SORAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

AN INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS IN TRADITIONAL HOUSES IN
RWANDZ

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the award of the degree of Bachelor of Civil Engineering

BY
Hardi Jabbar Rasull
Khanda Omed Taha
Nishtiman Ali Mahmood

SUPERVISOR
Mr. Abdulqadir Bayz
(2019/2020)
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH

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 SORAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Title of the thesis: AN INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENT IN

TRADITIONAL HOUSES IN RWANDZ

Name of students: Hardi Jabbar

Khanda Omed
Nishtiman Ali

Exam Date. June 2020

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Bachelor of Science.

Aryanfar H. Sherwani

Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our majority opinion it is
fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Mr. Abdulqadir Bayz

Supervisor

Examining Committee Members: Signature

Dr. Kamaran S. Ismael …………………….

Mr. Abdulqadir Byaz ……………………..

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We hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. We also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, we have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Hardi Jabbar
Khanda Omed
Nishtiman Ali

iii
 ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS IN TRADITIONAL HOUSES IN
RWANDZ
Hardi Jabbar, Khanda Omed & Nishtiman Ali
Supervisor: Mr. Abdulqadir Bayz
June 2020
43 Pages

The exploration bout the traditional houses construction as part of history are significant
for many reasons globally. Although, there is not necessary to repeat the old construction
methods and techniques, there are many lessons can be learned from those local houses
such as using local source materials, responding to the environmental, social and
economic factors properly. The availability and low-cost of the local sources such as mud
bricks and wood, that has traditionally been the primary construction material in
Kurdistan generally. The paper will investigate the structural elements in traditional
houses via analyzing the two local case studies in the Rwandz town. The structure
components, construction method, and material properties have been explored for all the
building envelopes. The findings show that construction building system in these local
houses are combination of load-bearing walls and skeleton framing system. The
distinction of these houses are thick walls, massive roofs, timber columns and beams,
stone masonry foundation, and local material usage in a simple construction method. The
further study will be significant to inquire the invisible structural elements and traditional
construction methods.

Key words: traditional houses, structural elements, local materials, thick walls, timber
column
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 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to highly appreciate the role of Department of Civil Engineering
for being supportive throughout this time and would also like to warmly thank our
supervisor Mr. Abdulqadir Bayz who cared so much about our work and for his
motivational words and support. The authors would finally conduct deep thanks to all
those who caused this work to be completed successfully with whom this project would
never have been possible.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... i

AKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................. ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ iii

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... v

CHAPTER 1 ..................................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Background: ................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Stone: .......................................................................................................................... 2

1.2.1 Foundation: .............................................................................................................. 2

1.2.2 Wall.......................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Mud bricks: ................................................................................................................. 4

1.3.1 Wall: ........................................................................................................................ 5

1.4 Timber....................................................................................................................... 10

1.4.1 Column .................................................................................................................. 11

1.4.2 Roofs or slab: ......................................................................................................... 14

1.4.3: Stairs ..................................................................................................................... 15

1.4.4 Doors & windows: ................................................................................................. 15

CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................... 17

LITERITURE REVIW ................................................................................................... 17

CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................... 21

RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................ 21

3.1- Objectives: ............................................................................................................... 21

3.2- Aims: ....................................................................................................................... 21

CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................... 22

METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 22
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4.1 Case studies .............................................................................................................. 22

4.2 site visiting: ............................................................................................................... 22

4.3 Remodeling the case studies; .................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................... 24

PRACTICAL PART ....................................................................................................... 24

5.1 Case studies: ............................................................................................................. 24

5.1.1 Case 1..................................................................................................................... 24

5.1.2 Case 2..................................................................................................................... 28

CHAPTER 6 ................................................................................................................... 31

DISSCUSUION .............................................................................................................. 31

6.1 Foundation ................................................................................................................ 31

6.2 Wall........................................................................................................................... 33

6.3 Openings in walls ..................................................................................................... 35

6.4. Column .................................................................................................................... 37

6.5 Stair ........................................................................................................................... 38

6.6. Roof ........................................................................................................................ 39

6.7. External finishing.................................................................................................... 40

6.8. internal finishing ...................................................................................................... 40

6.9. floor finishing ......................................................................................................... 41

CHAPTER 7 ................................................................................................................... 42

CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 42

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 43

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Stone masonry foundation ............................................................................ 3
Figure 1.2: Stone used in the bottom of wall ................................................................... 3
Figure 1.3: Clay brick ...................................................................................................... 4
Figure 1.4: A mud brick sample ..................................................................................... 5
Figure 1.5: Making mud bricks for a house built using a traditional but resistant technique .... 5
Figure 1.6 A: Mud brick wall .......................................................................................... 6
Figure 1.6 B: Mud brick wall .......................................................................................... 6
Figure 1.7: Brick bonds ................................................................................................... 7
Figure 1.8: Single Flemish Bond isometric view ............................................................ 7
Figure 1.9: Double Flemish Bond isometric view ........................................................... 8
Figure 1.10: Single and Double Flemish Bond 2D plan.................................................. 8
Figure 1.11: Flemish Bond brick masonry ...................................................................... 9
Figure 1.12: A typical brick wall, running bond ............................................................. 9
Figure 1.13: Real example of brick wall running bond ................................................. 10
Figure 1.14:Timber used in slab structure and window construction ............................ 11
Figure 1.15: Timber used as column, and as a structural element in slab construction 11
Figure 1.16: Wood column from Populus nigra tree .................................................... 12
Figure 1.17: Strong, thick wood columns...................................................................... 12
Figure 1.18 A ................................................................................................................. 13
Figure 1.18 B ................................................................................................................. 13
Figure 1.18 A & B: Providing column stability by placing small wood sections over wooden column ...... 13
Figure 1.19: Main timber in the short direction of the room ......................................... 14
Figure 1.20: Main and secondary timber of traditional houses slab .............................. 14
Figure 1.21: Timber used as beam in stairs ................................................................... 15
Figure 1.22: Doors made of wood ................................................................................. 15
Figure 1.23: Window made of wood ............................................................................. 16
Figure 1.24: Stair rails made of iron .............................................................................. 16
Figure 5.1: Example of traditional house ...................................................................... 24
Figure 5.2: A lot of area that used for difference purpose ............................................. 25
Figure 5.3: The first-floor plan ...................................................................................... 26
Figure 5.4: Second floor plan ........................................................................................ 27
Figure 5.5: 3D plan remodeled by Autodesk Revit 2020 .............................................. 27
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Figure 5.6: Front view of the case 2 .............................................................................. 28
Figure 5.7: Site view of the case 2................................................................................. 28
Figure 5.8: First floor plan ............................................................................................. 29
Figure 5.9: Second floor plan ........................................................................................ 29
Figure 6.1: Stone foundation ......................................................................................... 32
Figure 6.2: Running bond .............................................................................................. 33
Figure 6.3: Flemish bond ............................................................................................... 34
Figure 6.4: Window lintel .............................................................................................. 35
Figure6.5: Wood and iron window ................................................................................ 35
Figure 6.6: Distance between windows ......................................................................... 36
Figure 6.7: Small windows for ventilation .................................................................... 36
Figure 6.8: Timber columns (Populus nigra) ................................................................ 37
Figure 6.9: The joint between beam and column .......................................................... 37
Figure 6.10: Winder staircase ........................................................................................ 38
Figure 6.11: Wood used in stair case ............................................................................. 38
Figure 6.12: The short direction of timber and mat ....................................................... 39
Figure 6.13: The roof layers in traditional houses ......................................................... 39
Figure 6.14: External finishing ...................................................................................... 40
Figure 6.15: Wall internal finishing .............................................................................. 41
Figure 6.16: Floor finishing ........................................................................................... 41

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background:
Rwandz is one of the historical places in Kurdistan Region, located in Erbil Governorate,
close to the borders with Iran and Turkey. The district is 123 km from Erbil. Rwandz is
one of the Kurdish cities that is known as one of the most historical, archeological and
touristic places in the region. As Kurdistan region was a colonizer of many western and
eastern countries during centuries, and this led to that our ancient people be affected and
impacted by other nationalities and their culture in various fields of life, so on the field
of building construction. Which made people to think differently about construction of
buildings and houses in Kurdistan, that gives this houses their own specifications and
appearance, and the city of Rwandz was not exceptional from that influence, hence the
most important and interesting places that one can easily find and notice those historical,
beautiful and attractive houses is Rwandz city that one can realize many distinctive
examples of traditional architecture, mainly houses in this city. The concept of
“traditional house,” normally used to describe a simple structure, often can be quite a
complex conception. Nearly almost all of the traditional houses in Rwandz are built of
adobe or mud brick, clay bricks and stone masonry and were constructed using by
unskilled labor and strictly local materials. All the materials that have been used in the
process of construction of these traditional houses are mainly the earth itself where the
house have been built on it. The large-scale stones with mud mortar have been used in
the construction of foundation in order to support structural walls and transfer load to the
soil beneath it. As the stone is a hard and durable material it helps to strengthen the
foundation and also works to prevent water erosion, so that a few bottom layers of the
wall are often constructed with stone. These stones should serve its purpose without
settlement or sinking. The load exerted on stone masonry footing should be vertical. The
mud bricks have been used in the entire building walls, mud brick, or adobe, is an old
form of building material, which consist of mud, water, and binding material such as

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wheat husks or straw, placing the mixture into molds and drying the bricks in the open
air., mud bricks are cheap, durable, strong in tension and would perform well thermally
and acoustically. Furthermore, in these houses’ timber have been used as a construction
element in constructing flat roofs which have been made up of wooden beams and mud,
also the timber has been used as a girders and columns, opening lintels, doors and
windows have been made up of wood. Clay bricks have been used in some houses in the
bottom layers of the walls for the purpose of preventing water abrasion. For the entire
building finishing, mud mortar that is a mixture of water, clay and wheat husks or straw
have been used as a paste to cover the walls of a building to give the house it is final
finishing look.

1.2 Stone:
Stones in traditional houses have an essential and important role, as stones have been
uses for many purposes in different areas in the building structure. ancient human have
been thought about using stone for construction purpose due to economic and
environmental reasons, as stones were cheap or even free and also were an easy achieved
material due to the geology of the area which consists of many rock mountains, also they
had been thought of a stone that is a hard and durable material that a building could need
to resist loads and weather affects. Stone in traditional houses have been used as a
material in two main structural elements, foundation and walls.

1.2.1 Foundation:
The large-scale stones that have been used in foundation were durable stones, free from
cracks and cavity and also were hard and tough, If this properties were not found in stone
they have been rejected it and started looking for another type of stone, because without
these specifications stones will be disqualified for construction of foundation and tend
the building to failure. Figure 1.1 shows a foundation constructed by using stone
masonry.

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 Figure 1.1: stone masonry foundation

1.2.2 Wall
In the bottom of the walls of traditional houses, nearly about 1meter stone have been
used, as shown in figure 1.2. This is for giving the wall two characteristics. One is
preventing water erosion and second is to give more strength to the wall.

