In architecture, a Nubian vault is a type of curved surface forming a vaulted structure. The mudbrick structure was revived by Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy after re-discovering the technique in the Nubian village of Abu al-Riche. The technology is advocated by environmentalists as environmentally friendly and sustainable since it makes use of pure earth without the need of timber.[1] The technology is of Nubian origin.
The classical definition of the contour of the Nubian vault is that obtained when a chain is held up at its two ends. The vault is more or less open or wide depending on how far apart the two chain ends are held.
One of the key advantages of the Nubian vault is that it can be built without any support or shuttering. The earth bricks are laid leaning at a slight slope against the gable walls in a length-wise vault, as in this photo of a building from the ruins of Ayn Asil in Egypt. The same principle can be used to build domes, as in the example below from Cameroon.
The age-old Nubian vault technique was notably revived by the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in the 1940s with the building of a new village at Gourna, near Luxor. Architecturally, this village is a singular success; however, the families who were moved there soon abandoned it to return to their original village.
The homes of the Musgum, in the Far North Province of Cameroon
More recently, since the year 2000, a French /Burkinabé NGO La Voûte Nubienne, by simplifying and codifying the VN (Voûte Nubienne) technique, has promoted the construction of over 1600 vaulted buildings in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal (mainly village homes, but also a Catholic church, several mosques, schools, literacy centres, and a dispensary). These environmentally sound, comfortable, and aesthetic buildings require neither imported sheet metal for the roofing, nor expensive and increasingly rare timber beams. Over 260 masons have been trained in the technique, and there are as many apprentices currently undergoing on-the-job training on building sites (2012). The programme organised by the Association "Earth roofs for the Sahel" is experiencing around 30% year on year growth in response to demand from rural families, with many requests for help and technical advice coming from the countries of the Sahel, and from further afield (a programme was launched in Zambia in early 2009, under the aegis of AVN-Belgium).
^Swan, Simone.Elegant Solutions. Saudi Aramco World, July/August 1999, Volume 50, Number 4.
In architecture, a Nubianvault is a type of curved surface forming a vaulted structure. The mudbrick structure was revived by Egyptian architect Hassan...
Nubians (/ˈnuːbiənz, ˈnjuː-/) (Nobiin: Nobī, Arabic: النوبيون) are a Nilo-Saharan ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now Northern Sudan and...
Nubia spoke at least two varieties of Nubian languages, a subfamily that includes Nobiin (the descendant of Old Nubian), Dongolawi, Midob and several related...
seemed to have been once decorated. The pathway goes to a chamber with a Nubianvault and a wooden door where the king is buried. The king's bed is elaborate...
rectangles each with sides in the ratio of 8:5": 133 Kush also invented Nubianvaults. Piye is thought to have constructed the first true pyramid at el Kurru...
own right. Due to the lack of Nubian texts and artifacts prior to their interactions with Egyptians, much of early Nubian religion is still unclear. Fortunately...
vault consists of a small variety of simple geometrical elements. Net vault – A vault on which a complex of ribs gives a net-like appearance. Nubian vault...
(August 20, 1998). "Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic Cultural History" (PDF). Ninth International Conference for Nubian Studies. Museum of...
Christianization of the three Nubian kingdoms Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia in the sixth century. As a result of Christianization, the Old Nubian language stands as...
Egyptian architecture, as part of the "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae" (despite Elephantine being neither Nubian, nor between Abu Simbel and Philae)...
passive cooling. Fathy is also renowned for having revived the traditional Nubianvault.[not specific enough to verify] National Life Stories conducted an oral...
spirulina, horse milk, carabao milk), shelter (building of houses using the Nubianvault technology, manufacturing of paper bricks for cooking combustible) or...
(Denmark); Konstfack (Sweden); Cateran's Common Wealth (Scotland); The NubianVault Association (France); Unbox Festival (India); Upstarter (London); Participatory...
Jebel Adda) was a mountain and archaeological site on the right bank of the Nubian Nile in what is now southern Egypt. The settlement on its crest was continuously...
earlier African cultures that featured the movement of Badarian, Saharan, Nubian, and Nilotic populations. Bruce Williams, Egyptologist, has stated "The...
Budapest’s Keleti Railway Station forms a catenary arch. The Nubian ton is a burial vault, of Nubia, For greatest stability, the structure’s cross-section...
The pyramids of Kush, also known as Nubian Pyramids, have different characteristics than those of Egypt. The Nubian pyramids had steeper sides than the...
at Protest Gathering Anna Manahan as Shopkeeper's Wife Nita Lorraine as Nubian Slave Girl The film was budgeted at £350,000 and went over budget by £61...
on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2011. "A Visit to the Doomsday Vault". CBS News. 20 March 2008. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved...
on the newly named Scammell Motors site at Watford. The Thornycroft 6x4 Nubian heavy dumptruck was the first transfer inwards, regularly adapted for the...
worked into the design. Pieces that dangle from the main ring are common. In Nubian Egypt and Sudan, the nose ring is called a zimam. The Rashayda call it by...
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