17 — Sustainable Architecture: Low-Tech or High-Tech?
Center for building crafts in Saint Catherine, Egypt Extract from a presentation by Mona Elkabbany and Nahla Makhlouf
History and tourist attraction Monastery of Saint Catherine, The Rock of Moses, UNESCO world heritage area Building program — Built Area: 300 square meters — Components: training halls, internal open space (Mag’aad), kitchen, toilet — Usage: The building was constructed to be a training center for local building crafts in Saint Catherine — Construction Techniques: rammed earth walls, stone walls and foundation, timber flat roof, dry toilet, constructed wetland, natural cooling and warming Architecture and Construction Building technique of the Bedouin were taken from the Byzantine settlers, standing away from the flood area. Form — Houses are built next to huge boulders, small rock shelters and storage rooms are constructed under the boulders — Simple and small stone structures with rounded walls, flat roofs, small openings and doors
Materials Stone and rock structures, cane roofing Rammed earth — This technique was chosen as an alternative to cement blocks that are currently used by Beduins in building. — Walls are constructed on a layer of a rock high-leveled foundation. — Bedouins interacted better with the manual ramming than the pneumatic rammers. — Different samples of soil from the surrounding desert were tried and sent to the laboratory for testing. Stone walls The second type of wall construction is using stone. It is a common natural construction material in Katrina. Bedouins use the large irregular stones from the mountain that are driven by the flood into the valley. Clay mortar was used. ●