed, as cutting stones from the mountain harms the eco‐system of the place; the negative effect increases when there is a high demand for the building industry. Using rounded stones that move naturally downwards, with the flood is more recommended.
Deep wells, generators and water tanks are impor‐tant features in determining building locations. Bedouins either dig more and more to reach the ground water level, or buy water and store it in
concrete tanks. Despite the fact that the Nile water is currently being extended to St Cath‐erine, optimizing water consumption is still nec‐essary for preserving the eco‐system.
In winter, it gets very cold; winter mornings are sunny and warm most of the time. It becomes seriously cold when the sun hides behind the mountains. The huge contrast between cold indoors and sunny warm outdoors provokes specialists to use solar heat in many applications for better environmental performance. However, water could be frozen inside water pipes during the day, while a metal chair is burning hot in the sun outside at the same time. In summer, it is hot during the day, but in shade St. Catherine is blessed with a better condition than in any other location in Egypt due to the dryness of its air.
Flash floods are a major factor to determine a construction location. In addition, foundation level, floor level, and doorway direction are all affected by flood activity. Therefore, locating and positioning a construction site are very important decisions in such a climatic‐topographic context.
Bedouins are very wise and conscious when it comes to building in a flood‐free zone due to their familiarity with the land. It remains for architects to decide how to benefit from flood water in gardening while protecting the houses.
Contextual Patterns
8
Left to right:
1‐ The topography influences the choice of a construction location (safe, sunny, shaded, ...etc)
2‐ An ancient deep well built with dry stones in Sheikh Awad
Left : Cutting stones from a mountain for con‐struction purposes
Right : Pine trees (Sarh) in Wadi El‐Arba'een
Above: 1‐ Saint Catherine covered in snow, 1‐3‐2009 2‐ Mount Sinai covered in snow from Wadi Sdoud, 1‐3‐2009 Right: Palm trees in Wadi Feran
Bedouins used to move from one side to another within the same valley ac‐cording to the season. The side image shows a case where the valley is ori‐ented east‐west. Bedouins also move from one valley to another if a certain valley does not offer them optimum thermal comfort.
With contemporary immov‐able houses, dynamic pat‐tern of living could not any longer be dictated by sea‐sons. New concepts need to be introduced to offer the same effect of warm sunny places in winter and breath‐ing shaded places in sum‐mer for one location.
However, even with fixed residence, providing at least one room for each season can be enough, since Bed‐ouins’ rooms are not allo‐cated to specific family members; anyone can use any comfortable room.
Proper positioning of the building does not affect its cost. In addition, it does not affect social patterns; but it can rather accommodate Bedouins’ social needs. From an environmental point of view, proper orientation leads to better environmental performance: good ventilation and good lighting.
2‐ Do not depend on sunny western façades when the building loca‐tion is surrounded by mountains, as sun dis‐appears early behind the mountain. Only Southern facades re‐ceive most of the avail‐able sun rays.
Sunny Home in Win‐ter / Shaded in Sum‐mer
9
North
Courtyard
Room 1 winter
Room 2 summer
Kitchen
Toilet
Above: A typical space design for local houses
Contextu
al Patte
rns
1‐ Rooms are recommended to be oriented towards the North‐South. Below are the preferred size configurations.
3‐ An inner court‐yard can create a similar quality of moving from one room to another on seasonal basis, pro‐viding semi‐private as well as semi‐outdoor spaces.
to another court
Recommen
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Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Shaded in Summer
Sunny in Winter
Contextual
Patterns
10
‐ How to make use of flash flood water in gardening while still being protected from the destructive flood currents. ‐ Using climate and topog‐raphy of the land to our benefit is a knowledge that Bedouins hold very well.
Local Bedouins are the most capable people to tell you where to build a new settlement. They know exactly the most efficient ways of land use. They, moreover, have the knowledge of how to be protected from northern winds while benefiting from the southern warm sun. They used to build in valleys, facing south for warm sunny directions on elevated lands using rocks and stones with clay mortar.
Protection/Benefiting from Climatic Phenomena
Plan
Above: Photos show a village in Wadi Esba’eyah, St. Catherine
Left: A Bedouin settlement in Esba'eyah below Mount Sinai
North
Housing zones
Gardens on different levels
Mountains intertwine with valleys of different direc‐tions and positioning. They create flood paths that are made of granite rocks and don’t absorb rain water.
‐ They build garden fences using dry stone walls. These mortar free fences can bear the force of water flow due to its flexibility allowing rainwater in, while prevent‐ing other undesirable mate‐rials. ‐ The dry stone fence also acts as a filter, letting in the needed water and keeping the essential clay.
Section
‐ Bedouins build gardens fac‐ing the paths of the flash floods. Gardens are suggested to be built on descending levels in the direction of wa‐ter flow. ‐ Houses are suggested to be built outside the garden zones on an elevated land, pro‐tected from the devastating flash flood path.
Recommen
dations
Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Safe housing zone
Gardens on different levels
Contextu
al Patte
rns
Building materials can be delivered to the high mountain region (HMR) from lower valleys only by camels. Building dry stone walls for garden fences, materials are sufficient on‐site and delivery is not needed. When building solid walls, clay is the only material available, while cement is not.
Building a Shelter in the High Mountain Region
11
Wooden plate bolted with the top earth bag layer to con‐nect with wooden beams for roofing
Ropes to tighten wooden beams with the main structure
Earth Bag roofing detail *
‐ Light/weightless building materials decrease building cost significantly lowering the number of camel trips to the construction site. In this case, Earth‐Bags building technique serves as an appropriate building solution in the high mountain region. ‐ Ascending the high moun‐
tain region, camels are only
required to carry empty earth
bags and wires. The rest
needed material (mostly
sand) will be found on‐site.
Left: Tamping earth bag layers to keep them all at the same height *
Right: Barbed wire attaches earth bags together and covers the outer surface to help in plastering it with earthen clay *
Earth Bag construction technique
Chicken wire, paper for recycling and little empty lime bags are the lightest building materials that can be delivered from lower valleys to higher ones. The resulting constructions are as strong and sustainable as could be. It is important to note that earth bags should be used so as not to harm the eco‐system of the place. This technique has proved very easy for Bedouins to build with, as shown in the image, and needs only to be widespread. *
Above: Bedouin building a fence wall with Earth Bags
Above: Camels carrying building materials to HMR
Delivery of building materials to the HMR costs excessive time, effort and money. Transporting cement bags, for example, exhausts the camels, pollutes the moun‐tain and offers a very expen‐sive building solution.
Recommen
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The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
‐ Clay is only needed for plastering but not to fill the bags. As Clay must be adaptive used for plantation more than construction
Foundation
Background
Flash floods represent a major natural phenome‐non that affects the safety of walls. It is one of the main elements that interfere with the design of the foundation in St. Catherine. Flood currents destroy the underground layers of walls, and so the foundations are the primary elements that rescue constructions from flood destruction.
