Manhattan of the desert-Yemen's Ancient Mud Skyscraper City

Manhattan Of The Desert
Yemen's Ancient Mud Skyscraper City

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Submitted to-
Ar Jaspreet Kaur
Submitted by-
Sumit Ranjan
Harpreet Kaur
Halcyon sharma

Introduction
 Shibam is a town in Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants, It is famous for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings.
 Shibam, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for its distinct architecture. The houses of Shibam are all
made out of mud brick and about 500 of them are tower blocks, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having
one or two rooms.
 This architectural style was used in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks. As an important stop on the spice and
incense trade route, Shibam emerged as a beacon of wealth in the Southern Arabian plateau. The city began as an
enclave for rival families seeking prestige, political power, and protection from Bedouin thieves
 While Shibam has been in existence for an estimated 1,700 years, most of the city's houses originate from the 16th
century. Many, though, have been rebuilt numerous times in the last few centuries.
 Shibam is often called "the oldest skyscraper city in the world" or "the Manhattan of the Middle East" and "the Chicago of
the desert".
 It is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction.
 The city has some of the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 meters (100 feet) high, thus being
early high-rise apartment buildings. In order to protect the buildings from rain and erosion, the walls must be routinely
maintained by applying fresh layers of mud.
 The nearby town of Tarim contains the tallest structure in the Wadi Hadhramaut valley, the mudbrick minaret of the Al-
Mihdhar mosque. It stands at a height of approximately 53 meters (175 feet.) This is the tallest minaret in the
southern Arabian peninsula.
 Shibam is known as the first city on earth with a vertical masterplan.
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Yemen city
Climate
• subtropical dry
• hot desert climate
• low annual rainfall,
• very high temperatures in summer and
• a big difference between maximum and minimum temperatures, especially in the inland areas.
Summer (June to September) is very low rainfall. Daily maximum temperatures can reach easily 40°C or more.
Winter is cooler with occasional rainfall. Spring and autumn are warm, mostly dry and pleasant, with maximum
temperatures between 25°C and 35°C and cooler night Temperatures between 15 and 22°C.
A hot, dust-laden wind, the Shamal, blows in the spring and summer-period, from March till August. sometimes these winds
can be very strong, and cause Sandstorms, that can occur throughout the year, although they are most common in the
spring. Most rain falls during the winter months in sudden, short but heavy cloudbursts and thunderstorms.

Yemen city
Location
Yemen is located in Southwest Asia at the
southern tip of the Arabian
Peninsula between Oman and Saudi
Arabia.
Environmental factors
Yemen is subject to sandstorms and dust
storms, resulting in soil erosion and crop
damage.
The country has very limited natural
freshwater and consequently inadequate
supplies of potable water.
Desertification (land degradation caused
by aridity) and overgrazing are also
problems.
It is a party to international Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of
the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection agreements.

SHIBAM
 The notion of stacked housing quickly became the architectural modus operandi, and thus began the construction of
hundreds of mud brick buildings. The solution the contiguous tower-houses eliminated vulnerabilities from attack, while
simultaneously exhibiting the wealth of th
 The city is surrounded by fertile land employed for agriculture, using an integrated urban system for the simultaneous
generation of food and building materials. After crops are harvested from the surrounding land, soil is collected for
construction inside the walled city - and construction is a continuous process, with the towers requiring regular
maintenance with fresh coats of mud.
 Shibam is historically revered for its ingenious urban planning methods, particularly with architecture that harmonizes
with a population deeply devoted to traditional Muslim culture.
 Early incarnations of Islamic architecture can be noted in the fenestration on the higher levels of the structures while the
ground levels were dictated by security, creating a fortress-like defense system to protect the affluent residents inside
residents.
 "Sometimes called the 'Chicago of the desert' or the 'Manhattan of the desert', the old city of Shibam presents to
historians and urbanists one of the earliest and most perfect examples of rigorous planning based on the principle of
vertical construction," . Credited as the home of the first highrise apartment buildings, Shibam has become a symbol for
the rise and resilience of middle eastern culture in the desolation of the surrounding desert.

