Assessment of Qatari Traditional Architecture Responsiveness to the Environment - Research Paper Example

This is not usually the case in most places. Therefore, the architecture has evolved to take the roaring winds into the equation (Mohamed &Bourennane 34). The main environmental challenge that the people and even the architecture have had to adapt to is the desert conditions. There is rarely any vegetation growing by itself. Even in cases where there is vegetation, it is because of the great care that is paid to it. The buildings are today being designed so as to be sustainable. This means they have to take the environment into account.

The buildings now are therefore more ‘green’. They make good use of the limited resources i.e water and energy (Mohamed &Bourennane 34). These winds must meet something in the form of a windbreaker or a tree, in places with ordinary environmental conditions. This is not the case in Qatar. The walls of the buildings have been built to be very tall and firm. This means that they play the role of windbreakers even as they provide shelter for the residents of the gulf. This is an important function because wind can be a major irritant as well as a great utility.

In this way, architecture has responded to the need for shelter from the winds (Mohamed & Bourennane 37). People have responded to the danger posed by strong winds by living in walled cities and close to one another. They indeed seem to draw their strength from their numbers. This way, they fortify themselves against the winds that can otherwise carry isolated structures with them. Architecture has also responded to this by providing communal models to houses. As a result, shops, mosques and schools are located close to one another (Mohamed & Bourennane 37).

Another climatic condition of the gulf that is well recognized is the hot sun. Of course the climatic conditions in the gulf are desert like. This means that the sun is very hot for very long hours of the day. While the sun is hot during the day, the nights are extremely cold. The architecture has responded to this by coming up with the sort of buildings that are thick-walled, and in most cases the roofing is made from materials that are poor conductors of heat. This is to protect the occupants from the hot rays, as well as retain necessary heat for the cold nights (Mohamed & Bourennane 45).

Challenges encountered An inquiry of this kind is, admittedly, best carried out in the field. The reasons are simple. It is better to find out about all the different details that are talked about when the object stands physically in front of you. The immediacy of the object also makes you appreciate the tiny nuances that are hard to grasp when explained on paper. Therefore, the first challenge faced was explaining the importance of the study and what it was all about to non-architecture students.

They did their best to appreciate architecture. However, beforehand knowledge looked like something that was sorely needed even for the brightest students. This compelled the need to enlighten the students before the questions were asked. This greatly slowed down the interviews (Groat & Wang 24). Another challenge worth mentioning is that some of the students who were interviewed were of the age where appreciation of architecture is not fully developed. There were students of up to the age of fourteen.

The task was extremely hard for those who were of this young age. Consequently, the problem was compounded by the fact that they were non-architecture