Desert Architecture Review of Ghadames Housing in Libya ✓ Most Recent

This paper assesses the most common architectural and operational issues in Ghadames housing in Libya. A preliminary data collectedthrough a field survey, which was undertaken in July summer 2013 during the hottest and driest season of Ghadames Oasis. The surveyinvestigated the indoor thermal environment and the efficiency of the energy use in Ghadames housing. The subjective survey "questionnaire"distributed among 9 new and 8 old houses showed that majority of respondents were satisfied with the most architectural issues in modern housingdesign excluding the inherited identity of the traditional architecture embedded within the society. On the other hand, occupants were more satisfiedwith traditional buildings in regard to the indoor environmental conditions, energy consumption, construction material and the architectural style.The survey also carried out interviews with number of locals underlining their personal impressions and preference towards the change of theexisting built environment. The Actual Mean Vote scale (AMV) coupled with physical measurements to the indoor environmental conditionsand the layout design of traditional houses were employed in the objective survey to (a) verify the subjective data (b) provide an overall view of theresidents' life style in old town of Ghadames. The result indicated that irrespective of the energy consumptions in contemporary houses, occupants'satisfaction and perception towards the built environment have not been achieved in housing development of Ghadames owing to the lack ofunderstanding the sociocultural and the needs of local community.

Keywords: Desert Architecture, Indoor Environmental Conditions, Architectural Design, Social Sustainability.