Figure 1.2: Stone used in the bottom of wall

Sometimes instead of stones. Clay bricks have been used in the bottom of walls, about
1m in the bottom line of walls for same purpose as stone used which is preventing water
erosion and make the wall stronger. As shown in figure 1.3.

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 Figure 1.3: clay brick

1.3 Mud bricks:

Mud is among the foremost well-known building material for construction for many
centuries. Earth as mud bricks, has been used in building construction for thousands of
years. It makes sense. As mud is as abundant and literally inexpensive as mud brick is
also a low-cost, environmentally friendly, and abundantly available building material,
it has been widely used for building construction around the world. Mud bricks have been
made by mixing water and mud together and blending them into a sticky mixture. To
prevent mud bricks from cracking and also to improve tensile strength, traditionally straw
is added, the process of making mud bricks is shown in figure 1.5. The mud brick is then
shaped in a mold of whatever size or shape, or by hand. Then the mixture of brick is laid
to dry under the heat of sun light for about 25 days prior to use. Figure 1.4 shows a sample
of mud brick used in construction. Based on our case studies investigations have shown
that almost all the houses were built from mud bricks as a basic material as it was used
in wall construction, also in some houses the mud has been used as a mortar for finishing
purposes. Because the mud brick's strength and longevity will be affected by from what
you make it, how you make it, and the eroding influence of rain and wind upon it. So, the
ancients have thought about these characteristics and tried to make good quality bricks
that could withstand the loads of the entire house building.

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 Figure 1.4 a mud brick sample

Figure 1.5: Making mud bricks for a house built using a traditional but resistant technique

1.3.1 Wall:
Walls in traditional houses distinguish by a clear thickening. Mud bricks which have
been used in wall construction figure 1.6, have been had 20 cm×20 cm×5 cm size. Bricks
have been made of loam, mud and sandy soil, because sandy soils are light, warm and
are high water drainable and are easy to work with. The color of bricks was the muddy
natural color. Thickness of walls varies from 70 cm – 80 cm. The walls arranged and laid
in different patterns, different type of arrangement mud bricks in walls is shown in figure
1.7. Based on research studies English bond, running bond and Flemish bond patterns
have been noticed.

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Figure 1.6 A: Mud brick wall

Figure 1.6 B: Mud brick wall

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 Figure 1.7: Brick bonds
Flemish bonds are divided to single Flemish and double Flemish bond. A combination
of English bond and Flemish bond is a single Flemish bond, figure 1.8. In this type of
construction, the wall's front exposed surface consists of Flemish bond and the wall's
back surface consists of English bond at each course. Minimum thickness needed for
single Flemish bond is thickness of one and a half brick wall. The primary function of
using a single Flemish bond is to provide greater architectural appearance in the
brickwork with English bond on the front surface with sufficient strength, for both the
front and back elevations, Double Flemish Bond has the same look figure 1.9, and i.e.
each course consists of alternate header and stretcher. Bonding of this form is
comparatively weaker than English bonding. Figure 1.10 shows both single and double
Flemish Bond. Figure 1.11 shows a real case of Flemish Bond brick wall
masonry.

Figure 1.8: Single Flemish Bond isometric view

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 Figure 1.9: Double Flemish Bond isometric view

Figure 1.10: Single and Double Flemish Bond 2D plan

8
 Figure 1.11: Flemish Bond brick masonry

Running bond is the simplest and the most used structural bond for basic wall
construction, bricks from the course above and below are arranged ½ bricks, in a
traditional one over two patterns. All bricks are laid lengthwise, with the long sides or
"stretchers." facing forward. Figure 1.12 shows a typical brick wall running bond, and
figure 1.13 shows a real example of running bond in a brick wall.

Figure 1.12: A typical brick wall, running bond

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 Figure 1.13: real example of brick wall running bond

1.4 Timber
Since centuries, Timber has been used as the primary source of building material for the
construction of many buildings, such as mosques, government buildings at that times and
dwelling house. The concepts of the Wood Committee confirm that timber structures
from all ages are significant as part of the world's cultural heritage. It has been the oldest
material used by human for building construction after stone. Regard less its complex
chemical nature, wood has excellent properties that lend themselves over centuries to
human use.
Wood is considered to be a key component of architectural buildings, particularly in cons-
truction works such as ceilings, columns, stairs, roofs, domes and it was also used for
manufacturing doors and windows. Compared with stone, brick and other main historic
building materials, timber is exposed to decay and break down quickly due to moisture,
insect attack or fire. Wood will expand and contract due to relative humidity, furthermore
wood may be deformed by warping. The main types of woods which have been used in
construction were the local woods. Many types of local trees have been used in building
construction for various construction purposes, such as walnut tree, oak tree and Populus
Nigra tree. according to our case studies and investigations, as shown in figure 1.14 and
figure 1.15 acknowledgment have been shown that timber or wood have been used in
more than one field of construction, as follows:

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 Figure 1.14 Timber used in slab structure and window construction

Figure 1.15 Timber used as column, and as a structural element in slab construction

1.4.1 Column
In all traditional houses different types of timber has been placed as a column structure.
Strong, tall, stable and durable local woods used to support the house building, to transmit
the weight of the above structures through compression to the structural elements below.
The main column wood type was Populus nigra tree although the walnut tree was more
commonly used in the past because of its high compression strength performance, but
because this type of tree can rarely be taken into the right shape, meaning that it cannot
be easily modified to take the columns common shape, as the walnut tree is always is
known by having irregular shape, and it was almost impossible to find a walnut tree which
is tall, fair and thick enough. And due to the lack of advanced devices and machines, it

11
was not easy to work with these kind of wood, so they dispensed with it and the Populus
nigra tree has been used as a substitute for it, which is a popular local tree in the area,
having a circular shape although in a very simple proportion it has less strength than
walnut tree and it could easily be affected by insect attack. But they could use it as an
excellent alternative in building construction with high performance in supporting the
house loads. The Populus nigra tree have been used in houses that have been investigated
for this research, having an average diameter of 200 mm and approximately 2.75m height,
as shown in figure 1.16 and 1.17, below the wooden columns, thin, durable stone is
placed, in above a small wood parts have been placed to provide the stability as shown
in figure 1.18.

