IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v28y2013icp130-165.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A guideline for assessing of critical parameters on Earth architecture and Earth buildings as a sustainable architecture in various countries

Author

Listed:
  • Niroumand, Hamed
  • Zain, M.F.M
  • Jamil, Maslina

Abstract

For thousands of years, Earth itself has been the most tried and tested natural construction material that can also be used to construct modern sustainable buildings in combination with modern methods. For centuries, humanity has understood very little of the technical and material properties of natural resources, often creating buildings and structures with serious failures in durability, strength and corrosion resistance. Many engineering properties have been understood in the past, and now more fully in highly developed societies, but with this increased knowledge, many other factors seem to have been lost. There has been no modern attempt to connect Earth′s architecture and Earth′s buildings, and this topic creates the foundation of this study. This study considers seven parameters including the role of national codes and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), triggers, drivers, obstacles and reasons in the development of the architecture of Earth and Earth′s buildings. Other parameters stem from online questionnaires conducted in six countries that evaluated the importance of architectural styles, construction methods, materials, structural and economic aspects, climate conditions, and new technologies like nanotechnology. The online questionnaires were completed based on various aspects of the existing research, literature review and discussion with several senior architects and researchers at ICOMOS. The questionnaires were conducted in between 14 August and 14 November 2012, and the responses came from ICOMOS members from USA, UK, Australia, Iran, India and Malaysia. Upon completion the 763 survey responses were compared, which approximated a confidence interval of 95% and a margin of error of ±5%. The responses were investigated using regression analysis for producing related equations on parameters and their relationship in each country. An average of 71% of the respondents found a lack of national codes and guidelines in all countries. Thirty-four percent of the respondents voted for acceptable ICOMOS influence in a shift toward more Earth architecture development. Around 32% of the respondents feel that a single factor, an integrated process where responsibility is shared, could be responsible for driving the Earth architecture in all countries. The main environmental reasons cited for Earth architecture by an average of 58% of the respondents included protection of the environment, minimizing the ecological impact of buildings, and waste reduction. The main social cause noted for Earth buildings by 34% of respondents was a moral imperative of being sustainable. An average of 58% of respondents voted that the main obstacles for the Earth architecture were lack of awareness, perceived higher upfront costs, and lack of education. Therefore, the survey results indicate that appropriate parameter choices and proper decisions in the design and construction stage could lead to developing Earth architecture and Earth buildings. These assessments of various parameters presented in this survey could be applied for the development of Earth architecture and Earth buildings in six countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Niroumand, Hamed & Zain, M.F.M & Jamil, Maslina, 2013. "A guideline for assessing of critical parameters on Earth architecture and Earth buildings as a sustainable architecture in various countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 130-165.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:28:y:2013:i:c:p:130-165
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2013.07.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032113004656
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2013.07.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ji Houng Han & Sun Sook Kim, 2014. "Architectural Professionals’ Needs and Preferences for Sustainable Building Guidelines in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Kazemi, Maha Zadeh & Elamer, Ahmed A. & Theodosopoulos, Grigorios & Khatib, Saleh F.A., 2023. "Reinvigorating research on sustainability reporting in the construction industry: A systematic review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Ruiling Wang & Guo Liu & Jingyang Zhou & Jianhui Wang, 2019. "Identifying the Critical Stakeholders for the Sustainable Development of Architectural Heritage of Tourism: From the Perspective of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Zare Shahabadi, Shadi & Abbasi Harofteh, Mohsen & Zare Shahabadi, Akbar, 2019. "Relationship of economic and environmental factors with the acceptance of earthen architecture technology: A case study of young educated couples in Yazd, Iran," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    5. Oriol Pons-Valladares & Jelena Nikolic, 2020. "Sustainable Design, Construction, Refurbishment and Restoration of Architecture: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Jerzy Górski & Anna Patrycja Nowak & Marek Kołłątaj, 2021. "Resilience of Raw-Earth Technology in the Climate of Middle Europe Based on Analysis of Experimental Building in Pasłęk in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Chandel, S.S. & Sharma, Vandna & Marwah, Bhanu M., 2016. "Review of energy efficient features in vernacular architecture for improving indoor thermal comfort conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 459-477.
    8. Bisht, Arpita, 2022. "Sand futures: Post-growth alternatives for mineral aggregate consumption and distribution in the global south," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:28:y:2013:i:c:p:130-165. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.