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Author: Ihab Elzeyadi School: University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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| Abstract: This study examines the perceived
environmental quality and indoor comfort in two houses; the first is a neo-traditional
house designed by Hassan Fathy with large thermal mass clustered around a courtyard and
the second is a contemporary modern house with low thermal conductance using more
sophisticated thermal insulation technologies. Based on the literature review it was
hypothesized that the neo-traditional house designed by Hassan Fathy would have better
thermal performance and hence better conservation of energy levels. Employing a diverse number of research instruments in the form of group interviews with the buildings' occupants, formal and informal interviews with the designers, and the use of temperature and relative humidity sensors and dataloggers, data was collected to document the buildings' performance during the month of August. Results showed that the two buildings performed similarly in terms of their indoor thermal behavior. Because the traditional house by Fathy uses local and recycled materials, the author concludes that its embodied energy is lower than the modern house. Findings and field interviews suggest future research related
to the users thermal associations towards building's form, style, and construction
materials. |
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Background: This case study won first prize in the 1996 Vital Signs Student Case Study Competition. The jury found the study to be exemplary, with one reservation. Jurors did not see enough evidence for the author's claim that the embodied energy of the neo-traditional house was lower than that of the modern house. The author, Ihab Elzeyadi, was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee when he conducted the study. The faculty advisor was Michael Utzinger. |
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All contents copyright (C) 1998. Vital Signs Project. All rights reserved. Created: 10/16/98 |
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A Tale of Two Houses: Environmental Quality, Sustainability, and Indoor
Comfort Inside Hassan Fathy's Mit Rehan And A Contemporary Villa in Cairo, Egypt