Figure 1.16: wood column from Populus nigra tree

Figure 1.17: strong, thick wood columns

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 Figure 1.18 A

Figure 1.18 B

Figure 1.18 A & B: providing column stability by placing small wood sections over wooden column

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1.4.2 Roofs or slab:
Timber had played the main role in covering the roofs in most traditional buildings where
transmit the loads and distribute it to the beams, then on mud brick walls and to the
foundation in the ground in a safe way in traditional and old techniques which still used
in some houses in village areas. The main type of timber which has been used is Populus
nigra tree because of its strength and high performance in resisting loads. The main
timber has been set within the short direction of the room, as shown in figures 1.19 and
1.20. The distance between timber to timber is between (350- 400) mm, in the ends of
timber, it has been entered the wall, then secondary timber has been set perpendicular to
the main timber (long direction of the room). A layer of old mat has been installed above
the main timber, coated with clay above, prior the secondary timber. Then the secondary
timber coated with a layer of clay as a cover o prevent water from entering the wood.

Figure 1.19: main timber in the short direction of the room

Figure 1.20: main and secondary timber of traditional houses slab

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1.4.3: Stairs
In traditional houses timber has been also used in stairs as a beam that gives more strength
to the staircase in a traditional technique, which is not used today. As shown in figure
1.21. Winder stair is the used type of staircase in mostly traditional houses.

Figure 1.21: timber used as beam in stairs

1.4.4 Doors & windows:

Doors and windows in traditional hoses made of wood instead of aluminum or PVC that
is used today, sometimes metal iron is used in the construction of doors and windows as
shown in figures 1.22 and 1.23, the railing also made up of iron, showed in figure 1.24.

Figure 1.22.: Doors made of wood

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Figure 1.23: Window made of wood

Figure 1.24: Stair rails made of iron

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERITURE REVIW

In past years, investigation and study of traditional houses, there structural elements, the
way they have been build and the time they have been take until they finished have been
very important. Many researchers have been searched and investigated to understand
these historical structures and their construction techniques. This chapter focuses on the
work and studies of other people who have studied in this field of engineering.

1-An Investigation of Traditional Turkish Wooden Houses:

(Nimet Öztank 2010) has been searched an investigation of traditional Turkish wooden
houses, traditional houses in Turkey were made mostly of wood, and timber-framed
construction structures have often been used and were popular there until the 20th
century. The aim of this paper is to introduce the structural and architectural features and
details of the typical timber frame houses in Turkey. Structural features: Modern
timber-framed houses consisting of a masonry basement and upper floors with wooden
frame and roofs. The basement walls not only served as a foundation for the houses, but
also as barriers to the exuding moisture from the ground. Wall thickness varied from 80
cm to 150 cm. Those walls were built up to the level of the ground floor and the majority
were load-bearing. The basement and ground floors were built of masonry, the upper
floor construction consisted of a wooden frame, provided by studs placed 30–90 cm apart
and framed by 15x15 cm posts, supported by diagonal and horizontal braces.
Two common forms of timber-frames have historically been used: I) Timber frame II)
Combined construction I) The timber-framed construction method is carried out by filling
or covering the holes between the wooden frame and the supports, except those between
the wooden frame beams.
A-Hımıs Construction – Hybrid Construction: Hımıs construction is simply described
as a masonry-infilled wood frame, including bricks, adobe or stones.

17
B- Dizeme construction: In this type of construction, small rough wood elements, called
dizeme, that were lightly nailed studs or horizontal framing elements, were used as infills.
C-Bag ̆dadi construction-Lath technique: the voids between the building timber
members are filled with lighter materials or with trunk shells turned by the application of
sand and lime mortar into filling materials.
II) Combined building: This construction is a hybrid combination of the methods of the
timber frame and the masonry wall. This method consists of an internal wood frame
framework connected to the outer masonry wall of the structure made of rubble stone and
brick.
Structural Details of Traditional Timber-framed houses:
Post: The frame posts were placed between them on single plates with spaces between
1.5 and 4 meters. Bay studs were placed between posts to create windows when the
windows were too close to the corner, or too close to each other. Beam: Parallel to the
short side of the room, the floor beams are spaced at intervals of 40-60 cm. In general,
beams with sections of 20x25 cm or 25x25 cm are placed inside the same direction in the
system. Plate and rail: a wooden frame was always mounted on the foundation using a
single plate, on the first floor and on the second floor (if any), the head binders of the
house were single binders or triple binders on one side with double binders on each side,
or double binders on the other side, such as the lower head binders.
Roof elements: The timber frame was finished with the roof truss which was mounted
on the wall frame top rail. Architectural features: The wood-framed houses were
generally built for extended families and were usually side-by-side, back-to-back or
adjacent to each other. Some of them are detached houses such as a villa, mansion, and
residence. The timber framed houses changed depending on the size of the land plot and
represented a different type of plan. Plan: Because of their functions, the ground floors
have special plan arrangements which differ from the upper floors. The key elements are
the room, the "sofa" hall, and the "eyvan" (space between room groups). The "room" is
accepted as the main element which shows no difference in use as it is a space with many
functions for many purposes, the hall simply means the common space between the
rooms, which provides access between open and closed spaces. Roof: the roof is square
or rectangular and lined with Turkish tiles and zinc covers, rarely wooden shingles
Façade: the traditional house façades are typically symmetrical, and the symmetry is
visible both horizontally and vertically. The height of the buildings, the number of floors,