Bedouins have the knowledge of flood paths, but they started to build in flood areas since rain has been decreasing, as a direct result of global warm‐ing. This knowledge is disappearing among new generations and a documentation of possible flood‐threatened areas needs to be carried out by geographical information systems.
Water stoppers and water insulation layers are not important to use in the foundation since the ground water table is more than 10 meters far below. Water scarcity guarantees that founda‐tions would be safe from the underground water threat. Rain, although rare, can affect walls; and so it is recommended to use stone foundations and stone walls, which should be at least 90 cm high above ground level. Geologically, foundations are safe to support one floor of bearing wall building with 70 cm ground
Foundation
12
Above: The act of flood in earth eroding, as shown above, is a very important consideration when build‐ing foundations
Left to right: Photos show different soil formations that vary from hard rocky lands to sandy ones Both photos are in Wadi So’aal .
depth, as earth in St. Catherine is mostly rocky and stable. In general local stones are considered a good building material for foundations of bearing wall structures. For safety against flood action, using Portland cement is recommended. The cement should be Sulfate resistant as most sand/silt lands contain big ratios of Sulfate. In non‐rocky/sandy areas, land mostly contains tafla (clay) that needs to be replaced by a clean and leveled layer of sand of at least 60 cm high. Each 20cm of this sand layer should be well com‐pressed with water before introducing the foun‐dations.
80‐90 cm stone
foundation using
Sulfate resisting
cemen
t
Sand/ clay land 6
0cm
of
clean sand ‐
3 layers
When building on rocky earth, a small course of foundation, 40‐50 cm, is enough for one floor of bearing wall construction. Left to right: ‐ A bearing wall foundation built in the city of St. Catherine ‐ Foundations in Mount Sina eco‐lodge, Esba’eyah, designed and built by the project
Dry stone walls are built on less flooded areas to keep the water for planting. Mortar foundations are not as appropriate since they are not as flexible as dry stone walls. A mortar foundation would obstruct the flow of water, while that flow could sometimes be very beneficial. Bedouins are experts in dry stone walls.
Building in semi‐flood areas needs strong stones to build flexible foundations that can resist the forces of water flow. When using mortar, the foundation is inflexible and will not stand water action.
Mortar‐free Foundations
This foundation costs slightly more than a one made of normal stone and mortar, but it is worth the difference since it affects the safety of all construc‐tion.
13
Foundatio
n
Above: Flood of Esba'eyah, Sep‐tember 2008. Photos show the power of water in moving and eroding land layers
Sand can be affected by flood action
Gabion Section
Left: A dry stone border/fence in one of the gardens in Abu Zaitouna, St. Catherine
Sealed wire net that can contain a dry stone wall inside
‐ A gabion is a latticework container woven out of wil‐low or galvanized steel and filled with loose stones often used as a retaining wall. Like a rubble trench foundation, a gabion will drain away mois‐ture very effectively and so it can be used below the ground as a foundation or partly above ground as a stem wall, isolating an earth bag from the moist ground. Gabions are recommended to be used as foundations in such areas.
Natural rocks laid with no mortar
Recommen
dations
Issues
The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
1.5 m
depth can
stand for flood eroding action
Right: Labor build a retaining wall as a gabion technique http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahninkabul/605439171/
90 cm width
Walls
Background
St. Catherine is famous for its rounded stones that have been falling with the flash floods throughout the years. It is also rich in desert clay tafla that can be found in many valleys due to the floods. Stones and desert clay, material offered abundantly by nature, made the Jebaleyah tribe builders by instinct.
Although Bedouins started to build permanent houses only 18 years ago, old stone walls can be found in many places around St. Catherine as in Wadi Shreij, Wadi Gharba, Wadi Eslaf, and many other valleys. Walls were built using natural stones. Gates were characterized with big blocks at the bottom; stones keep decreasing until stone size reaches the smallest on higher levels in order to ease elevating stones to upper levels by work‐ers. Double‐stonewalls used to include some niches and wider slates to be used indoors as shelves dispersed randomly inside the room space according to need.
In some areas, where slates are available on site, buildings used flat slates in walls, as in Nawamees. In other areas, as in Wadi Feran, mud brick walls were built upon a considerable stone wall to be protected from possible erosion by the flood.
Dry stone walls are very popular and can be found
Walls
Above: Gra Sham’oon, Wadi Gharba. Right: 1– Big stones identifying doorways “Gra Sham'oon, Wadi Gharba 2– Gasr, a house built in a standing cave, freish Abu Elouan 3– Ancient house built only with dry slates, Nawamees
Left to right: 1‐Building with adobe on a stone wall ‐ Deir ElBanat, Wadi Feran 2‐ Mud Brick pro‐duction in Esba'eyah
14
surrounding gardens in both the high mountain region and in the lower valleys. Builders of St. Catherine are talented in teaching and this type of building.
Al‐Gassr is a room‐like space that is almost built naturally inside caves that have enough space for a human to step inside. Bedouins built small walls with a small door to complete caves into room‐like spaces and use them for storage or sleeping .
Nowadays, it is popular to construct walls using cement blocks cladded with natural stones. Clad‐ding with stones is enforced by law to protect the visual scene throughout the protectorate of St. Catherine. Using cement blocks, however, is environmentally damaging. Still, Bedouins prefer to use cement blocks despite its high price com‐pared to natural material, which is an unfortu‐nate condition.
Rammed Earth Walls versus Cement Blocks
Rammed earth is still unpopular and expensive due to the cost of building tools needed for it. If
those tools could be available (i.e. for rent), this technique would prove itself as the most logical
solution for its climatic performance, its faster production rate and for the fair face walls that it
offers. Local Bedouins do not find it difficult to use wooden formworks rather than metal ones,
although the latter is considered more durable. The CBC in Zaitouna stands as a successful exam‐
ple that was skillfully constructed and admired by the local Bedouins. 15
Walls
Above: 1‐ Tafla: desert clay that exists along Wadi Feran and Wadi So'aal in big quantities 2‐ Using tafla for adobe making
1– Adobe bricks are popular among St. Catherine’s build‐ers since desert clay exists abundantly along the valley. Hence, the Rammed Earth building technique would not be neither alien nor odd when introduced to Bedou‐ins. 2– Rammed Earth is biode‐gradable whereas cement blocks are not. Also, the climatic performance of cement blocks in terms of heat insulation is not as good as Rammed Earth. 3–Cement blocks do not seem in harmony with na‐ture as does Rammed Earth.
Bedouins prefer to use ready made cement blocks that are very expensive when compared to natural stones. They build inner walls with cement blocks, cladding facades with stones to follow the protectorate’s regulations of building. Bedou‐ins prefer cement blocks for two economic reasons: saving labor costs, as the rate of building production is higher in case of stone and saving in interior layers of plastering, as cement blocks create a better fair face when compared to natural rocks.
