The essence of an architectural intervention is the reconciliation of the joint between the old and the new, the historic, and the present. / Master of Architecture

Master of Science / Architecture / Gary J. Coates / Sustainability is essential for survival on this planet but only focusing on the green aspects is not a comprehensive solution. The idea of Deep Beauty provides a more thorough and complete framework that is the answer to the sustainability problem of today. This framework is comprised of three levels: functional, typological and archetypal. These three levels combined, look at a building in terms of its functionality, its relevance to its region and the universal beauty that it must possess to exist long term. The union of aesthetics with function is what can save the planet. For this research, the focus of study is the traditional residential architecture of the city of Lahore, Pakistan, a city with a rich cultural background. Throughout history, Lahore has seen many transformations with respect to its architecture. Its architectural history can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization in the 3rd millennium BC, to a predominance of Buddhism, to a prevalence of Hinduism transformed further by the advent of Islam, the arrival of the British and the founding of the independent state of Pakistan. Currently, the housing trends are continuing to become more and more westernized in a pattern that is not fit for the region because of their inability to provide comfortable living environments and life-enriching spaces. In order to provide better housing solutions for the future, it is important that we look back at examples that have passed the test of time. This report discusses the present day and traditional housing trends of Lahore. With the purpose of improving the current residential designs, an analysis of a traditional house of Lahore has been performed to learn how it meets the criteria of Deep Beauty and sustainability. The results from this analysis provide design strategies that can be incorporated into present day houses to achieve sustainability. Based on these conclusions, a more sustainable design has been proposed for the modern house.

This thesis introduces the traditional dwellings in Karacasu within the context of traditional residential architecture in Anatolia / and investigates their architectural and social characteristics. Karacasu is selected as a case-study for its preserved vernacular architecture, which dates back to the end of the 18th century and the 19th century. The architectural and social investigation of the traditional dwellings of Karacasu is based on studying the dwellings as residential and social unit. The spatial and social characteristics of the individual cases that are chosen from the historical domestic context of Karacasu are defined and discussed in reference to the existing conditions and also the changes and alterations that took place according to the functional necessities. These dwellings had social, functional and spatial changes as a result of the changing conditions and the requirements of modern life.

Traditional Balinese architecture is commonly related to culture and traditional reasoning. When subjected to several modem problems such as energy demand, pollution, and impact of urbanisation and tourism, traditional architecture becomes less attractive since the definitions behind traditional reasoning are not clear and can be interpreted in different ways. To understand this feature, the study of traditional Balinese architecture starts by using several key parameters such as wind engineering and heat transfer, as presented and used in several countries. The flow patterns around a cubic building have been studied by many researchers. The velocity profile at the model position and the local surface roughness are specific to each building model and cannot be estimated from general tests of a standard building shape, therefore specific velocity profiles and conditions are used in this particular study. The air flow around a cluster of traditional Balinese buildings is extremely complicated and difficult to determine by modelling an isolated building (via symmetric conditions) since the buildings are linked to each other. Full scale models of traditional buildings have been investigated by using CFD to predict the above aspects. Simulations using this method can be done more quickly and less expensively than with wind tunnel experiments, and are capable of delivering more detailed and comprehensive information about the flow structure. Two-dimensional models of traditional Balinese building arrangements are simulated by using a commercial code Fidap based on the finite element method to assess the effects of type of roof, fence and surface roughness. Three-dimensional models are simulated by using a commercial code CFX based on the finite volume method to verify some traditional definitions. A standard к-ε model is adopted because it needs less computational power and has achieved notable successes in calculating a wide variety of thin shear layer and recirculating flows without the need of adjustment of the model constants, but with the imposition of boundary conditions to reduce the over-prediction near windward edges. Adopting lower values of к and ε combined with multi-blocks is shown to reduce this over-estimation. For a cubic building, the results can be compared with several other turbulence models. It appears that traditional Balinese architecture has a strong and significant correlation with several engineering fields, therefore traditional communities can develop by considering the Tri Hita Karana concept in order to improve thermal comfort and reduce cooling loads, with corresponding energy savings.