18
the location of the entrance doors, walls, projections and roofs make up the design of the
façade.
2-Traditional Islamic-Arab House : On the traditional Islamic-Arab house (Dr. Abdel-
moniem El-Shorbagy-2010) was sought that the Islamic-Arab house with its structural
clarity and beauty could be conceived as generated from the plan, that brought form and
order to the room within the human body and its experience, as well as measured and
scaled. The architectural language that regulated the design concept of the Islamic-Arab
house and highlighted its distinctive features were the majaz (entrance), the garden, the
fusion of the qa'ah and the malqaf, the tak htabush and the mashrabiyyah.
A. The Majaz (Entrance): There were two entrances in Arab houses; the majaz (the
main entrance of a house), which usually opens onto a courtyard, and the doorway, which
is the main exterior feature on the ground floor. B. The Courtyard: The courtyard is the
most important element reflecting the center of all Islamic-Arab buildings. Used to gain
privacy and enhance thermal comfort within a room. The courtyard is an important tool
for producing convection air movement. C. Qa'ahAnd Malqaf: The qa'ah consisted of
the durqa'ah (a central part of the qa'ah with a high ceiling covered by the shuk hshak hah
(wooden lantern at the top) and two ' iwans (sitting areas) at a higher level on both north
and south sides. Malqaf is a shaft high above the building with an opening facing the
prevailing wind. D. The Takhtabush: it is an enclosed outdoor sitting area between two
courtyards; one is an unshaded, wide paved courtyard and the other is cultivated.E. The
Mashrabiyah: Mashrabiyah is another important device that has been used to cover
openings as well as to achieve in-house thermal comfort and privacy.
The Principles of Architectural Composition:
The Islamic-Arab house showed an understanding of the laws of architecture that
produced a deliberate arrangement of the components of the building in a functional and
visually pleasing whole. Also, tools were scale, proportion, contrast and balance which
enhanced the character of buildings. All the spaces in the typical houses were filled with
variants of dome, vaults, shuk hshak hahand flat roofs, which obtained good spatial and
visual properties. The Islamic-Arab house's most subtle features come mainly from its
array of elements that have been tested by the traditions and culture of the
people.
3-Performance of Adobe Residential Buildings in the 2003 Bam, Iran, Earthquake:
The performance of Adobe Residential Buildings in the 2003 Bam, Iran, Earthquake was
searched by (Mahmoud R. Maheri, et al., 2005). Historically, Adobe was Iran's main

19
construction material in the form of sun-dried bricks and clay or lime / clay mortar. This
paper looks at the performance of adobe residential buildings during the earthquake in
Bam, Iran. Materials that have been used in this construction are mainly common earth
with varying degrees of clay, silt, sand, and gravel content. In the western and southern
parts of the country, where timber is more readily available, flat roofs made up of wooden
beams and mud are mainly used. In the more arid central and eastern parts, such as Bam
and the surrounding areas, roofs are primarily of the adobe dome or vault type. Where
foundations are provided for the buildings, they are constructed of rubble stone with mud
or lime mortar. In some cases, mud mortar is used to lay adobe bricks in the wall and in
others, mud-lime or gyp-sum mortar is used. A few lower parts of the wall are often made
of rubble stone or bricks and lime mortar to prevent water erosion.
General characteristics of adobe houses in bam and surrounding villages:
A typical small adobe house consists of an 8m*4m main room flanked by four 4m*3m
side rooms. The rectangular room has a cylindrical roof, with semi-spherical roofs in the
side rooms. Variations are common in this basic layout, since larger houses may have
several rooms of each type attached in various ways. The principal shortcomings of adobe
residential construction in the Bam region are, Lack of proper relations between the
perpendicular walls resulting in wall breakdown, and eventual roof collapse, Lost proper
foundation, Under-quality adobe units, Poor mortar quality, Weak bond in adobe
masonry which causes two or more successive layers of vertical joints to coincide,
Narrow, twisty alleys, Addition of kahgel, straw-reinforced mud pastes for water
proofing. From their success in various Iranian earthquakes over the past 100 years, the
weak seismic response of adobe construction in Iran is apparent. Traditional adobe
construction can be preserved with little effort to provide an overall binding system in
the form of wood, steel or reinforced concrete ring beams supported by vertical elements
or other wall-preventing methods.

21
 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES

3.1- Objectives:
 Documenting traditional house structures in Rwandz.
 Identify the building envelopes.
 Demonstrate the building construction techniques and process.
 Reporting the techniques for using sustainable material sources in built environment.
 Identifying how the materials have been used in order to respond to structural and
environmental demands such as using mud brick in thick walls.
 Exploration of the potential traditional talent skills in order to be used in
contemporary building construction process.
 Upraising the aware ness of individuals, community and academics about the local
house design layout and construction.

3.2- Aims:
To explore the traditional building element interim of materials properties and
durability and identifying the used construction techniques and skills.

21
 CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

The study has been delivered by using number of quantitative approached such as, case
studies, site visiting, remodeling and interview about the materials properties and
building process. In addition, the interview method has been used to get adequate
information. 2 local houses have been chosen for this research; all the houses are in
Rwandz. For the process of writing this research some steps have been followed.

4.1 Case studies

The case studies have been selected randomly in Rwandz city among remained traditional
house. The houses have been protected and maintained by families, unfortunate all
traditional built environment in the area have been neglected by local authority and
regional government.

