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Sustainability in Architectural Research Guide

11 Nov 2021

Before a team of architects decides to build a house or a residential place, the first thing they look for is a proper location where they can install or execute their plans in, the second and most essential matter they consider is the materials they are going to use in order to bring about the best possible experience for both the company responsible for supervising the plans and the residents who are going to live in this house/place.

Sustainability in Architectural Research

Sustainability in Architectural Research Article

For a long time, traditional methods in extracting resources and materials were always used with little to no regard to the effects or impacts on the environment and the sustainability of the resources themselves. However, the Ibrahim Joharji & INJ Architecture team finally decided it was time to pay more attention to the methods or processes in which natural resources can be extracted, those that allow our houses and buildings to stand high, whether they are the rocks that we cut and mold, or the water and other liquid materials utilized in construction and building.

Design by Ibrahim Joharji, INJ Architecture

The art of stone cutting

As new and innovative ways in designing and styling houses and buildings emerge nowadays, it was only natural that even newer methods of processing the very materials themselves that form these buildings emerge as well. The team came up with various ways of cutting and using rocks that can employ all the parts that are produced after the cutting process, whether big or small, and to make the best use out of these pieces in a way that does not force us to dispose of most of the rocks or their fragments. The methods include cutting rocks with chemicals, blasting or carefully and effectively crushing them into smooth slabs without disposing of the crude or rough parts of a rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=543qfRGLS3E

That way, the most unrefined mountains of rocks can make a great source of materials and resources. Chemistry, as well, can aid a lot in these processes as well, although a team of ecology experts is required to further study this method, it seems promising and if employed right, can save a lot of time and energy without polluting or damaging the environment.

Furthermore, reusing rock fragments and smaller pieces can not only help to preserve our environment and resources, but it can also encourage plenty of other fields to flourish (such as art, architecture, science, geology and even biology), thus, relying extensively on new resources will only damage sustainability and eventually we will run out of materials; therefore, it is vital and necessary to study newer methods that can reuse rock remains in innovative and useful ways that maintain the production of both nature and man.

Sustainability in Architectural Research

Purifying AC water and reusing it:

The thought might sound out of place for Europeans, It is very strange to see the Saudi architect do this, but Ibrahim Joharji pays great attention to architectural research dedicated to sustainability, considers it a charitable endowment that he provides to the community and the country so Americans or other people that live in coasty and Mediterranean areas where water is abundant, but deserts and rocky, dry areas cover most of Saudi Arabia’s terrains, it is a subtropical area where rain is scarce and water sources are always limited or almost absent.

For that reason, the team suggested that it was time to look for other ways that can grant us the ability to provide water, preserve it and use it in a way that does not place the country in danger of running out of water sources. It was argued that water that generated by air conditioners be purified and reused in various daily life occurrences such as cleaning, watering plants, washing the laundry or bathing, instead of using drinkable water for those purposes.

The use of air conditioning to cool rooms or halls in the extremely hot weather is indispensable in almost all areas and cities in the country; therefore, a great amount of water is being generated by air conditioners daily, which is almost always wasted and poured inside gutters, waterways, or left to dry instantly in the heat of the day, thus being ultimately useless without having its potential benefits employed, for that reason the team resolved to start studying methods and processes that allow us to gather air conditioning water the same we do with rain water, by constructing special tanks or containers that preserve it and keeps it from drying up where it can later be moved and processed or purified, and later implement these methods in a larger number of areas that run air conditioners 24/7, where it can become a reminder to house or company owners that water should be preserved and not wasted.

AC water waste reuse

Maintaining natural resources sustainability has become vital in the Arabian region, and doing more research into all of the possible ways that help keep these resources and preventing their exhaustion is now essential, the talented team offered these scientifically plausible methods that can both protect our environment and utilizing its resources -without exhaustion- in the best way that is useful to both the Arabian people and the tourists or travelers that look for a comfortable, affordable and unpolluted residence in this country.

Sustainability in Architectural Research

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