Traditional Building Materials

The urgency of global climate change has drawn significant attention to the building industry over the last few years. Today, the building sector is responsible for the emission of about 23-40% of the world greenhouse gases. This is plausible owing to the various non environmental friendly materials used by modern building industry and the palpable contemporary design construct. Unlike modern buildings, traditional building materials are proven to be earth conscious and have nearly zero carbon footprints. Yet, the modernist building sector with its insatiable drive for autonomy has relegated lessons from traditional building to being primitive. Moreover, the absence of objects of industrialisation has been defined as forming conformity with poverty.
Hence, this research seeks to scientifically examine Adobe as one of the traditional building materials. In that vein, the environmental impact of the use of adobe will be studied. The study also purports to adequately examine the advantages and disadvantages of the use of adobe in modern construction.
Methodologically, owing to the aims of this research, a qualitative computer based simulation approach is adopted. A typical traditional Adobe building in Louroujina - North Cyprus, will be simulated through a parametric computer based simulation done using Revit Architecture, with a green studio plug-in. Software acknowledge by the United State Department of Energy (DOE 2015). This simulation procedure models the carbon emission of the building and the yearly energy consumption.
Summarily, this paper posits that the successful fusion of traditional building materials such as Adobe and modern design construct will not only give birth to earth conscious building, but will also be energy efficient. Moreover, it will be a substitute building material the building industry can adopt at as a contributing solution to the omniscient global warming malady.

Energy efficiency of contemporary architectural structures is no longer an expression of modernity, but a necessity which should be immanent to all newly-built objects. What is it, then, that makes structures " modern " in the time when architectural form is not sufficient enough to pronounce a particular structure unique? The single family house modernity can be observed through a series of interlaced characteristics, which can be interpreted correctly only by adopting a holistic approach. Thus, discourse and articulation of architectural form are taking place in parallel to materialisation. Materialisation makes the form possible by giving it an opportunity to improve to the level when it becomes a symbolic representation of local architectural expression– a part of spatial identity. by using passive housing strategies and traditional construction principles through materialisation of form and spatial articulation, the single family house is provided with a new expression which gives it a unique, state of the art " modernity ". Materialisation of form in contemporary construction is possible through a wide range of applicable materials and equally satisfying final results. Through case studies and a comparative analysis of architectural envelope layers, it is possible to show advantages of locally available materials in contemporary construction details with regard to the usual contemporary construction, comparing them in terms of sustainability in energy performance and guaranteed lifetime. Modernity issues of single family housing in the contemporary architectural expression are based on the identity discourse in the local context through sustainability adjustments to global trends.

ÖZET
Tarihi yapılarda kullanılan malzemeler ve bu malzemelerin nasıl bir araya getirildiğini gösteren yapım teknikleri, yapıların mimari ve sanat açısından mevcut olan niteliklerine ek olarak önemli tarihi bilgiler sunar. Bu sebeple malzeme ve yapım tekniği önemli bilgiler sunması yanında korunması gerekli özgün niteliklerdendir. Yapılarda farklı dönemlerde yapılmış olan inşa faaliyetleri ve müdahaleler, malzeme araştırmalarından elde edilen somut veriler ile anlamlandırılabilmektedir. Söz konusu araştırmalar için yapıda mevcut olan malzemeleri temsil edecek konumlardan yeterli sayı ve miktarda alınan numuneler üzerinde yapılan kimyevi, fiziki, mineralojik ve petrografik analizler sonucu söz konusu malzemelerin nitelikleri belirlenmekte, ayrıca malzemelerdeki bozulma sebepleri ve süreçleri aydınlatılmakta ve böylece malzemelerin teşhis safhası bilimsel olarak tamamlanmaktadır.
Bu çalışma kapsamında, İstanbul Ayasofya’nın yer altı yapılarından alınan doğal taş, harç, sıva, ahşap ve kemik örnekleri incelenmiştir. Yer altı yapılarında gerçekleştirilen keşifler sırasında alınan numuneler bu yapıların tanımlanması konusunda fikir elde etmek amacıyla yapılan ön malzeme araştırmaları kapsamında laboratuvarda gerçekleştirilen deney ve analizlerle incelenmiştir. Yapılan çalışmalar sonucunda, harç ve sıva örneklerinin kaymak kireç bağlayıcıya ve tuğla kırığı ile kireçtaşı kırığı gibi agregalara sahip, bağlayıcı/agrega oranının da 1/3 civarında olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Kızılağaç türü olduğu tespit edilen ahşap örneği yanmış durumda kuyu dibinden alınmıştır. Yer altı yapılarından alınan kemiklerin ise koyun/keçi ve sığır kemikleri olduğu belirlenmiştir. Söz konusu kemiklerin yer altı yapılarına nasıl geldiğini anlamak zordur ancak kemiklerin sonradan yanmış olması yer altı yapılarına da sirayet eden büyük bir yangını işaret eder. Alınan doğal taş örneklerinin grovak, kireçtaşı ve od taşı olduğu belirlenmiş, od taşının Ayasofya’nın ilk yapımında temel ve yer altı galeri sisteminde kullanılmış olduğu belirlenmiştir. 