4.2 site visiting:

To know and see the structures and how the houses have been designed and also to
understand the techniques that have been used for construction, we have made a site visit
for each of the houses. During the site visits we took the dimensions of the rooms for the
entire house by foot meter, also the dimension of all the doors and windows have been
taken, then the plan of the houses has been drawn by hand including all the dimensions
and details. Finally, some photos of each house including all partitions have been taken
to be used and explained in the research.

4.3 Remodeling the case studies:

The case studies plans that have been drawn by hand through the site visiting, have been
redrawn and remodeled by two well known and most used software programs in
engineering field, include Auto Cad and Revit. The plans have been sketched again
accurately with full details. For the two- dimensional plans (2D) Auto Cad have been
utilized because of its ease and fast of working. For the three-dimensional (3D) plans,
Revit software program have been used, in order that as long as the 2D plan have been

22
existed, only one click is enough to convert it to the 3D plan. All the plans including 2D
& 3Ds have been shown and detailed explained in next chapters.

23
 CHAPTER 5

PRACTICAL PART

5.1 Case studies:

Two traditional houses have been chosen for this research as case studies, that have been
gotten a lot of knowledge and information about elements of houses, and materials that
have been used for buildings.

5.1.1 Case 1
This is one of the local houses that we have been chosen for this research, this local house
has been built in 1948, and it’s located near Rwandz municipality. This case shown in
Figure 5.1. Like other historical buildings many old and traditional techniques have been
used in the process of its construction.

Figure 5.1: Example of traditional house

24
This traditional house has been had a lot of area, some of the area have been used for
building construction, and another some of the area have been used for farming. Shown
in figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2: A lot of area that used for difference purpose

The total area of this house is 505 m2, and the area that have been used for building
construction is 192 m2. This local house have been built in the eastern interface, and it
contains of two floors, each floor consists of four rooms. The first and second floor have
been had same plan, all the walls of second floor have been directly constructed over the
walls of first floor. The 2D plans have been remodeled by using Autodesk Auto Cad
2019 version 46.0.0. The first-floor plan and second floor plan shown in figure 5.3 and
5.4 respectively. The first floor consists four room, each room have been used for
different purposes. The number 1 shown in figure 5.3 has been used as an entrance for
the house, the room number 2 has been used as kitchen and its area is 21.45 m2. The room
number 3 has been used as a bedroom or living room, and it’s area is 21.675 m2, Rooms
number 4 and 5have been had same area and have been used for same purposes as room
number 3, their area are 19.98 m2. And the area of number 6 has been used for farming.

25
 Figure 5.3: The first-floor plan

The walls of this local house are 80 cm thick and 270 cm high. Doors and windows have
been made of wood and sometimes steel, doors that have been made of wood with 160
cm in height and 70 cm in width, and windows have been had height that is 110 cm and
60 cm wide. Second floor plan have been had same plan and had been used for the same
purpose, but in the second-floor plan there were not a kitchen, instead it had been used
for living room or bedroom. Shown in figure 5.4.

26
 Figure 5.4: second floor plan

3D plans have been remodeled by using Autodesk Revit 2020, shown in figure 5.5.

Figure 5.5: 3D plan remodeled by Autodesk Revit 2020

27
5.1.2 Case 2
Another case that have been chosen for this research is this traditional house. This local
house has been built in 1964, located near Institute of Fine Arts. Figures 5.6 and 5.7 show
some views of this local house.

Figure 5.6: front view of the case 2

Figure 5.7: site view of the case 2

28
This traditional house lot of area have been taken, some of the area have been used for
building construction, and another some of this area have been used for cultivation or
farming. The total area of this traditional house is 353 m2, and the area that have been
used for building construction is 178 m2. This local house have been constructed with
interface to east direction and it contains of two floors, the first floor consists of five
rooms and second floor consists of three rooms.

Figure 5.8: First floor plan

Figure 5.9: Second floor plan

29
The first and second floors have been built with different plans, the first-floor plan have
been had five rooms, but second floor plan have been had three rooms. All the walls of
second floor have been directly constructed over the walls of first floor. The 2D plans
have been remodeled by using Autodesk Auto Cad 2019 version 46.0.0. The first-floor
plan and second floor plan shown in figure 5.8 and 5.9 respectively. The first floor
consists five rooms, that each room have been used for difference purpose.

31
 CHAPTER 6

DISSCUSUION

The construction system of the studies traditional houses is combination of both load-
bearing wall construction and skeleton framing system. This form of structure in unique
when it compared by other neighborhood nations traditional house such as Turkish,
Persian and Arabic traditional houses. The load-bearing walls have consisted of thin clay
walls for both exterior and interior walls. They have informed the enclosure spaces such
as, multi-purpose room, kitchen and bedrooms. Furthermore, the walls give the structure
more durability and stability. While the skeleton system of local building has consisted
of wood columns and beams. The latter structure system provides the cover for the semi-
opened spaces such as terrace (Hiwan)

6.1 Foundation

One of the most basic and important human activity in the building construction was the
construction of foundation. Possibly and likely that some of traditional houses still have
no foundation, but depending on research inquiries and outcomes, inferred that the
foundation has been constructed in traditional houses in Rwandz and that these houses
have a foundation. Old people have been used so many techniques to build a strong
foundation either if there were not any advanced machines or even a scientific or
engineering knowledge, using simple, local and easy obtained materials. As the first step
of the process, clearing the site from vegetation, trees and brushwood was necessary.
Then the process of excavating the earth have been done, which is a heavy work process
done by equipment, to the specific area to be removed from earth to make a space or a
room for the foundation. Depending on the soil’s depth hardness a ditch needs to be build
up after the earth is removed. The same process of excavation has been followed in these
old houses but the only difference was the lack of good and advanced equipment for the
process to be done perfectly and rapidly. As only simple shovels, hammer, hand trolley