Above: Cement blocks wall
Above: Bedouins tamping layers of rammed earth
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Ramming: a pneumatic rammer would reduce cost and time, however, Bedouins interacted better to manual ones on‐site.
A Rammed Earth formwork is a system that adjusts wall width using shutters, vertical and horizontal posts all locked together with wedges to ensure the verticality of the wall.
Cigar Test: a perfect clay mixture would break when suspended in the air leaving a cigar‐like 8 to 15 cm piece. (Lab tests must be done be‐fore using the clay mix‐ture in building)
Mix of large and
Mixing Design: a well balanced mix‐ture of clay and sand is needed.
Vertical post
Yoke Wedge: a lock
Spreader: adjust shutter/wall width
Putlock
Side panel
Round wood or pipe handle 3.8cm
7.5 cm
7.5 cm
15 cm
30 cm tall hard wood
1/4’ thick steel plate
Bolts
Walls
Stone Walls
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Efficiency
Left: Ancient stone room in freish Abu Elouan Photo by: Zoltan Matrahazi
‐For better installation of doors and win‐dows within stone walls, it is preferable to insert pieces of wood fixed at 40cm intervals in the wall to receive con‐necting bolts.
Stone walls are the most traditional building walls in St. Catherine. Traditionally, they were built using pure clay mortar. Recently, cement mortar replaced the clay one, especially within locations that are relatively close to asphalt . Niches for interior usage tagat and inserted slate shelves draw a distinctive character for Bedouin buildings.
It is a common Catherinian practice to frame window openings using plastering mortar while it is not necessarily the best technique of installation. Using wood scraps along the head of the wall opening can be enough for fixing a wooden window, and could prove to be a better re‐placement. Using clay mortar instead of cement reduces cost, especially of one/two floor build‐ings, and offers better climatic performance.
‐ Bedouins put clay on site in three piles that would be enough for a few day’s work, pour water in the middle of one pile of clay that will be used the next day. At time of use, water content be‐comes a perfectly ready clay mortar.
‐ A stone wall section is recommended where stones extend to receive the door/window frame preventing the passage of air, dust and sound inside the space.
Above: Bedouin mixing clay piles, Esba’eyah
Above: Plastering window frames to cover up jointing problems
Lack of construction detail‐ing affects the architectural character of St. Catherine. For example, plastered frames of windows that are used to cover the connec‐tion between natural stone walls and wooden window frames. They can hardly meet properly if the re‐quired manufacturing tech‐niques were not applied. This in turn leads to fram‐ing all openings with plas‐tering layers that draw sharp squares along all building facades.
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Bolt Wooden scrap Door frame
Stone wall section de‐sign: the wooden frame is embedded and contained within the wall
Door frame
Stone wall Stone stepping
Door frame
Building with dry stones (without mor‐tar) is a well known technique that appeared in the historical construc‐tions of Nawamees, in domed tombs and in all garden fences in high and low valleys.
Garden fences are built mostly using the Dry Stone technique. Drainage tubes are inserted in the lower layers of the ground which act as a suitable outlet for excess flood water. Although Bedouins are familiar with the tech‐nique, some design consid‐erations that would enable them to build stronger walls, control their height and width are needed to ensure the longevity of the dry stone fences. Cap stones, for example, are missing from the top of most of the fences, which leads to their decay over‐time.
Dry Stone Walls, Fences and Dams
Walls
Left: Nawamees of Wadi Zeleka, a deteriorated domed roof shows the technique of stone‐laying Right: A plan and a section in one of the Nawa‐mees domed tombs
Above: Garden fence built in the flood way with dry stone, Zaitouna
‐ Wall height and section design can be controlled through a wooden guide (as shown beside). The difference in width ensures strength in high walls.
Dry Stone Wall technique has been widely used throughout St. Catherine and it represents the ideal way for building garden fences in the area. It is recommended to develop such building technique for a better design control. Economically, Dry Stone Wall technique involves easily accessible and simple tools rather than sophisticated technological equipments. The familiarity of Bedouin builders with this technique ensures that they could further excel in using it.
‐ Jointing stones con‐trol the solidity and cohesion of the dry stone wall.
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Aggregate filler stone
Corner stone
Tie stone
Joint
Good Joint
Joint
Bad Joint
Above: Using a batter frame and guidelines for better and higher dry stone walls‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
Complementing joints
Chunk stone Cap stones
Base stones Variety of shapes
Cast Earth walls depend mainly on Gypsum as a stabilizer. 1‐The largeest Gypsum industry resides in neighboring Abu Zneima, which ensures abundance of the material and the inexpensive cost of trans‐portation . 2‐ Gypsum has no reaction problems with Sulfate. Therefore it would be more appropriate than cement to use with St. Catherine’s desert clay. 3‐ The setting time of Gyp‐
sum with soil is too quick
for workers to build with,
causing trouble and some
problems for construction
workers.
Walls
Cast Earth Walls
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Most desert clay in St. Catherine and its surroundings contain Sulfate. It is rarely that you could find a site that has Sulfate‐free clay. It is for this reason that Gypsum could be recognized as a stabilizer that sub‐stitutes cement.
‐Cast Earth, as a building alternative, would be more appropriate if mixed with a retardant that would delay its setting time. ‐It is recommended that researchers work on finding a local organic retardant for
Cast Earth is an appropriate technique that yet needs development to become as popular as it should be among Bedouins. Local organic retardants and trained labor are needed. However, the technique offers itself as an environmental, aesthetical and economical building solution for St. Catherine.
‐Mixing Design: Soil 100, Gypsum 15, Water 20* (* According to the dryness of the soil) The amount of gypsum is determined by 15% of the weight of the soil. For practical reasons, this ratio in weight should be translated into volumes (per bucket) at the construc‐tion site. 15% of gypsum is the optimum amount consider‐ing the cost/benefit ratio.
Left: A Cast Earth wall built by Bedouin labor Zaitouna, St. Catherine
this technique to be further developed. ‐ Without a retardant added to the mixture, the building process has to be very quick and organized in order to overcome the rapid setting time.
‐In the cast earth mixture,
2% of lime can be added to
delay setting time of gyp‐
sum for 20 minutes.
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100% soil 15% Gypsum
Water to be added according to the dryness of the soil
Land in St. Catherine is rich in small size stones (15‐20 cm) that can be found everywhere in the sur‐roundings. However, this valuable resource goes unseen and people of those sites tend to buy either cement blocks or largee stones for building. Building resources are wasted in return for an expensive and inefficient solutions.
‐Bedouins do not use small size stones in building, making them a wasted resource. ‐ Lack of knowledge with building techniques makes it possible for such a waste to occur. ‐ Since Bedouins are used to build with blocks, they participated actively in a training that was held on the Stone Concrete Blocks technique.