abstract: Biomimicry is an approach that entails understanding the natural system and designs and mimicking them to create new non-biological systems that can solve human problems. From bio-based material development to biologically inspired designs, architects and designers excelled in highlighting the fascination of integrating the biomimetic thinking process into the modern design that provides more comfortable space in which to live. This thesis explores how historical sustainable strategies from Islamic traditional architecture incorporated natural design system that could now be appropriately applied to interior architecture. In addition, it explores the current existing problems in this field and the possibilities of biomimetic sustainable solutions for existing buildings in the hot dry climate regions of Saudi Arabia. The author concentrates on examining Islamic traditional architecture where the past architects incorporated certain aspects of nature in their construction and through using local resources, built buildings that mitigated heat and provided protection from cold. As a result of completing this research, it was found that there are common characteristics between the traditional Islamic architecture elements and system solutions found in some natural organisms. Characteristics included, for example, evaporative cooling, stuck effect, and avoiding heat gain. However, in the natural world, there is always opportunities to further explore more about the impacts of biomimicry and natural strategies applicable to enhance interior environments of buildings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Design 2016

This research project explores the Hosh house typology, a historic dwelling type in Baghdad facing rapid decline and extinction. The study critically examines historic documentation and employs a wide range of methods to expand knowledge and understanding of the Hosh house. By building an archive around selected architectural objects, the research provides insights in various fields, including architectural anthropology, heritage, craftmanship and sustainable construction. The study draws from scarce and dated documentation, providing new translations of German books on Iraqi architecture, while simultaneously questioning and challenging these findings. The study explores the reasons behind the disappearance of the Hosh house, including urbanization, preference for modern technology and social attitudes. The findings highlight the characteristics and layouts of the Hosh house, presenting the ideal and compromised versions of its design. It also incorporates contemporary sources, such as interviews with local enthusiasts, to fill knowledge gaps and provide a contemporary perspective on the vanishing architectural tradition. Overall, this project contributes to the understanding of the Hosh house's cultural significance within Iraqi architecture and cultural heritage, while emphasizing the need for updated sources and in situ inventories.

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This research project explores the Hosh house typology, a historic dwelling type in Baghdad facing rapid decline and extinction. The study critically examines historic documentation and employs a wide range of methods to expand knowledge and understanding of the Hosh house. By building an archive around selected architectural objects, the research provides insights in various fields, including architectural anthropology, heritage, craftmanship and sustainable construction. The study draws from scarce and dated documentation, providing new translations of German books on Iraqi architecture, while simultaneously questioning and challenging these findings. The study explores the reasons behind the disappearance of the Hosh house, including urbanization, preference for modern technology and social attitudes. The findings highlight the characteristics and layouts of the Hosh house, presenting the ideal and compromised versions of its design. It also incorporates contemporary sources, such as interviews with local enthusiasts, to fill knowledge gaps and provide a contemporary perspective on the vanishing architectural tradition. Overall, this project contributes to the understanding of the Hosh house's cultural significance within Iraqi architecture and cultural heritage, while emphasizing the need for updated sources and in situ inventories.