31
and simple saw for cutting trees. The main function of foundation is to transfer structural
loads from the building to earth and most important foundation role is preventing building
failure. As it is known that there is a relationship between the height of building and the
depth of foundation, in these houses this relationship is also have been considered.
According to the two case studies that have been investigated, both houses were two story
houses and the foundation depth was between (1 – 1.5) m, the width of foundation varying
between this range, which is 1 to 1.5 meters. The materials that have been used for the
construction of historical house foundations are basically and primarily large scale stones.
Stones were commonly used for foundation construction for some reasons such as that
stones were low price material and geologically the area is made of many lands that
contain stones such as mountains for examples, which made the material free and not at
prices at all. Process of constructing foundations by using stones, means to put stones to
raise the foundation to the required and suitable level instead of using bricks or
reinforcement concrete as concrete or bricks are frequently used today for foundation of
buildings. So, the type of foundation was stone masonry foundation, stone foundations
having a good resistance to earthquake, rain and insects, this type of foundations are
stable and suitable for all climate conditions, usually 2-4 weeks have been taken for a
foundation to be laid, according to the native and old people who have been interviewed
and asked for the research purpose. And this long period of time for foundation
construction and the whole building itself, could be due to two important and obvious
reasons which are the workers weak skills or unskilled labor for construction, also the
second reason was the lack or insufficient of machines or equipment which made the
process of construction took more time to be done and finished completely. Figure 6.1
shows a foundation constructed by stone.

Figure 6.1: stone foundation

32
6.2 Wall

The walls in old houses have been made of different materials one can see more than one
material in the exterior side of the walls in the traditional houses, but these materials are
often mud or mud bricks which are made of mud, others include clay bricks, stones, wood
and etc. clearly all the materials that have been used in the construction of these houses
generally and the construction of walls especially are local materials, easy to obtain and
easy to work with, also one the most important reasons that made the ancient people use
these local and simple materials for various purposes of construction was the economical
reason, because the materials were not as much as expensive. According to the 2 cases
that have been investigated and based on the arrangement of the bricks that have used as
a primary material in wall construction. As mentioned in chapter 1, two types of bonds
could be considered which are Flemish and Running bond. In case one the bond is
running bond hence the external and internal walls are the same in term of arrangement,
which is in a traditional one over two patterns as shown in figure 6.2.

Figure 6.2: Running bond

The second case Flemish bond could be considered; hence the external and internal walls
could be different in terms of arrangement. As it has been clarified in chapter 1 section
1.3.1, that the Flemish bond could be single or double Flemish bond, in case two the bond
is double Flemish bond, which means front and back elevation have the same view, or
the internal and external walls have the same arrangement. The only difference that can
be noticed is the finishing of the back and front walls in both cases, means the internal
surface of walls have been covered by gypsum or any other material used for covering

33
surfaces, but the external walls are rarely covered so they show the natural mud bricks
shape, as shown in figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3: Flemish bond

Thickness is the primary characteristic of traditional houses walls. 700mm – 800mm is

the range of walls thickness. Ancients have been thought that a thick wall could be a good
support for resisting weather conditions, though the walls could made the room cooler in
summer and warmer in winter. Also constructing a thick wall with applying one of the
bonds which was more suitable for their environment, have been made the walls to gather
enough strength and durability, also the height of walls are often between (2.75 – 3) m.
the reason that the walls have been built high up is often due to the climate, before the
appearance of air conditioners, there was nothing either for cooling or heating, so the idea
of building walls in this height have been come from that situation. Building walls high
helps to air split or ventilation, rising of hotter air and with cool air below, this
combination could produce a natural and clean ventilation.

34
6.3 Openings in walls
The dimension of window openings varies between (80 – 155) cm in width and (130 –
185) cm in height according to the two different case studies that have been investigated.
The lintels in window openings, as shown in figure 6.4 which is a horizontal structural
member that is mostly found in the top of the windows and doors, a change in the width
of the windows causes a difference in size of lintels. According to the research studies if
a window is 80 cm wide then the width of the lintel is 110cm, if 90cm be a width of
window, 120cm will be the size of the lintel. The windows in traditional and historical
houses, mostly have been made of wood and sometimes iron have been used as a material
for constructing window.as shown in figure 6.5.

Figure 6.4: window lintel

Figure6.5: wood and iron window

35
The distance between a window to the next one usually varies between (100- 200) cm.
there was usually two window openings per room in both cases, as shown in figure 6.6.
Also the doors in traditional houses have been as the windows, also the doors in
traditional houses have been had their specific dimensions. The door openings varies
between (70 – 95) cm in width. According to the type of the rooms, i.e. the bigger rooms
or the rooms that have used as living or bedroom, the bigger size of door have been
inserted, for chicken and bathroom smaller size of doors have been used. The height of
the door openings was usually in range between (165 – 180) cm. About the ventilation of
these houses they have been considered two types of techniques, one by leaving or
making a small hole directly under the roof, as shown in figure 6.7. The second technique
was by constructing high walls as mentioned in section 6.1.