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 Like Manhattan, the high-rises of Shibam were built on
a rectangular grid of streets and squares. Unlike
Manhattan, the skyscrapers are made of mud, date
back to the 16th century, and the dusty streets are often
overrun with goats.
 the small town was once a stopping point for traders
traveling along the frankincense and spice routes
 The walled city of “skyscrapers” was built on a hill in
the 1530s after a mighty flood destroyed much of the
existing settlement. Its five hundred huddled buildings,
ranging from five to eleven stories high, are the tallest
mud buildings in the world and provided protection
against the elements and deterred potential attackers.
They continue to shelter the residents of Shibam.
 The tower houses, however, are not immune to damage -
- fresh layers of mud must be applied to the walls
regularly to replace sections eroded by wind and rain.
A tropical storm in October 2008 brought disastrous
floods, causing some of the buildings to collapse.

SITE AND SURROUNDINGS
 There are many natural factors combined to mould the plan of Shibam
into its present, mainly due to the nature of the ground on which it is built.
 The city lies along rocky mountain of the south, making it expand to that
direction.
 Moreover, on its northern, western and eastern borders, the city is
surrounded by palm trees and fields reserved for cultivation.
 The citizens of Shibam had to resort to the construction of close-knit,
narrow but high buildings, rising up to seven or eight storey's, with ceiling-
heights ranging from 2 to 6 meters.
 Hot climate has made the houses to be close-packed, and the streets are
to be shaded to avoid the scorching heat of the sun.
 Shibam is one of few historic cities of the Interior that is not built directly
against a mountain backdrop.
 It sits on a raised earth dais, often described by historians as the mound of
an ancient city’s rubble, and is surrounded by a city wall (sur).
 It was constructed on the main artery that runs east–west through the
middle of the wadi, and was originally entered through its main southern
gateway.
 To the north are agricultural fields, to the west the old cemetery.

 Urban expansion has taken place to the south,
across the flood path (saylah), in the adjacent
town of Sahil Shibam.
 Within the city walls there are 437 private houses
(of which 398 are inhabitable and 39 inruin).
There are six mosques (with an additional six
situated in the spate irrigation fields outside the
city walls), two madrasas and one private zawiya.
 The city has four public squares as well as smaller
plazas between the housing clusters.
 There are four buildings housing charitable
associations; two public palaces, the city gate, two
primary schools (one private and one public), a
health clinic and an administrative complex by the
southern gateway consisting of four buildings.
 There are 134 shops (mostly on the ground floor
of residential buildings).
SITE AND SURROUNDINGS

SHIBAM CITY PLANNING
Urban plan of Shibam (Yemen).
 The harmonious distribution of squares, streets and blind
alleys is the result of the sewage collection used as
fertilizer.
 Each house has a waste disposal system provided with
external outlets (marked in black).
 The latter overlook narrow back streets, blind alleys or
perimeter paths (drawn in brown)
The sewage disposal system:
 Organisation of a blind alley (in yellow on the urban
plan) to discharge the solid and liquid waste dropping
from the houses.
 The two-outlet toilet which allows the separation of liquid
and solid excrement;
 The facade of a building equipped with sewage shafts
and excrement collection baskets.

 Its southern and northern facades are congruous. It is
prominent from the rest of sur’s structure because of its
dimensions and characterised by three arches: the main
central arch and two smaller arches.
 The central arch contains a large wooden gate that is used at
present by cars whereas it was used by caravans and camels
in the past.
 The smaller arches are located one on each sides of the main
arch, each having a gate smaller than the main and are used
by the pedestrians
 The City Wall and Entrance (Sur and Siddah) Mud-brick
wall (sur) surrounds the city .
 The height of the wall varies between 6 and 9 meters.
 There exists only one main gate to the city.
 When closed during the night and wartime, it isolates the
city from the outside world.
 The siddah represents the main defensive position in
Shibam.
The City Wall and Entrance (Sur and Siddah)