Le bâti traditionnel dans le bassin méditerranéen, avec son riche parcours historique, reflète les nécessités socioculturelles pour lesquelles il a été construit. Les besoins environnementaux interagissent et se superposent en déterminant, en milieu urbain, des solutions typologiques et constructives récurrentes. Les solutions architecturales du bâtiment historique méditerranéen présentent des qualités formelles, structurelles et fonctionnelles remarquables et, grâce à la capacité d'adaptation au contexte climatique local, elles garantissent également un bon niveau de confort environnemental interne. De nos jours, la nécessité de réduire les consommations d’énergie dans le domaine de la construction entraîne le développement de la recherche vers des solutions innovantes qui combinent l’expérimentation sur les nouveaux matériaux et technologies, et la réappropriation des connaissances et des principes de construction de l’architecture « traditionnelle » en milieu dense. Porté par ces thématiques, étendues aux interactions entre les éléments du bâti et l’ensemble des facteurs qui participent à la détermination du confort intérieur des usagers dans les bâtiments traditionnels en région méditerranéenne, notre questionnement de base est parti des interrogations suivantes : pouvons-nous récupérer des savoir-faire techniques perdus ou oubliés pour répondre aux problématiques actuelles de réduction de consommation énergétique des bâtiments ? Comment réinterpréter certains aspects caractéristiques des bâtiments traditionnels avec les technologies et matériaux contemporains ? Quels outils de conception sont à mettre en place? Nous voulions ainsi reconstruire un modèle d'architecture traditionnelle en se concentrant sur une ville en particulier, Palerme, pour sa capacité à illustrer, à travers ses phases historiques, l'évolution d'une métropole méditerranéenne; sur tous les sous-systèmes (ville, bâtiment, composant constructif), nous retrouvons l’idée de transmission, avec des qualités implicites de permanence, d’héritage, de répétition et de durabilité. Ce choix nous permet, également, de cerner notre champ de recherche sans se perdre dans la multitude de variables possibles. En s’appuyant sur des recherches scientifiques actuelles et passées, et sur des calculs numériques réalisés, nous essaierons d’évaluer les performances énergétiques de cette architecture qui est souvent considérée comme une forme empirique d’architecture « bioclimatique ».La connaissance du comportement thermique de ce bâti représente une phase préparatoire fondamentale afin de proposer des outils de conception pour la modélisation et l’évaluation thermique de systèmes technologiques innovants, capables de réinterpréter certains aspects de l’architecture traditionnelle avec la mise en place de matériaux ou techniques contemporains / With its rich history, the traditional building in the Mediterranean Basin reflects the socio-cultural needs for which it was built: environmental needs interact and overlap, determining cyclic typological and constructive solutions in urban areas. The architectural solutions of the historic Mediterranean building have remarkable formal, structural and functional qualities and, thanks to their ability to adapt to the local climate context, they also guarantee a good level of internal environmental comfort. The need to reduce energy consumption in the construction field leads today towards the research of innovative solutions that combine experimentation on new materials and technologies and the re-appropriation of knowledge and principles of ‘traditional’ architecture in a dense environment.Moving from these considerations, and taking into account the interactions between the elements of the frame and all the factors involved in determining the internal user’s comfort in traditional buildings in the Mediterranean Region, we asked the following questions: can we recover lost or forgotten technical know-how to answer the current problems of reduction of buildings energy consumption? How to reinterpret certain peculiar aspects of traditional buildings with contemporary technologies and materials? What design tools are needed? We wanted to reconstruct a model of traditional architecture by focusing on a particular city, Palermo, due to its ability to illustrate the evolution of a Mediterranean metropolis through its historical phases; in all subsystems - city, building, component - we find the idea of transmission with implicit qualities of permanence, inheritance, repetition and durability. This choice also allows us to define our field of research without getting lost in the multitude of possible variables. Based on past and current scientific research, along with numerical calculations, we will try to evaluate the energy performance of this architecture, often considered as an empirical form of ‘bioclimatic’ architecture.The knowledge of the thermal behaviour of this building represents a pivotal preparatory phase in order to propose design tools for the modelling and thermal evaluation of innovative technological systems, capable of reinterpreting certain aspects of traditional architecture with the introduction of materials or contemporary techniques

This study targets to address the problem of &#039 / new building in a traditional setting&#039 / , utilizing computational design tools. The intention is to provide a methodology for analysis of architectural features of a traditional tissue and moreover propose computational design strategies utilizing algorithms for processing analytical data serving new building design. In the introduction part, this goal is exposed as well as a critic discussion based on a conservationist perspective for contemporary examples of computational design. Contemporary digital tools and methods employed in the field of architecture are discussed with a focus on algorithmic approaches, followed by a brief history for utilization of computational tools and digital design philosophy in the following chapter. Moreover organic architecture is discussed as a complex entity composed of integral elements and their relations, as well as the designer