Stone Concrete Blocks
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Walls
‐ Mixing Design: 2‐3 stones (15‐20cm) are put at the side of the shutters. A mixture of 1 cement : 5 sand : 8 bathaa’ (mixed gravel) is poured and shuffled inside. Each two stones should be mini‐mum 2cm apart for the mixture to sink between them. Shutters could be disassembled after 20 minutes (according to the weather). ‐ A lime‐concrete mixture could also be used,
producing lighter blocks and better thermal
performance. However, it takes more time to be
disassembled since setting time increases with
Stone Concrete Blocks can offer entrepreneurial projects for Bedouin suppliers and producers. They are easy to build with and can save time. Economically, it saves plastering costs since it produces a finished interior (fair face) wall. Aesthetically, it produces harmonious ready‐cladded stone facades that also comply with St. Catherine protectorate’s building regulations.
Stone concrete blocks are formed in
moulds (as shown above) and are easy
to produce on‐site. Mixture contains; 2
buckets of lime, one bucket of cement,
and 9 buckets of sand/gravel mixture
Above: Wooden mould dimensions
Left: A Stone Concrete Blocks wall built in Zaitouna, St. Catherine by Bedouin trainees
Above: 1– Bedouins disassembling mould after the blocks have dried 2– A ready‐cladded stone block
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Roofing
Background
Roofing systems play an important role in formu‐lating the character of a building. Recently, local Bedouin houses in St. Catherine have been charac‐terized by slightly‐pitched roofs. Other buildings, mostly owned by the monastery, are built with sloped pitched roofs using bigger timber logs. Although botanic coverage is very limited in South Sinai, timber logs and wooden roofs are very popular and economic despite the fact that Egypt does not produce sufficient wood. Wooden beams with reeds’ decking are more economic than that with timber decking.
Some palm trunk beams can be delivered from Wadi Feran and from the Nile Valley. If covered by reed decking, this becomes the most economic technique that is, as well, most appropriate ecol‐ogically. Rising costs of steel and cement made concrete roofing unfeasible, especially for one floor build‐ings. Environmental performance of wood roofing is much better than concrete roofing in both hot sunny summers and in cold rainy winters. Local Bedouins have come to realize this for themselves. Concrete roofs can be found in the region, how‐
Roofing
Left: Local Gazwareen can be used as secon‐dary beams Right: Old buildings in Wadi Feran using bigger sloped timber logs
Right: Pitched roofs used in old build‐ings along Wadi Feran Left: Vaults in Al‐Melgah training centre by arch. Wael Sabry
Above: The small Areesha in El‐Karm ecolodge, made with palm trunks and reed decking
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ever, as in any other part of the world, despite all those mentioned facts.
For semi open areas, like Areeshas, reeds offer the best environmental performance as a breath‐ing ceiling especially in summer time. Historically, domed structures, which are locally known as Nawamees, were found in many ar‐cheological sites. Nawamees are mostly found in places that contain slates, and it seems that ancients used natural sand as formwork to build such kind of dry slate domes. Local Bedouins use plastic sheets as a layer in roofing for water insulation, and desert clay mixed with Qaysoom (a type of natural desert shrub) on the topmost roofing layer for both heat and rain insulation. When rain falls on the top‐most layer, tafla swells and its pores close form‐ing a hard crust that makes rainwater slide off the roof .
Roofin
g
A semi‐private/semi‐public shelter that is used for social gatherings. It is mainly built using palm trunks as main beams and palm reeds for decking. Local wood, (Gazwareen) is sometimes used as secondary beams.
Areesha: A Breathing Shed
‐Building the Areesha with
complete natural materials
(as shown) is recommended.
Recently, Bedouins have
started building Areeshas
with blocks turning it to
some sort of urban balcony,
which is a step backward.
21
Joint making using metal rings fixed in pillars attach‐ing the beams using nails does not ensure reliable construction. Duff and tail joints are essential to maintain a reliable structure against wind forces.
Educating Palm trunks (as shown beside) and cutting beams are easy to be done on‐site; duffs and tails do not need high‐tech equipment. Preparation of rough wood and reeds is a local knowledge and can encourage young teen on group work, which is useful for local communities.
Right: The restaurant of Mount Sina Eco‐lodge, while under construc‐tion, is an example of a typical Areesha
Below: Joint making using a me‐dium metal ring while constructing Mount Sina Ecolodge
Above: Preparing of palm reed deck‐ing sheets in group work, Esba’eyah
Areesha, El‐Karm ecolodge, St. Cath‐
‐ Palm fronds can be used as well as reeds. They are both tied together in the same manner (as shown above). They both convey the same effect of a breathing shed. However reeds are better in thermal insulation since they are hollow from inside. ‐ Areesha has a great cli‐
matic performance. In sum‐
mer, it draws out hot air
through its slits and replaces
it with the dry cool breeze
that prevails in the shade.
Above: Palm fronds tied together leaving natural slits of openings in the Areesha
‐ When using Palm‐trunk columns and Gazwareen as beams,
it is recommended that columns are cut at the top in order
to create a connection containing the beam tightly.
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Good Joint Bad Joint
Roofing
It is easy to adjust the lev‐eling of wooden beams if they are laid on a concrete bond beam built upon the last rock course. Traditionally, rock‐wooden constructions were achieved by laying wooden beams directly on the top of rock walls. A slightly sloped roof cov‐ered with clay over which water can slide to reach canals is the common roof‐ing system that needs to be slightly modified for a bet‐ter performance of water insulation.
Palm Trunk Roofing with Reed Decking
It is very important to care about details for a better roofing system, which in turn improves environmental performance. Using small black stones on the top of the roof can help ab‐sorb more sun in winter. It is thus clear that all recommenda‐tions focus on the know‐how rather than on including sophisti‐cated techniques or strange building materials.
Left: Pine wood was used before in roofing as some pine trees can be found in some valleys Right: Palm trunks are used until now as main beams. They can be brought from the Nile Valley
5
1 2
4 3
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Above: Pine wood was often used before in roofing
Section
Above: Bedouin spreading clay over insulation layers
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There are many types of roofing (as shown above), how‐ever our recommended type is the 5th which is illustrated below.
Roofing section: ‐ Reed decking is thermally very efficient because it is hollow inside. A layer of reed skin is preferred to lie between the reed decking and the insulation mem‐brane sheets to fill the small tight spaces between reeds that are seen from below. The wood/reed/skin combination is very effi‐cient, economic and eco‐friendly. ‐ The first layer of mem‐brane sheets (Bitumen) is spread to protect the reed from being burnt with the fire needed for installation of the second layer of insu‐lation. Nails are not recom‐mended, because they of‐ten cause holes that water could pass through. ‐ A layer of previously wa‐tered clay is spread at the top to direct the water out of gutters that compliment the roof slope.
