Traditional heritage architecture in light of green architecture concepts (Zabid city as a case study)

Abstract

Traditional heritage architecture is one of the most important features of the urban character of many ancient Arab cities. It reflects the ingenuity of our ancestors in exploiting the surrounding environment and their good treatment of it in order to meet their material and moral needs within the framework of an integrated urban environment. On the other hand, green architecture represented one of the architectural concepts that emerged after the energy crisis in the seventies of the last century, as many architects directed architectural research. And Al-Omrani to search for new architecture through which the user’s requirements can be obtained without harming the surrounding environment. From this standpoint, some architects crystallized architectural designs that focused on studying the long-term environmental impact, starting with implementation and then operation and periodic maintenance of buildings. But the question here is: Is traditional heritage architecture considered an architectural reference for modern architecture? What can we benefit from this traditional heritage architecture?

The research aims to confirm the extent to which traditional architecture in the city of Zabid fulfills the concepts and principles of green architecture. To achieve the research goal, the research adopted the inductive and analytical approach. The first part of the research addresses the study and analysis of information on the concepts and principles of green architecture in general, while the second part examines traditional heritage architecture in the historic city of Zabid in Yemen - as a case study - which represents one of the most important traditional heritage cities in Yemen. And the Arab world, which was registered on the World Heritage List in 1990 AD. In the third part, the traditional heritage architecture in the city of Zabid was evaluated from the perspective of the concepts and principles of green architecture, and in the fourth part of the research, the results of that evaluation were discussed on how to benefit from ancestral heritage architecture. The last part presents the conclusions and recommendations reached by the research.