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Traditional multi-story house (Tower House) in Sana’a City, Yemen. An

example of sustainable architecture

Article  in  AEJ - Alexandria Engineering Journal · February 2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.aej.2020.01.001

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Alexandria Engineering Journal (2020) 59, 381–387

H O S T E D BY
Alexandria University

Alexandria Engineering Journal

www.elsevier.com/locate/aej
www.sciencedirect.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Traditional multi-story house (Tower House) in

Sana’a City, Yemen. An example of sustainable
architecture
Ahmed S. Attia

Jordan University of Science and Technology, College of Architecture and Design, Jordan

Received 1 December 2019; revised 27 December 2019; accepted 1 January 2020

Available online 17 January 2020

KEYWORDS
Traditional architecture;
Sustainable architecture;
The multi-story house
(Tower House);
Mudbricks;
Qamariya, Mashrabiyyah;
Zero-carbon emission
Abstract Yemen characterized by its unique traditional architecture; it is evident that every region
in the country has its architectural character, which influenced by the local context (natural and cul-
tural environments), and has many heritage sites registered with UNESCO heritage areas.
The study includes an overview of the different types of traditional houses in different regions in
Yemen, and an analytical study for the traditional multi-story house (Tower House) in Sana’a City
in Yemen as a case study with an emphasis on its components, building materials, construction sys-
tems, ornaments, opening’s treatment (Qamariya and Mashrabiyyah), environment, and its spatial
organization.
The conclusion summarizes the Tower House components and its relationship to sustainable
architecture and the lessons to be learned from this example.
Ó 2020 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an
open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction part known as the Tihama region. Fig. 1 shows the Geography
of Yemen.
The Arab Republic of Yemen is located in the south of Saudi Old Sanaa City and the Old Walled City of Shibam, regis-
Arabia, west of Oman, and overlooks the Red Sea and the tered with UNESCO heritage areas [2].
Gulf of Adan. The Arabian Gulf overlooks Bab al-Mandab, The study includes an overview of the different types of tra-
which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, one of the ditional houses in Yemen, and analytical study of the tradi-
vital shipping corridors in the world. Geography in Yemen dif- tional multi-story house (Tower House) and its components,
fers from coastal plains adjacent to the highlands and moun- as an example of sustainable architecture.
tains and extending to the Arabian Peninsula. The climate in
Yemen varies from one region to another; most of it is a desert
climate and the hottest areas in the eastern part of the country. 2. Traditional house in Yemen
Also, there are areas with high humidity in the western coastal
The differences of topography, climate, construction systems,
E-mail address: asattia@just.edu.jo and available building materials from one region to another,
Peer review under responsibility of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria has emerged different models of houses. In the Area of
University. Tehama (coastal strip of the Red Sea), the people live in round
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2020.01.001
1110-0168 Ó 2020 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
382 A.S. Attia

Fig. 2 Reed Huts in the Tihama region [4].

Fig. 1 Geography of Yemen [1].

or square-shaped huts similar to the African villages along the

Red Sea and facing Yemen, which confirms the permanent
presence of culture and trade between Tihama and east Africa.
Walls and roofs built from carved wooden trunks tied together
with ropes and covered either by the leaves of the Qusaib plant Fig. 3 Multi-story house (Tower House), Sana’a City. Source:
(Reed Plant), and from inside covered by layers of clay (a mix- Author.
ture of clay, and straw), it provides the interior with cold and
fresh air. The wall of mud or al-Qusaib plant (reed plant) built
as a fence to protect the village from the outside. The hut
forms one isolated room hut for cooking purposes, while the
rest of it used as living spaces [3].
Sana’a City and its surrounding villages in the central high-
lands, the house more sophisticated and complex, where it rises
for three floors or more and built of stones and mud bricks.
On the eastern side and to the far north of the central high-
lands region, the architecture is different from the central part,
as stones were used only in the foundations, and the rest of the
house consists of layers mud mixed with straw where the clay
blocks are placed on top of each other and then left to dry.
Fig. 4 Oldest Skyscraper, Shibam, Yemen [5].
2.1. In general, Yemeni houses classified into four types
2.1.3. The multi-story house (Tower House)
2.1.1. The most primitive houses (reed huts) includes all the elements in the other houses, and it is consid-
which is the one-story house built of reed and clay together ered the essential house. Fig. 3 shows a Multi-story house
form and contains living rooms places for animal breeding (Tower House), Sana’a City.
and stores, and often do not have windows and ventilated from
the top of the ceiling. Fig. 2 shows Reed huts in the Tihama 2.1.4. And the oldest skyscrapers of Shibam city
region. constructed from clay as high-rise residential houses. Fig. 4
shows the Oldest Skyscraper, Shibam, Yemen.
2.1.2. The most developed house consists of two floors
and is built of stone and blocks and has an outside staircase to 3. Sanaa city location and its parts
serve the living parts located on the upper two floors and the
ground floor used for animal breeding, kitchen, and toilets Sana’a City stands for a strategic position and lies in the center
generally placed outside the home. of Yemen in the middle of the high plane above the surface of
Traditional multi-story house (Tower House) 383