Figure 6.6: distance between windows

Figure 6.7: small windows for ventilation

36
6.4. Column
Column is a vertical member that support the structural load and transfer it through
beams. In traditional houses wooden columns were used, Populus nigra tree and walnut
tree were commonly used in the house columns because of its most available in the area
and a good material in building construction purposes with high compression strength.
but in this houses that have been investigated for this research, Populus nigra wood has
been used for this purpose, which is circular in shape, tall, stable, durable, and high
moisture absorption, and also Populus nigra tree has a regular shape and easy to work
with these kind of wood, and has strong efficiency to carry and support the house loads
and it can be modify to the common shape of column. The diameter of the column was
200mm and the approximate height was 2.75m. Shown in figure 6.8. The joint between
the wooden column and the floor was stabled by placing some thin, crumbling stones,
and in above of the column a small piece of wood which has a curved shape was placed
between the column and the beam to providing stability and helped the column to make
resistance against deformation and sliding as shown in figure 6.9.

Figure 6.8: Timber columns (Populus nigra)

Figure 6.9: The joint between beam and column

37
6.5 Stair
The winder-shape stairs as shown in figure 6.10, have been most commonly constructed
in traditional houses. Winder stairs are basically a variety of L-shape stairs but winder
stairs in the corner transition have a pie-shaped or triangular steps instead of flat landing.
the reason why ancient people have been used this type of staircases to be constructed is
due to the space that this type of staircase take, Winder staircases need less space than
other types of staircases, and they are of more visual value than other styles of stairs.
Winder stairs seems to establish visually more smooth transition, as they hang around
corners. Nowadays these type of stair cases are constructed in modern houses, because
of their striking appearance and their ease of moving across this type of stair cases. The
width of staircases in both case studies was (90 cm), and the height of stairs was (20 cm).
From one of the case studies there were 17 steps and the second case the number of steps
in the stair case were 10 steps. Wood or timber and mud have been used as primary
materials for construction of stair cases. As shown in figure 6.11.

Figure 6.10: Winder staircase

Figure 6.11: Wood used in stair case

38
6.6. Roof
A roof is a top covering of a building that support the walls, pass the loads on and
distribute them to the beams, another function of this element is to protect the building
against rain, snow, extremes of temperature and wind. The roof in traditional houses
including some layers, timber is the main material that has been used in roofs and was
set by short and long directions. The main type of timber that has been used in traditional
house roofs is Populus nigra tree, because it has a good strength and high ability in
resisting loads. The first layer of the roof is timber that has been set within the short
direction of the room (main timber) and spacing between the timbers is (350 – 400) mm.
and a layer of old mat has been applied above the main timber that coated with clay
material above it as shown in figure 6.12., and then another layer of timber has been set
in long direction of the room (secondary timber). Shown in figure 6.13. The finishing of
the roof is by covering with a layer of clay that provides the stability of the roof and to
prevent water from entering the wood. In most traditional houses roof’s thickness is a lot
to make more stability and protect the entire house because any damage in the roof effect
the entire house too.

Figure 6.12. The short direction of timber and mat

Figure 6.13: the roof layers in traditional houses

39
6.7. External finishing
Mud or clay have been used as a primary material for finishing the external side if the
traditional houses. Mud with water and husks have been mixed together as a form of a
paste and used to cover the external side of walls also the entire building. Simple
mechanical tools have been used for covering and plastering the surfaces of walls, as
there was not any of the modern electronic machines that is used today for construction
so in the past human have to do most of the work by themselves. Figure 6.14 shows an
example of an external wall finishing.

Figure 6.14: External finishing

6.8. Internal finishing

As the external finishing the same procedure have been followed for finishing and
plastering internal side of walls, the only difference that could be seen or noticed is that
in the internal side gypsum has been used to cover the mud or clay paste, either for a
better look or to make to add more light to the room. An example of finishing internal
wall is shown below in figure 6.15.

41
 Figure 6.15: Wall internal finishing

6.9. Floor finishing

In ancient times the finishing of the floor was only the clay mortar, first the earth has
been cleared and cleaned, then covered by the clay or mud mortar. but also in some
traditional houses after the process of reconstruction for the purpose of conservation of
these buildings, cement has been used a material to cover or plaster the floor, so it has
been given more clean and smooth appearance to the floor of the traditional houses
rooms. As shown in figure 6.16.

Figure 6.16: Floor finishing

41
 CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

In the study of the historical houses in Rwandz, most of the houses were constructed from
these materials that have been achieved from the earth and these have been mostly
available in the area. Mud brick, stone masonry and timber are the main materials that
have been used in these houses. Heavy weight, low material resistance and lack of proper
connection between the main local carrying elements of the building are some of the
major shortcomings in this style of construction.
In these houses that have been studied for this research, large scale , durable stones and
mud mortar have been used in the foundation , where the depth was 1 meter .Mud bricks
have been used in wall construction, the walls were constructed high and the thickness
were varying between ( 70 -80 ) cm and the size of bricks were (20×20×5)cm, obviously
two types of bonds could be seen in these walls, which are Flemish and Running bond .
Columns in traditional houses were made up of timber, in a diameter of 200mm
approximately and 2.75 meters high., Populus nigra was the main timber type that have
been used almost in all structural elements such as roofs, stairs, doors and windows.
Roofs were also made of timber where timbers are set in short direction (with 350 to 400
mm distance between C/C) with a layer of old mat and clay. Winder staircase in form of
box construction was the type of staircases used in these historic houses. Doors and
windows have been made up of timber and windows have been built in vertical shape.
External and internal wall and floor finishing, followed same procedure which is mixing
mud or clay with water and wheat husks, formed into a paste and used to plaster the
surface of walls, sometimes in some cases gypsum have been used to cover the internal
face of walls. These materials aren't strong enough to keep the houses and remain for
many years without cracking and collapsing because of lack of development machines
and any tools that are used to make a strong material or to bring from other places.
Construction of these houses were taken too much time because of unskilled labors and
lack of excellent machines. These buildings need less cost because of using local, most
common and cheap materials.

42
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