Anahtar kelimeler: Ayasofya Camii, Bizans, yeraltı yapıları, geleneksel yapı malzemesi, arkeometri

ABSTRACT
The building materials used in historical buildings and the construction techniques showing how these materials were brought together provide important historical information in addition to the architectural and artistic properties of the buildings. For this reason, material and construction technique are among the original qualities that must be preserved as well as providing important information. Construction activities and interventions carried out in different periods in buildings can be interpreted with concrete data obtained from material research. As a result of the chemical, physical, mineralogical and petrographic analyzes performed on samples taken in sufficient numbers and quantities to represent the materials existing in the building for researches, the characteristics of the materials are determined, and the reasons and processes of the deterioration in the materials are clarified and the diagnosis phase of the materials is completed scientifically.
Within the scope of this study, natural stones, mortars, plaster, wood and bone samples taken from the underground structures of Istanbul Hagia Sophia were examined. The samples taken during the explorations carried out in the underground structures were investigated with the experiments and analyzes carried out in the laboratory within the scope of the preliminary material researches to obtain an idea about the identification of these structures. As a result of the studies, it has been determined that the mortar and plaster samples have slaked lime binder and aggregates such as brick and limestone particles, and the binder / aggregate ratio is around 1/3. The wood sample found to be alder type was taken from the bottom of the well in a burnt condition. The bones taken from underground structures were determined to be sheep / goat and cattle bones. It is difficult to understand how the bones came to the underground structures, but the fact that the bones were burnt later indicates a great fire that also spread to the underground structures. It was determined that the natural stone samples taken were graywacke, limestone and dacidic tuff locally named ‘od’ (fire) stone, and it was determined that the od stone was used in the foundation and underground gallery system in the first construction of Hagia Sophia.

Keywords: Istanbul, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Byzantine, underground structures, traditional building materials, archaeometry

La forma en que construimos y transformamos nuestro entorno ha demostrado ser insostenible, habiendo llegado el momento de replantearnos el modo en que lo hacemos. La construcción, la arquitectura y el urbanismo tradicionales constituyen una fuente inagotable de las más útiles soluciones y referencias válidas para acometer esta labor. Optimizadas durante siglos por los pobladores de las diversas regiones para adaptarlas a sus particulares condiciones físicas, geográficas y culturales, constituyen un legado tan insustituible como tristemente amenazado por el avance del proceso globalizador. Terrachidia es joven asociación que nace con estas premisas, desarrollando su actividad con este punto de partida. Su actividad se centra por ello en acercar esta idea a la sociedad, incidiendo especialmente en el ámbito de la arquitectura, donde, paradójicamente, resulta singularmente ninguneada e incluso rechazada. Con este fin, surgen sus talleres en el Oasis de M’Hamid, el último en el valle del río Draa, en los límites del desierto del Sáhara, un lugar extremo donde estas tradiciones muestran sus múltiples valores con meridiana claridad. Los participantes reciben de ellas una lección difícil de olvidar y los maestros locales, que siguen aún atesorando ese legado, se convierten en sus mejores transmisores. 