Table 1 Population of large

cities in Yemen: [7].
City name 2019 Population
Sanaa 1,937,451
Al Hudaydah 617,871
Ta‘izz 615,222
Aden 550,602
Ibb 234,837
Dhamar 160,114

Fig. 7 Gates to separate between residential and commercial

areas. Source: Author.

Fig. 5 Sana’a City map [9].

Fig. 8 House back garden (Al-Bustan). Source: Author.

Fig. 9 House decorated wooden doors. Source: Author.

Fig. 6 Aqil Mosque’s Minaret. Source: Author.
Mount Nqm, about 2300 m above sea level, and it occupies an
important strategic position since the pre-Islamic period. And
since 1968, the city has been overgrowing, doubling in size,
swallowing the surrounding villages. The city divided into
three parts separated by barrier walls, each part characterized
by its exterior character and distinctive style.
3.2. Previously, the central part of the city
called ‘‘Bir Al-Azab” consists of a group of gardens and orch-
ards interspersed with some palaces belonging to the Imam
and his entourage.
3.3. The western part

3.1. The eastern part of the city: is the largest and most
important part, including old
Neighborhoods, markets, and mosques. The buildings of this
part characterized by the Traditional House (Tower House).
it included the Jews district, which consisted of many neigh-
borhoods, including narrow alleys and a small market dividing
the city into two broad sections north and south, and sepa-
rated the Jews district and Bir Al-Azab (the central part of
the city) [6].
384 A.S. Attia

e: entrance wr: women’s room

a: animal’s stalls m: mafraj
s: store o: loading mounting animals
swr: sanitary waste room rr: reception room & business
w: water well br: bedroom
d: dewan t: terrace
k: kitchen j: grain and fruit store
uc: upper court wb: window box (Mashrabiyyah)
sh: shaft
lb: lavatory/bathroom
Fig. 10 Spatial organization of the traditional multi-story house (Tower House) in Sana’a City [3].

Fig. 11 Shows building facades with its unique ornaments. Source: Author.