Open
ings
Openings
Left: Old wooden window installed in a stone/clay wall Right: Small tradi‐tional windows that are distributed ran‐domly to catch wind in summer preventing sun rays, El‐Karm ecolodge
Left: Recent trials of characteristic door ex‐pression, visitor center Right: An old door ex‐pression, Gra ElSafha, Wadi Gharba
Above: An initiation from the project to start using decorated brass and copper that use local motifs in the decoration of doors in order to revitalize the disappear‐ing metal craft. Such decoration offers liveliness that existed in the traditional Beit Shaa’r.
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Background
Openings represent the most significant feature that defines the building character and distin‐guishes one building type from another.
In historic sites of St. Catherine, doors conveyed a stronger statement than windows. Door openings had no evidence of having wooden doors in most of the known historical sites. Doors were just marked by a big opening with a huge stone for a lintel and that leads to inner shelters.
The reason why doorways are identified using big stones from both sides goes beyond the common structural need for a visual one. The variety of door statements is endless and depends on the available suitable big stones that can bring reason‐able heights (most of them are lower than com‐mon door heights: 1.2 to 1.6 m) Traditionally, small random north openings, that can be covered by a small piece of cloth in winter time, is a very common feature that is appropriate with the scarcity of building materials (glass and wood). Another opening can often be found on the opposite side for better cross ventilation. The doorway can be used as a big window. There‐fore, doorways are mostly directed to the south to
bring sun inside during cold winter mornings. Some recent buildings expressed a very similar vocabulary for doors and windows as that which appears in AlKarm ecolodge and the protector‐ate’s visitor center. Common recessed windows that draw St. Cath‐erine’s built scenery no longer expresses an authentic character or culture. The only practical value included is how a window can be contained inside a wall (half of the window shutter dimen‐sion equals wall thickness) so that window shut‐ters can be well protected inside the wall body.
Open
ings
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Window ratios tend to form a square, with the width measuring double the wall thick‐ness, thus containing the outer window leaves when fully open. The window recess provides protection against weather, as well as adequate shading. Window shapes and surfaces are rarely distinguished since they are standardized and mass produced.
1‐ Privacy: the design of openings should balance the need between ade‐quate lighting and air ad‐mission, on one hand, and the residents’ need for pri‐vacy on the other.
2‐ Expression of character: a woman’s role in shaping the family dwelling was evident in the elements of the tradi‐tional Beit Shaa'r. Today, women's active participa‐tion in home building needs to be re‐emphasized to bring back the qualities inherent in their valuable past contribution.
3– Function: openings are required to insulate, keep out cold/wind and let warm sun rays in during winter time, provide shade and let the cool breeze in during summer time.
Adaptive Reuse for Goat Hair Shaa’r
‐ A frame holding goat hair (Shaa'r) with 2 hinged verti‐cal panes instead of the louvered window sash which swings horizontally, where Shaa'r provides ade‐quate shading in summer and would act as a heat absorber in winter. Shaa'r also closes its pores when rain falls on it, thereby hold‐ing off water.
‐ Another alternative for win‐dow design that ensures pri‐vacy, absorbs winter sun, and encourages summer breeze is developed using an interior goat hair curtain that can be used in different seasons. (See details in systems) ‐ For better heat insulation and sealed leaves, it is recom‐mended to use woolen cloth that women weave as handi‐crafts around main glass leaves.
Above: Curtain of Shaa’r in summer
Above: Curtain of Shaa’r in winter
Glass frames emit light, and wire meshes ward off flies and mosquitoes. An outer double section with vertically swinging Shaa'r weaving blocks excessive solar radiation providing adequate shad‐ing while admitting ambient light. Revitalizing the local Shaa'r production to be used in today's building activities can trigger more ideas which in turn can draw a unique character for the archi‐tecture of St. Catherine.
Right: Window sizes and proportions in St. Catherine
Right: A trial made by B e d o u i n hands to use S h a a ’ r instead of w i n d o w leaves
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Higher shutters to be opened in summer
Above: The Bedouin Trombe Wall
Curtain holders can be located in different positions
The small openings that appear are very common. They collect summer vents at lower levels so as to affect lower places used for sitting/sleeping activities. In winter, they usually close them with handy pieces of cloth. These small openings represent a sig‐nificant feature of the Catherinian openings.
Random Northern Windows
Open
ings
Above: interior walls of a restaurant, Al‐Karm ecolodge
Above: Using hollow blocks in creat‐ing small openings, Wadi Feran
25
Right: Window sizes and proportions in St. Catherine
Above: Random openings (tagat) at Centre of Building Crafts
Section
The Amreyah (colored round glass that cover dome openings) could be a very successful substi‐tute to the plain cloth that Bedouins use to shut their openings in winter a pattern that is dy‐namic and inherent in Catherinian architecture. It could also achieve aesthetic value that adds to the character of openings through the variety of color.
Above: Tagat are also used as extra shelves. The photos show recent (left) and old (right) examples
‐ Forming random holes into a Rammed Earth/Cast Earth wall can be done using strong plastic pipes with proper dimen‐sions inserted within the wall shutters. ‐ The Amreyah (colored round glasses that cover dome openings) are available in the Egyptian market and are not ex‐pensive. ‐ The random openings are usually ori‐ented towards the North to allow cross‐ventilation. Solid walls are not recom‐mended as they oppose the breathing effect that Bedouins have become used to create in their dwellings.
Above: proposed way to create tagat in rammed earth walls
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In Al‐Karm ecolodge, built by the protectorate of St. Catherine, the same open‐ing vocabulary is used in the main restaurant. Bedouins come up with new ideas like using decorated hollow blocks for the same reason. This pattern needs to com‐ply with other techniques like building with rammed earth.
Aluminum fixtures embedded in Rammed Earth while extended with a length that is almost as much as the embedded part
Glass cast cover, Amreyah, used in old Islamic domes to allow better lighting
R a mm e d Earth 0.4m thick
R o c k foundation
Background Passive systems for heating and cooling like using fire work for heating at night; using woolen rags as partitions that protect from cold wind in winter and can easily be moved up to give a good ventila‐tion in summer, and using a wet cloth to cover bottles during the night to keep bottled water cool the whole day after, All were built in house using available resources and local craftsmanship and techniques that are inherited and developed lo‐cally. New building techniques lacks similar quali‐ties and depend mostly on non‐renewable ener‐gies for that reason that need serious develop‐ment. Renewable energies available in Saint Catherine are represented in solar energy and wind can be widely used to develop passive heating and cool‐ing systems in still houses and the challenge is how to use these energies while high technologi‐cal solutions are not handy or economic for the local community such like using solar cells or solar heaters. Waste recycling mechanisms need further devel‐opment as the protectorate of Saint Catherine helped to develop awareness among local Bedou‐ins about dry toilets that were installed in Mount Sinai along the main trek up to the summit. Local Bedouins developed later an economic local tech‐nique that is based on the same concept. How‐ever, recycling the grey water still need further
development as they normally use grey water in plantation without treatment. Deep wells used to be the main water source that Local Bedouins seek to stay closer to. How‐ever, built water tanks that can be filled by trucks paved the way for local Bedouins to settle in one place and not to move searching for water.