The Public Squares (Sahat)
 The plan of the city of Shibam with its narrow sheets with
limited available land area incorporates five public
squares.
 Closed packed houses with public buildings are located
around these squares.
 High buildings surround these squares with open spaces
that function as communal centers that attract visitors and
the immunity on many social and commercial occasions.
Moreover, there are small shops in the narrow streets
forming the facades with commercial activities.
 These are known as (al-dayqah) that are characterised by
narrow entrances on the ground floors of the houses next to
their main entrances.
 The main square is called (Sahat al Husn) and covers an
area of 39 x 79 meters (43 x 86 yards). Sahat al-Rashid
Mosque is the second largest square with an area of about
79 x 24 meters (87 x 26 yards).

Traditional Layout and Climate in Shibam City
In designing and planning dry, wet and hot regions, architecture encounter two major problems:
1- Securing protection from heat,
2- Providing sufficient air conditioning.
The sun, a main source of light and heat, forms certain secondary element of climate such as winds and humid
which have a significant effect on man’s physiological wellbeing and comfort.
Undoubtedly climate is a determining factor in Shibam traditional planning. Thus, it is noticed that there is a sort
of systemization in the urban structure of all dry and hot regions; the traditional planning of the town is
characterized by:
1 - Narrow zigzag roads,
2 - Vast open Squares.

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 The city plan usually has large squares that function as a storage of pure moderate cold air.
 The narrow zigzag roads, which are open into vistas with closed end, do the same function of the squares.
 They store the moderate cold air at night and do not let it leak at the first blow of air .
 This occurs in the case of network planning of large streets. It becomes clear here that the traditional planning is better than
the vertical network planning in the large street. However, the traditional planning does not assimilate traffic cars, but there
are some solutions to this problem.
 For instance, a ring road from which internal streets with closed ends are branching can surround the housing area.

The Needs of Ventilation
 The outside surface of these buildings is least exposed to the external environment surface are painted with Lime that
possesses high reflective property compared to other materials
 Response of the thermal traditional building to the high temperature difference of day and night occurs through the heavy
massed walls and roofs of high thermal insulation and high thermal storage capacity, The clay building elements absorb the
short wave radiation of the solar energy preventing heat from passing to the inside of the building.
 The heat is absorbed in these elements during the day and released to the outside atmosphere during the night. Moreover,
lime painted surfaces are highly heat-emissive.
 Clayed walls are distinguished with walls of other materials in many aspects, e.g. the time lag in conducting heat of clay
walls is double to that of concrete walls and the decrement factor is quarter of that in concrete walls. This is caused by the
low thermal conductivity of clay that results from its low density due to the air voids that are dispersed in clay after
evaporation of water during the drying process. Moreover, specific thermal heat of clay is relatively higher than other
building materials. In clayed buildings, much of the heat is released during late night hours to the outside atmosphere where
it gets cooler and denser.
 The high air density causes it to lower into the narrow streets and the open yards where it remains until morning. As such
these air masses work like cold storages that supply the buildings, specially the lower levels, with cold breeze that flows to
the inside pushing the warm air upwards by the convection process through the top windows.
 From the temperature comfort requirement of shading and sun lighting, it is observed that the ideal shape between the
masses in the rectangle which longer side extends between the East and the West and which height is not less than any of its
horizontal dimensions.