The way we build and transform our environment has shown to be unsustainable. The time has come to rethink how we do it. Traditional building, architecture and urbanism are an inexhaustible source of the most useful solutions and valid references to undertake this task. These traditions have been optimized during centuries by the diverse regions inhabitants to adapt them to their specific physical, geographic and cultural conditions, becoming an irreplaceable legacy, nowadays sadly threatened by the globalization process. Terrachidia is a young association born from these premises, developing its activity from this starting point. Consequently, its work is focused on instilling these ideas into our society, especially into the architectural field, where, paradoxically, they are singularly ignored or even rejected. This is the aim which originated its workshops in the M’Hamid Oasis, the last one in the Drâa river valley, in the vicinity of the Sahara desert, an extreme place where these traditions most clearly show their multiple values. Participants are taught a difficult to forget lesson from them and from the local masters, who continue treasuring these knowledge, becoming its best transmitters.

Basically, traditional housing has shaped according to local materials and climate. As we can observe many examples surviving today, Traditional Turkish Houses caught the system that Green Buildings are trying to catch, hundreds years ago.
During their restorations, for being able to adapt today’s comfort conditions and life style, innovative material usage is inevitable as well as reintegration exercises with traditional material usage. For those reasons new material’s features are important during the integration of new materials to the traditional ones.
In this paper, the integration of innovative material to traditional material is analyzed, by looking deeply in to timber frame traditional housing examples. By considering the restoration works done till today, in new projects it is aimed to prevent the conservation of the traditional Turkish House identity, the concept of architecture being shaped according to climate, area and nature. The aim of this work is to emphasize that restoration science is not only visual; it should also supervise the vital needs.

The use of various mineral admixtures, natural or artificial pozzolan as well as any alternative construction material that could partially or fully replace the conventional Portland cement concrete/mortar with quite similar or even improved performances is receiving nowadays more attention and highly encouraging practice. Back to nature and to ancient and traditional materials that are locally available is not a new vision but it is a strategy largely accepted and adopted to lower the environmental impact of construction sector. Using some locally available materials such as natural pozzolana may require an additional activation process such a calcination at relatively high temperature or a chemical activation by some known activators. Sarooj (SRJ) is a popular name given to a locally produced traditional or artificial pozzolana that has been extensively used as traditional construction material in several countries such Oman and some neighbouring countries like Iran. In modern days however; the usage of Sarooj material is limited to the plastering work and restoration of ancient castles and forts. Sarooj has large variety of chemical composition depending on the location from where it has been extracted and thus, the reactivity and the resulted mechanical performances vary to a large extent. This paper investigates the chemical and physical properties of a sample of Sarooj traditionally prepared and extracted from Wadi AL-Mawal region. The chemical analysis and XRD results indicate a great reactivity potential of this material if properly treated and designed. The traditional heat treatment applied seems to be not the appropriate way to reach the full activation of this clayey material. Although traditionally designed, the results of thermal conductivity showed a net decrease compared to normal Portland cement mortar. Combining the use of a locally produced material with an enhanced engineering properties could further promote sustainability in construction industry.

The paper argues the potential advantages of environmentally conscious design from the point of view of both user and state. Traditional building materials and design are examined vis-a-vis modern ones in an attempt to find regional roots for future requirements, estimated to reach well over half a billion square meters in the next few years. Alternative strategies suggested hereby are based on research undertaken in recent years in the deserts of P.R. China and Israel. They evolve through the adoption of bioclimatic principles and adaptation of existing forms and technologies, showing that bioclimatic design is mainly a matter of conception, and that energy conservation and thermal comfort conditions may be achieved by simple means, within existing forms and technologies. The data presented here have been obtained with the help of thermal simulation tools applied on a number of housing types and technologies common throughout P.R. China.