Systems
Left: A complex of two dry toilets and four showers in addition to few sinks was de‐signed by the project for Mount Sina eco‐lodge using local tech‐niques for eco‐sanitation. Grey water is to be treated by a con‐structed wetland. Solar heaters were not used by locals as they preferred to use a gas water heater instead.
Right: The knowhow behind constructing a tent structure that successfully uses eco‐logical systems needs to be encouraged in new develop‐ment strategies. First two photos show Gemee’ Farag while constructing a small tent at his house, the last one is at Morgen Land hotel.
Above: Using simple solar cell lamps in eco‐lodges that can be fixed easily without any infrastructure is very practical and economic although it is not locally industrialized.
Systems
Above: water tanks when designed on a round form become more resisting to water force action. The above photo was a water tank designed to contain 3 cubic meter in a shape of a drop of water for Mount Sina eco‐lodge
26
When following the traces of Bedouin tents Beit Sha’ar, there is always a round space called Ma‐ga’ad which is a gathering space around the fire. Recently, Bedouins prefer to sit in a circle with a source of wood fire in the middle for heating/cooking purposes.
Nowadays when it is ex‐tremely cold in winter, Bedouins sit indoors and use the traditional heating pattern, firewood, public areas, such as cafes and restaurants. They still need to find a way to get rid of the fumes and to find oxy‐gen for the wood to stay burning.
An Interior Maga’ad (Fire Circle)
Although this solution appeared so familiar for local Bedouin; they still need further training for building arches and domes as this building culture is not embedded and one have to get exten‐sive training to acquire the skill needed to construct such a chimney.
Systems
Above: similar local solution at one of the Bedouin houses in Abu Seila
The project team designed an intermediate column that is hollow and supported around the fire place to function as a structural pillar for the roofing system and to act as a chimney at the same time. For keeping the fire burning indoors a ground tube underneath the seating area was designed to bring fresh air directly from outside to the fire place. This will keep an adequate supply of oxygen inside the room.
Left: The design of the hollow column gives a clear height for 1.2 m for the fire place to ease using it and to ensure better communication among sitters. Right above: The Chim‐ney while being used by local Bedouins Right : The column chim‐ney that was firstly con‐structed in Mount Sina eco‐lodge
120 cm
North
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Above: Sheikh Moussa Abul‐Heim and Haj Mahmoud Mansour sitting around the fire in a Bedouin tent at the Bedouin Camp.
The Trombe wall system: creating different air pressures that motivate passive heating in winter and passive cooling in summer. This system depends on collecting solar heat inside a cavity of a double wall. This double wall has a glass sheet from outside that can be opened from the top, and a black painted thin wall from inside. The glass can be opened from the top and the black wall has two openings: one on the top and the other is at the bottom. In the wintertime the glass is closed so that the cavity collects solar heat which can be transmitted inside the room by the act of the two openings in the black wall. In summer, the glass is opened from the top and the top opening in the wall is closed. When another window at the opposite side of the room is opened, air ventilation is triggered to enter the room.
The black thick wall does not look nice from outside and does not develop a Bedouin character. More‐over, utilizing goat hair decorated weavings in the contemporary building production will probably preserve this local craft on the one hand while making the space feel more Bed‐ouin, on the other hand.
The Bedouin Trombe Wall as a Passive Heat‐ing /Cooling Device
This system still needs to be experimented and developed. It formulates one of the main archi‐tectural features. Furthermore, it can preserve the craft of goat hair weaving and encourage women to go on contributing to their built environment as they have always done. The entire system can easily be produced locally and can create job opportunities for local craftsmen .
Systems
Above: The act of the Trombe wall in winter, followed by its act in summer time
Above: A plan for a hosting room shows the Trombe wall directed to south
Above: Section X‐X that shows the Trombe wall directed to the south and the northern window on the other side directed to a good view
North
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Rod Handles
Sha’ar ( decorated black goat‐hair curtain)
Window frame
Stone Wall
Air m
ovemen
t in winter
while glass is closed
Hot air by sun
Glass
In winter
Painted black
Air m
ovemen
t
In Summer
Air m
ovemen
t
The city infrastructure for sewage system collects all to the main station 10 km away from the city to be treated by sedimentation, aeration, and sterilization until they get pure water is obtained to be reused in the plantation of wood‐trees farm of “Kafour”. The traditional septic tanks affected many water wells that has been tested and considered unsuitable for human use. It is essential to replace these types of sewage with another that can protect the under‐ground water reservoir. Dry toilets have been used in some houses in remote valleys and was replaced by the city system when the service became avail‐able.
Waste Recycling
Systems
A
B
For the mountainous topographical na‐ture of Saint Catherine, some buildings (A) may lie on a higher level than the sewage manholes related to city infra‐structure. Others (B) which lie on lower levels used to construct traditional local septic tanks. Only (A)can benefit from the city infrastructure.
Above: Treatment of sewage water after sedimentation in septic tanks: Aeration in a pool with fans at the main station of the city.
Left: An old dry toilet in Abu‐Sila that has been replaced to use the city system when the service reached the area Right: New dry toilet built by local Bedouins is suitable for type B and for high mountain region.
Pipe can be installed sloping down
manhole
Higher tank for solids
Lower tank
Aeration pipe
2‐ Dry toilet separates solid waste in a higher tank whose sloped floor collects liquid in a lower tank can be checked by an outlet. Aeration pipe and windows keep toilets free of unpleasant smell. Using limited water for washing is not harm‐ful in this system. Local labors can construct this type inde‐pendently.
planting flowers or animal food. The wet land is water insulated by a membrane sheet which is laid on a geo‐membrane sheet to be pro‐tected from any acute layer that might damage it. Layers should be engineered accord‐ing to number of families us‐ing it. The subsurface gravel wetland water quality treat‐ment and water quantity con‐trol capacity in all seasons, reinforces the conclusion that filtration systems such as these perform well, even in cold climates.
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1‐ Grey water can be col‐lected to a constructed wet‐land with the above layer, as to pass through reed to be partially purified. Then it passes through a fine sand layer to be filtered, and fi‐nally it passes through the last layer of a coarse sand to be collected and reused for
Waterproof membrane protected from sun. Use EPDM membrane or construct wetland from cement. Unlined wetlands ok in appropriate soil (low perk) and ground‐water conditions (adequate separation).
