Developing the Traditional Methods for Modernization and Maintenance the Mud Brick House (The City of Shibam Hadhramout as a Model)

Abstract

Yemen in general and Hadhramout in particular is replete with a rich cultural, tradition and ancient heritage. The most important one is the clay architecture arts; in Hadhramout there are many of the examples of the clay architecture such as some existed cities full of life. The most famous and important one is the Historical City of Shibam with its wall. Shibam with its palaces, fortresses, towers and houses with over 500 years of age. Their altitude reaches up to eight floors. They are considered the oldest altitude skyscrapers in the world. Despite that the city is inhabited but its buildings still need maintenance. Also the existence of its buildings in an old architecture environment makes them suffer from physical infrastructure limitations and their inability to meet the emerging needs of life and the prosperity of modern health services -such as health services, spacious rooms and other requirements of the Modern House in addition to ongoing maintenance requirements. This made them vulnerable to emigrate and serious neglect, and hence the deterioration and oblivion. Despite their traditional expertise for hundreds of years in building operations and maintenance, but there were some errors and deficiencies in circulation across generations need to be correct and re-examined in order to access to scientific solutions in the industry of mud bricks, roofing, and the outside layer (the coating) as well as addressing the cracks and mud building diseases .This research aims to study the buildings-maintenance of the historical city of Shibam Hadhramout, at this time as a model for ways to restore mud buildings with the traditional methods to come up with recommendations aimed to develop the maintenance and modernization of the house in a steady scientific method .