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Oasis
of Taghit (Algerian Sahara). The compact and clustered urban
agglomeration made up of adobe houses recalls the first forms
of proto-urban settlement found in Anatolia.
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The
adobe walls surround the small tilled parcels and contribute to
the water balance. When the wind penetrates the narrow interstices
in the plano-convex bricks it accelerates and expands making the
temperature decrease. The raw earth mixture absorbs and releases
humidity into the soil.
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The
oasis of Taghit, in the Algerian Sahara, and the adobe fortified
habitat. At the foot of the dunes, the oasis is supplied with
the waters filtering through below the Great Western Erg.
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The
Hadramaut valley and the ancient walled town of Shibam surrounded
by the embankments and the channels of the traditional system
of flood sharing and cultivation of the fields, most of which
are now abandoned.
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The
dwellings of Shibam are tall tower-houses made of raw earth. Each
house is inhabited by a single family which is able to build the
massive construction thanks to the low cost of the material.
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Shibam
(Yemen). The ancient dam was not used to create an open-air basin
but rather to direct the floods (figure below) to the embankments,
the channels and the depressions in the gardens.
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Oasis
settlement: a, b) planimetry at the level of the plain and the
terraces; c) axonometric projection. The surface of the terraces
extends forward on the covered narrow streets which are inserted
as a tunnel in the built-up area.
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