 The geometrical ratios of space is much important than its orientation, a conclusion that conforms to the field survey of
the residential complexes in Shibam city.
 The mud brick buildings have thick walls often a metre and a half at the bottom tapering to half a metre at the top.
 The mass of the walls is ideal for keeping the inside of the building cool.
 Window openings are kept small and located to avoid direct sunlight and have ornate wooden lattice which provide
shade as well as privacy.
 Taller buildings also have a shaft adjacent to the main staircase which acts as a chimney for “pulling” a breeze thro’
the building, cooler air at ground level being drawn up thro the building.
 The layout of the buildings -close together, means they provide shade for one another and also shade the ravine like
streets in between.
 After a long and still continuing experiment with “western” construction the Hadhramis have recognised the inherent
qualities of their mud brick buildings, and although the latter are more labour intensive and slower, [in the past a tower
house may take five to eight years to build] there is also an inclination to return to the traditional way.
 A visitor will notice many lime kilns as well as fields of mud bricks drying in the sun.
 Sometimes nurah is applied to the whole roof surface; it is built up in layers, increasingly more refined and then
painstakingly “polished” using a specially shaped stone. The nurah is also used decoratively: around windows and
doors and it is also nurah from which the intense decoration of the Tarim palaces is made.
The Needs of Ventilation

ARCHITECTURAL IMPRESSION & PLANNING CONCEPT
 The impression is enhanced by the abundance of windows, usually open, with wooden shutters, or harem grilles, and
ventilation openings – often two at different levels on each floor; and by the long lines of shadows cast by the corners
and edges of buildings in the afternoon sun.
 Those who can afford it limewash their houses to protect them against termites and against the rains and flooding which
occur from time to time.
In general the windowless lower floors are used for grain storage, with areas for domestic use above and those for family
and leisure above that.
 The main room on the second floor is used by men for socializing. It often has wonderful carved plasterwork and
freestanding decorated wooden columns supporting the ceiling, while women's areas are found higher, usually on the third
or fourth floor.
 The highest rooms are for communal use by the whole family, and on the upper levels there are often bridges and doors
connecting the houses.
 These are a defensive feature, but also a practical one – especially for old people who find it difficult to walk up and
down the interminable staircases.
 Despite being built with sun-dried mud bricks, the fortified city from the the 16th-century is in fact based on the principle
of vertical construction, with almost no fenestration on the ground level, rising up to the height of eight storey.
 Its plan is trapezoidal, with tower houses built within the outer walls for defense from rival families and political prestige.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES OF MUD BUILDINGS
Mud
bricks
drying The mud is mixed with chopped straw and water and then spread into
simple wooden moulds on the ground to bake hard.
 The bricks are more like flat cakes approximately 45 centimetres long by
30 cm wide, narrower bricks are made for the upper storeys . They are
75 to 100 cm thick.
 To make a wall they are laid interlocking with a mud mortar and then
rendered with a finer mud layer to make the wall smooth.
 But what stops it being washed away?– It’s a common question. The
answer is-the type of earth, which is just the right combination clay and
silt and sand – it just sets very hard and although a thin outer layer may
get washed off during the rainy season it is basically waterproof.
 Even the flat roof? The roof and parapet walls at the top of the buildings
are the most vulnerable area- an earth building needs “a good hat and
boots”-the boots are a stone built plinth, often the first two metres of the
building above the ground, which stops moisture in the ground rising up
and provides protection from abrasion by people and animals.
 The hat- the roof- is also covered in mud, with vulnerable parts such as
parapets coated with a high quality lime render called “nurah”.
Shibam rooftops

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ADVANTAGES OF MUD BUILDINGS
1. The material are available in large quantities,
2. Low cost materials, so low-income families can afford
it,
3. Simple construction techniques may be used when
constructing with this system,
4. It is suitable for the construction to most parts of the
building,
5. It is non-a flammable material-resistance to fire,
6. It has high thermal capacity, low thermal conductivity,
and can maintain comfortable internal temperature,
7. It is a material of low energy usage. Subsequently, it
saves biomass fuel and as a result, it conserves the
environment.
8.When a building is to be replaced and renewed it is
demolished and the earth is re-used.
PUBLIC PLACE

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Madrasa
Al-Hara
minaret,
restorated
in 2004.
Before and
after.
Siqaya Al-Hayyara, restorated in 2003. Before and after.
Haroun
Rashid
Square
Street
of
Shibam

Manhattan of the desert-Yemen's Ancient Mud Skyscraper City

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