THE IMPACT OF MASHRABIYA ON BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE AND SOCIAL CULTURAL ASPECTS IN HOT CLIMATES

Abstract

With the adoption and influence of Western designs, the architecture in Jeddah has experienced a loss in Hejazi architectural identity resident’s lack of privacy, contributing to the increase in energy consumption. In this study, a clear outline of the background to the causes and the effects of the increase in energy consumption will be elaborated focusing on the actual specific research area of Jeddah. In the construction of buildings, the shift from traditional to contemporary architecture resulted in the use of air condition (AC) to improve the indoor environmental quality due to the hot climatic conditions. The over-use of air condition in residential buildings led to the increase in energy usage which resulted in the government suspending the subsidy for electricity for residents followed by the increase in electricity tariffs in an attempt to minimise the usage of electricity. The research study aims to address the problems associated with the shift in architectural and the effect of operational systems by analysing the impact of mashrabiya on energy performance and identifying the social cultural needs of residents to preserve privacy and Hejazi architectural identity in residential buildings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The research approach included an initial pilot survey to ensure the effectiveness of the research methods, questions, and overall research procedure. In this survey the researcher interviewed 3 residents who owned and built the villas for 3 days. The survey questions addressed mainly the three areas of the research which include energy consumption, identity, and privacy as well as mashrabiya. According to the pilot survey results all the residents interviewed acknowledged the fact that re-instating mashrabiya would provide privacy and enhance Hejazi architectural identity. In the area of energy consumption, the results indicated various factors that impact on energy consumption including the area, number, and behaviour of people. The relevant information identified from the literature review in relation to the objectives of this research, the historic facts about mashrabiya in terms of energy performance, particularly VII in Saudi Arabia, were combined with data collected through 261 online questionnaires. The respondents also included 8 specialists’ interviews from 4 government organisations and 48 residents from Albasateen district as well as observations and results from measurements which were then used to calculate the entry information to simulate the modelled case study villa. A range of simulations were than conducted to evaluate the building performance in terms of lighting and energy consumptions together with indoor environmental quality’ and social cultural related issues. According to the specialists’ interview results, 100% state that mashrabiya is the most significant Hejazi architectural element which provides identity. In relation to the residents’ privacy the online and interview results show 94% of respondents who claim to have privacy while from the observations and further investigation on privacy 100% use window treatment such as curtains, blackouts, and shutters to provide privacy which indicates that they lack privacy. Therefore, the use of mashrabiya will provide both identity and privacy. One of the research areas included the energy usage, the results from simulation showed significant reduction in total energy usage in an existing villa case study compared with the villa case study with gypsum mashrabiya with large hole design. The results showed a decrease from 106, 114 kWh to 94, 115 kWh a total reduction of 11, 999 kWh (11%). It can therefore be concluded that if mashrabiya is re-instated it has great potential to restore not only the Hejazi architectural identity but will also provide resi