4. The population of Sana’a 5. The urban composition of Sana’a City

The population of the Republic of Yemen is 29,373,158, the The urbanization in the city of Sana’a as in the rest of the
average population density is 52.25/km2, and the community Yemeni cities and some rural areas as the vertical buildings
of Sana’a City is 1,937,451, and 15,000 people per square meter (Multi-story house) are dominant and forming the residential
[7,8]. Table 1 shows the population of large cities in Yemen. communities.
Traditional multi-story house (Tower House)
Fig. 12 Building facades show the use of stone on lower floors and mud bricks in upper floors and ornaments. Source: Author.
Fig. 13 Preparing Mud bricks. Source: Author.
Fig. 14 Furnace to burn mud bricks. Source: Author.
Similar to other Islamic cities, Sana’a City has a cohesive
urban tissue, consisting of markets, mosques, Fig. 5 shows
the Sana’a City map. Mosque’s minaret ornaments, residential
neighborhoods, and hotels, residential areas are separated
from the commercial sectors with gates, and mostly we find
that all cities and villages are fortified either by choosing its
385
Fig. 15 The Qamariya made of gypsum frame and chips of
colored alabaster. Source: Author.
location above the mountain tops or by making walls sur-
rounding them as in Sanaa city.
Figs. 6 and 7 shows a mosque minaret and the gates sepa-
rate between residential and commercial areas.
Sana’a houses, rise from the center of extensive gardens and
orchards (grown with vegetables and fruits) but do not see
from the streets and consist of two to seven floors fronting
each other providing shading, Fig. 8 shows the house back-
gardens.
6. The traditional multi-story Tower House in Sana’a
6.1. The spatial organization of the traditional (multi-story)
house in Sana’a City
The house entered through wooden or metal, rich in decora-
tions, and leads to a large hall with no windows, including
spaces in two levels. Spaces in ground-level used as a place
for breeding animals, while the upper ones on the first level
used as storage places for storing dried grains and vegetables
and one used for hand millwork doors Fig. 9 shows the deco-
rated wooden doors.
Bedrooms, living, and dining rooms are the most private
section and located on different floors up to the roof where
there is an area between 12 and 18 m limited in use to the
owner of the house and his private guests (the Mafraj). The
‘‘Mafraj” is considered the wealthiest room in its decorations
[3]. Fig. 10 illustrates the spatial organization of the Tradi-
tional multi-story house (Tower House).
386
Fig. 16 Different types of windows treatments (with wooden or brick Mashrabiyyah) topped by the Qamariya. Source: Author.
6.2. Architectural character
The idea of multi-story houses has often devised from guard
towers. It is used in its construction of stone, clay, and mud-
brick or combines these materials and built on three floors
or more with an interior staircase. Lighting and ventilation
usually provided by windows and wall openings as well as
Qamariya (top window part of which placed in gypsum frames
in colored stained glass).
Stairs from the ground floor to upper floors represent the
backbone of the house. Most of these stairs are ventilated by
windows to form with other openings, the continuous cross
ventilation of the house. The traditional house (multi-story)
in Sana’a built on a solid basis of blocks of basalt stone-
carved 1/2 m of the ground and the outer walls of both the
ground and first floor of a unique group of limestone with
some black stones building corners [3]. The windows contrasts
applied in the whole facades. Figs. 11 and 12, shows the build-
ing facades with its unique ornaments, and the use of stone on
lower floors and mud bricks in upper floors and ornaments.
The floor from the third to the seventh built of burnt mud
brick [10]. Figs. 13 and 14 shows the process of preparation of
mud bricks, and furnace to heat the bricks.
Sana’a houses characterized by its facades, and the appear-
ance of bricks and windows surrounded by white plaster, cov-
ered with stained transparent and colored glass ‘‘Qamariya,”
(yellow, red and blue) allowing sunlight to paint a beautiful
shape on the other wall for the room, forming double contracts
inside and outside, as shown in Fig. 15.
Traditional chips made of alabaster, which still found in
many houses where the opportunity to provide to a warm
and dark light only by entering, as there is a prominent win-
dow ‘‘Mashrabiyyah,” almost in all houses, which is a promi-
nent cavity used mainly to cool water with pottery and works
as a natural refrigerator, the water stays cold even in hot times.
It provides privacy, as women are allowed to see the outside
without the possibility of seeing them from outside [11].
Fig. 16 show different forms of Mashrabiyyah and ornaments.
A.S. Attia
7. Sustainability
The first definition for sustainability was on 1987, in the Uni-
ted Nations World Commission on Environment and Devel-
opment in report titled ‘‘Our Future, and also known as
Brundtland’s report in recognition of former Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland’s role as Chair of the World
Commission on Environment and Development, which based
on three foundations of the economy, sociology, and environ-
ment [12].
Also, the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), also known as ‘‘Earth Summit,” held
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3 to 14 June 1992. A significant
achievement of UNCED was Agenda 21, attended by repre-
sentatives of 179 countries to resettle the impact of human
socio-economic activities on the environment and vice versa,
discussed a thorough and broad-ranging program includes
actions demanding new ways for investing in our future to
reach global sustainable development, [13].
7.1. Multi-story house (Tower House) in Sana’a City and
sustainability
The Multi-story house used low-technology and natural mate-
rials in its construction; stone, mud-bricks for walls and wood
for ceilings, which have no harmful effects on the environment,
and it could reuse. The spatial organization, distributed
according to the social needs, and orientation, providing cold
rooms in summer and warm rooms during winter. And, the
window openings topped by the Qamariya (stained colored
glass), and the Mashrabiyyah (window box), provide adequate
natural lighting and cross ventilation, without the need to use
any mechanical or artificial systems.
Every house contains a back yard providing the house res-
idents with vegetables, water well, and the solid waste used as a
fuel in mud-brick furnaces. In general, it fulfills the socio-
economic needs.
Traditional multi-story house (Tower House)
Also, the city urban composition consists of narrow paths
with building facades fronting each other, providing shadows,
and the residential and commercial areas are separated to pro-
vide privacy for residents and to avoid pollution. From the
above mentioned, the Multi-story house is following sustain-
able principles.
8. Conclusion
It is evident from the study for the multi-story house (Tower
House) Sana’a City, in Yemen, that the studied house consid-
ered as an example followed the principles of sustainable archi-
tecture, for the following:
 Generally, the traditional house design is fulfilling the
socio-economic needs.
 Used building materials are natural materials of clay, reed
plants, or stone walls with Zero-Carbon emission and could
be recycled and used.
 House spatial organizations fulfill social and climate needs.
 The residential communities include basins to collect rain-
water for reuse in agriculture purposes.
 Solid waste was dried and used as fuel in the manufacture of
bricks
 Window openings with its topped ‘‘Qamariya” allow for
adequate natural lighting and save energy consumption.
 ‘‘Mashrabiyyah” provides privacy and cold air.
Also, it is essential mentioning that sustainable architecture
and its elements initially found in cities and architecture in
most of the Arab regions.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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