Raw grey water or clarified‐septic effluent in
Water level 10cm below surface of gravel, 30 – 75cm deep depending on plant root depth: 30cm for cattails, 60 cm for reeds, 75cm for bulrushes
Infiltrator 60—90 cm wide half—pipe or half—drum covered with 3.8 cm rock, across width of wetland width = half of length
Level control: Pulling plug once a month lowers water level, aerates, and establishes roots in lower part of system
Aquatic plants of locally appropriate species
Background Gardens of nutritious vegetables and fruits are spread along the different valleys of Saint Cath‐erine. They are placed where they can benefit from the flow of rain. These gardens still need wiser strategies to develop agro‐tourism facilities that can help garden owners to start receiving guests within a comprehensive institutional sys‐tem. Olive, almond, pomegranate, pear, apple, fig, and grapes are very famous in Saint Catherine, El‐Tarfa, and El‐Sedr can be found in Wadi Feran. Wood trees, pine can be found rarely in addition to palm trees . Building dames for retaining rain water in some areas started to take place. Such practice needs further support to maintain the productive gar‐dening in the high mountain region, even when it is dry, to keep gardening as a main character of the region. El‐gasser is a small room that takes natural bigger boulders as side walls and ceiling with the mini‐mal wall construction effort. It can be used for storage or sometimes for sleeping . Construction beside the edge of the mountain in the lower valleys has to be sensitive to the inter‐section points. There is no need for a handrail most of the time and walls must intersect smoothly for a better scenery.
Pavements can be framed by stones and be filled with Bathaa’ (coarse sand) that are available in nature. All signs of the area can use carved sand stones that can be found row in Wadi Soa’al; local labors cleverly produce these kinds of signs.
Landscape
30
Above: Almond flowers appear end of February and sometimes last until end of March .
Left: Olive trees are fa‐mous in Saint Catherine. Right: Different dams built in the high mountain region to save raining water before slidding along the valley to a lower one. (photos by: Zoltan Matra‐hazi)
Left: Natural composition of water pools in Wadi Jebal HMR. People use the upper pool, animals use the lower. Right: Stairs can vanish wih mountain edges with no need to a hand rail. Also natural herbs can make a spontaneous landscaping.
Above: El‐gasser in Freish Abu‐Elwan in a basin that is close to the city. This is built by natural rocks and clay mortar using largeer stones as a door lintel.
Landscaping
Botanic coverage in Saint Cath‐erine is so limited for scarcity of water. Locals purchase their wa‐ter need and use it to plant few plants in their courtyards that includes flower and animal food.
Waste water is not effi‐ciently utilized in planta‐tion despite the fact that local Bedouins are very careful when consuming water. The grey water can be puri‐fied by a constructed wet‐land in which reeds can be developed to be used in roofing, and extra water can water flowers and irrigate animal food. Purifying grey water to irrigate crops for human being is a complicated process that can not take place in house.
Ecologically Responsible Landscape Practices
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Landscap
ing
Left: The village of Saint Catherine from El‐Nagb way to Wadi El‐Tala’a
Above: A constructed wetland in the centre of building crafts as a first of it’s kind in Saint Catherine
Left: Set El‐Hosn; a climber plant that produces lots of nice green and purple flowers can be irrigated by recycled water. Right: another flower grows in the area can be irrigated by recycled water.
Recommen
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The Nam
e of the pattern
Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Root crown Planted high so graft union is well above soil after
settling. Thin or zero mulch around root crown to keep it well ventilated and drained, reducing disease.
Dirt from basin forms walls
Basin and walls The deeper the basin the better.
Compost Compost, manure, or fertilizer under mulch prevents mulch from robbing nutrients from the soil.
Original grade
Planting hole Excavated and backfilled with soil/compost mix for fruit trees, plain native soil.
Mulch Clipping, wood chips, leaves,
Basin width = several times diameter of drip line
25‐45 cm
Drip line Root extent
Dry laid rock wall In crescent or full terrace from retains soil, water, mulch, and fertilizer on steep slopes. Footing must extend into undisturbed soil, further for a taller wall. Mortaring rocks with clay/compost mix will bind them in living mortar over them.
Cut on uphill side Fill on downhill side
Background No paintings decorate a Bedouin tent Beit Sha’ar; either outdoor or indoor. However, one important feature of decoration is the colorful in‐house handmade weavings Floors are covered with small pebbles not light enough to be easily blown by wind, nor are they so big to hurt a person sitting on them: grains are around 5mm in size and are locally known as Bathaa’. Colorful rags that can be moved from one place to another are easily stored in one corner to be used as seats or bed sheets when needed. Gates are marked and decorated with colorful weavings as the gates of all other Bedouins around the world. In recent construction, finishing is very low in quality, taste, and does not contain any of the features they used to have previously. However, this sector (finishing) can be developed to include women’s decorative capabilities into the new architecture production. Decoration can reflect a strong building character when overseen by an institutional capacity. Plastering with cement mortar, and painting with plastic colors are famous trends nowadays. The worst kind of colors are available at the market and no local labor can do either plastering or painting. Labor comes from the Nile Valley to help in this trade.
Using lime as an alternative building material for plastering and painting is essential to reduce using cement and for a better eco‐logical per‐formance for local construction. The Centre of Building Crafts in Abu‐Zatouna used lime plastering and was appreciated by locals and performed competitively with cement plastering since it saves all the painting process. Local rocks have a variety of colors that can be used for certain effects such as the effect of the dikes in a mountain. Such colors were introduced in the visitor centre related to St. Catherine protectorate. Tiling with natural stones is famous and local labor is well trained to do such a building tech‐nique. However, no any other alternative is avail‐able on hand except terrazzo tiles and ceramics in a low quality. Ibex horn is one of the symbols that local Bedou‐ins admire and believe it take out bad spirits . This feature can be developed to become a fea‐ture at each gate. Engaging local women in the finishing process can bring back many of the features that disap‐peared in the new building trades like; painting, door decoration, and curtain production.
Finishing
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Finishing
Left: weaving rags with colorful local motives Right: Decoration of Bedouin tents in one of the touristic places.
Left: decorated doors in FanSina Right: Ibex horn as good symbol
Above: Natural rock that shows the variety of colors
Cement plastering and plastic paintings dominates the interiors finishing in Saint Catherine. Most of the time they do not paint the cement plastering and treat it as a finish‐ing surface in grey color for economic rea‐sons.
Lime plastering and Lime wash
In case of rough surfaces of Catherine stone walls, multi layers are recommended: first layer is plaster base 1 lime: 1 cement: 3 to 4 parts sand, second layer is plaster finish 1.5 lime: 3 sand: up to 5% of white cement is added to the coarse stuff to quicken the setting. Mortar is mixed first dry and then with suffi‐cient water to make a stiff mix. For smooth surface of rammed earth walls, only plaster finish layer is applied with the same previous mix while 0.4 kg “Ad bond 65” for each 5sqm is added to im‐prove the bond to rammed earth surface. Therefore, rammed earth has advantage on Catherine Stone in cost reduction due to the elimination of the plaster base layer. Colored lime‐wash can be applied as a paint.
Twelve local Bedouins were trained on Lime wash. During the workshop they could do all paint‐ings of the training center of Sheikh Sina in Melgah. The Centre of Building Crafts (CBC) was plas‐tered with lime plastering for interiors and part of the exterior too.
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Finish
ing
Right: The Centre of Building Crafts (CBC) is partially plastered with lime
Rough wall
Plaster base
Plaster finish
Lime wash
Plaster finish
Smooth wall
In case of Rough
Stone Walls
In case of Sm
ooth
Ram
med
Earth W
alls
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The Nam
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Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Lime plastering is natural and healthier when done according to codes, techniques , and craftsmanship norms. It allows walls to 'breathe'. Lime as a binder has low environmental impact due to its complete lifecycle. Lime plaster does not need painting as desired natural pigment can be added to its final layer. Therefore, it be‐comes more durable (more integrated thus permanent color), and economic (eliminating painting cost item).
The lime‐wash effect (visual appearance) is determined by the water to lime volume ratio, and can be divided into four distinct types. Each type corre‐sponds to a unique recipe: Liming Coat: a thicker applica‐tion with a more opaque look (1:1), Wash: partially trans‐parent, but with a strong col‐oring (1:2‐3), Tempera: me‐dium‐transparent, with the surface effect of tempera paint (1:4‐6), Patina: strongly transparent with an aged look (1:10‐20) Additives are used with lime‐wash to enhance its adhesion to the support surface; lin‐seed oil, casein or methyl cellulose, PVA, (polyvinyl ace‐tate).
Application and Curing Process
Plaster Preparation
Calcium Hydroxide Hydrated Lime
Maturing
Lime Slaking
Quick Lime Calcium Oxide
Plaster Carbonation
Calcium Carbonate Limestone
Grinding and fining
The ground should be fairly level, smooth, com‐pacted and at least 15cm below the planned fin‐ished height.
The first layer of floor base is now applied about 5cm thick and wetted and compacted by plate compactor or manual tamper.
Another layer just like the other follows again and again until we are about 2.5cm from our finish height knowing that compaction ratio is around 1.5:1.
Screen out the largee aggregate from the base. Using 3/8" hardware mesh, this is layered on and leveled off using screed boards much like concrete workers use. By dragging our screed across two level boards set at finish height, we knock down the high spots and fill in the low spots. This proc‐ess can also be applied to each layer of base thereby controlling the level layer by layer.
For the top coat we screen the 3/8" material again, this time using 1/8" hardware cloth. This fine mixture can be applied dry and wetted like all the preceding layers or mixed wet and toweled on.
We seal our floor only after it is thoroughly dry. The best sealer is boiled linseed oil, thinned with turpentine and brushed on in several coats. (The odor dissipates in a week or two.)
Finishing
Traditionally flooring with natural irregular rocks is very common. Bedouins do not use this technique any longer as it is expensive in terms of materials and labor cost when com‐pared to ceramics and/or terrazzo tiles.
Another earthen building technique needs to be developed in order to re‐place the extensive use of ceramics and/or terrazzo tiles. The reason behind this is the poor environ‐mental performance for the two types of tiling . Earth flooring represents a good alternative since clay is available, but is not yet tested in the Saint Cath‐erine context.
Earth Flooring versus Stone Flooring
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Traditional/ Conventional Building Values
Efficien
cy
Any Bedouin can make his own floor with a little training, practice, and experimentation. One of the keys to a good earthen floor is the proper mixture of dirt, clay, and straw. (Stabilizers such as starch paste, casein, glue, or Portland cement can be added for a harder floor.) Earthen floors are usually sealed with any oxidizing oil such as linseed oil.
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Finishing Level
Compacted soil 15cm below fin‐ishing level
1
2 layers compacted good aggregated soil mix
Leveling layer
Leveling wooden frame
hand‐troweled top coat from fine earth
2
3
4
Above: Filling joints with mortar after a complete laying of irregular natural rocks
Above: using natural irregular rocks in flooring as a traditional building technique in the Centre of Building Crafts (CBC).
The local motifs and pat‐terns are very unique in St. Catherine and can stimu‐late many ideas when talk‐ing about decorations. They have been used spon‐taneously before when inhibiting the Bedouin tent “Beit Sha’ar”. Active measures should be taken to encourage the incorporation and applica‐tion of these patterns in the building industry. This in turn will revitalize an authentic Bedouin charac‐ter that still exists for other reasons than build‐ing. Some initiatives capitalizing on local talents and capaci‐ties, took place to encour‐age such patterns. The result was that a special architectural character was stressed/highlighted. On this page, some exam‐ples that can stimulate other ideas are docu‐mented. The aim is to in‐troduce similar use of mo‐tifs into the building cul‐
Bedouin Decorations
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Efficien
cy
1‐ Using local handicrafts of weaving with wool and hair of animals is to be utilized as curtains for Trombe walls. It can give a local taste in addi‐tion to good quality of pri‐vacy needed by local inhabi‐tants. Patterns and motifs can also be used as shown in the photo below. Different motifs can be created by local women as to give a better design.
2‐ Using different colors of metal sheets such as copper and brass to decorate using the same technique as in women jewelries. Such decorations also can be used with some wood carv‐ing to be embedded to gen‐erate better designs. The decorations immediately reflect a unique Bedouin character can be used in furniture industries as well.
3‐ Traditional local motifs and patterns can be easily intro‐duced through stencil decora‐tions for wall paintings. Women can create many pat‐terns appropriate for this tech‐nique. Stencil decorations can be done by cutting the motif on a plastic sheet elastic enough to be moved from one part to another, then are painted with another color different from the base color.
All techniques are local based, using local craftsmanship and patterns in addition to local decora‐tive talents that are unique and that emerge from the very special nature of place. All proposed techniques aim at utilizing these resources in current building industries. The stencil technique was used twice successfully during two different workshops. The door decoration was also made by local labor. Curtains can be easily woven but still need some elaboration.
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Finish
ing
Above: Decorated painted door made by local craftsmanship
Above: Decorated painted wall by local women’s motif during a training work‐shop on stencil technique.
Left: Decorated metal sheets with beads, a unique craft for necklaces Right: A unique bag reveals a variety of local patterns
Above: Decorated weaving woolen curtain still needs to be developed by local labors
Ap
pro
pri
ate
Bu
ildin
g P
att
ern
s fo
r Sa
int
Ca
ther
ine
– E
gyp
t Egyptian
Earth Construction Association
June 2010
4 Abu Hureiba Street, Historic Cairo, Egypt
Tel: 002 02 25123685 10 Darb El‐Labbana, Citadel Square,
Cairo, Egypt Tel: 002 02 25124765
Abu Zatouna, Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Egypt
Tel: 002 069 3470 500
Printed by: Al‐Farouk Print House
Tel: 002 010 5015015
Recommended