Building Construction Handbook

The most valuable monuments of the architecture and vernacular wooden buildings testify the progress of the development of building techniques during the period of time when they were created. Wooden vernacular objects which survived can be recognized as documents of fundamental professional knowledge of builders and their own innovations. During the conservation process of a wooden building we ought to recognize and protect all visible traces of old building techniques used at that time. The properties and ways of using the building materials which were usually not durable or good enough have to be taken into account nevertheless.

The architectural complex of the al-Madrasa al-Halawiyya in Aleppo, Syria, remains one of the most remarkable monuments in the centuries-old city. First founded as the Church of St. Helen in the 6th century to serve as the Cathedral of Byzantine Aleppo, the structure preserves evidence of a complicated building history. For example, the Cathedral was converted into a mosque in 1124; later, parts of the church were integrated into a Madrassa. More recently, damage to the structure due to the war revealed information about Byzantine building methods. This research revisits the building history of the monument by relying on a parametric, Building Information Modelling (BIM) representation to compare the surviving structure with earlier reconstructions. This article addresses the following: (1) A survey of the building's history, topography, and architecture: Over the centuries, al-Madrasa al-Halawiyya has attracted Medieval monks, travellers, brigands, scholars, and more. Their accounts offer exciting opportunities to contextualise structural and functional changes to the complex. (2) An analysis of the historical structure, especially from the Byzantine period: The presented three-dimensional (3D) documentation of the site focused on historical transformations, which the authors then traced and compared by means of BIM to reconstructions proposed by Samuel Guyer (1911) and Michel Écochard (1950). This research demonstrates how a hybrid methodology can be used to establish building phases for comparison with historical and scholarly accounts, revealing new knowledge about building techniques and processes. The presented work started with a field survey of the monument, which was used to generate a hybrid 3D point cloud. Using the point cloud, the Byzantine church was virtually reconstructed and several construction phases were identified. At the same time, Heritage-BIM models were created based on the work of Guyer and Écochard. Finally, the Guyer and Écochard models were compared with the proposed Byzantine reconstruction and point cloud.

This paper is part of a research on innovative structural systems techniques in tall buildings and starts from the collaboration between the Department of Scientific Research and the Department of Architecture and Engineering at Polis University. The objective of this paper is to emphasize the structural differences between tectonic and stereotomic architecture by analyzing the different structural behaviors of both languages. The initial hypothesis is that an interaction field can be found where these two languages can be combined to propose a design method for a preliminary design process. The methodology goes through the following steps: the first step, analysis and determination of tectonic and stereotomic modelling approach; the second step, analysis of a single 10 story perforated shell structure by changing the openings ratio from a structural point of view and the third step, interpretation of results stating these two different architectural and structural profiles are intertwined. The instruments used are presented by a multivariate visualization method, an easy-to-use and as a key concept for generating the perforated pattern of the shell structure. They describe a visual and interactive, performance informed tool-using software of Rhino Grasshopper, Karamba 3D plugin, indicating the designer's preferences and concluding with the structural control of the model build. It is expected that the results will introduce a generative design method for architecture grounded on the stereotomic and tectonic modelling approach that can contribute towards the integration of structural rationality into preliminary architectural design process of tall buildings.

Here we present a North Sea case history of 3D pre-stack depth migration, where the velocitydepth model has been built iteratively using a new pre-stack velocity updating scheme. In order to assess improvement in image quality throughout the model building process, we analyse post-stack depth migration results, their corresponding pre-stack images, and image gathers for each iteration. In addition, in an attempt to assess the reliability of the models, we apply a 3D tomographic inversion technique to measure the consistency of the model at each iteration with observed travel times and stacking velocities.

This work seeks to create decorative ceramics wares which would be self-decorating to reduce the time of attention given to the surface of ceramics wares by incorporating twisting and weaving techniques into the production of the wares by drawing my inspiration from the climbing plant. Two hand forming techniques namely slab making and coiling were successfully combined to create twisted and woven wares. It also seeks to demonstrate how clay can be twisted and woven into intricate shapes for outdoor decorations. These twisted and woven wares reduced the tendency of cutting and incising as an afterthought finishing but forms an integral part of the work. Production of the wares were based on the basic units’ formation as the building blocks which were pre-formed and allowed to get leather hard and joined together in the building process. It looked at the possibility of providing an alternative to the conventional way of building ceramic wares, particularly the solidness in their form; so as to break the monotony of sold form production and present forms with surfaces which are with self-decorative appeal. There are about seven forming techniques I have experienced in ceramic art, and still counting, namely Pinching, Slab making, Coiling, Wheel Throwing, Slip Casting, Jiggering, Jollying, Ram Press, Modeling and Sculpting. The above basic techniques allows both learners and master ceramic artist to explore hand building creativity and come out with fascinating ceramics or pottery wares. My technique of production is what I term as <i>twisting </i>and my style as<i> twistism,</i> which I developed from the combination of two hand formations methods, namely, slab forming and coil making. As happened in painting, where a group of painters lead by Pablo Picasso in 1907, pronounced monotony on the line and style of painting at that time, in the late twentieth century and brought about “<i>cubism</i>”, so do I feel and seeks to digress from tradition to bring about forming variation, which I termed as “<i>twistism</i>” in ceramics, whereas the attention will be on how to manipulate the clay by twisting strips of slabs and creating non solid forms out of that as well as weaving coils to produce ceramic wares. I therefore put forward for the acceptance and inclusion of this technique, twisting as a basic forming technique in addition to pinching, slab making and coiling.

This special issue of JEMAHS with a focus on imperial architecture and identity is an elaboration of a workshop that took place at the University of Helsinki's Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires and brought together scholars from different disciplines—architecture, archaeology, history, social science, and heritage studies—to discuss new interdisciplinary approaches to identities in past societies and the role of architecture in shaping them. Over the last centuries, imperial architecture has been extensively researched in both classical and Near Eastern archaeology as a separate, independent subject. While previously this field may have been perceived as “old fashioned” and “elite focused,” the more recent expanding geographical horizon of eastern Mediterranean studies, increasing utilization of anthropological evidence, and broader theoretical and methodological advances shifted the perspective for studies of imperial architecture and its role in shaping community identities.The early exploration and study of imperial architecture left behind impressive scholarly tomes emphasizing the buildings' origins, that is, exactly how and when they were built, and their historical connections. Regarding their features and associated artifacts, the focus was on those elements considered of significance to their excavators. This included artistic elements (e.g., reliefs, capitals), artifacts of precious and nonlocal materials (e.g., gold, ivory, imported wares), and text-bearing objects (like clay tablets or inscriptions; see, e.g., Orient-Comité 1898; Dörpfeld 1902; Kohl and Watzinger 1916). The preponderance of the material-culture assemblage was relegated to a supporting role in dating, or even more often simply went unrecorded. With a lesser focus on stratigraphy and contextual materials in the fieldwork, interpretations were often based on art-historical and typological parallels or textually recorded histories (see, e.g., Baird 2007 for room identifications in early excavations at Dura Europos). To be sure, from the perspective of an architectural historian the products of these early modern expeditions are still very much relevant today. However, they have also become historical documents of their own, often showing signs of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century colonialist attitudes (Fig. 1).The age of these large-scale investigations, in which hectares of sites were often exposed and documented in a matter of years, is long over, and the eastern Mediterranean is full of excavation projects that emphasize interdisciplinary approaches from the start, practices which are more inclusive, stratigraphically minded, and have a clear focus on the life of past communities. Likewise, developments in anthropology have contributed to the advancement of postcolonial theories, which can provide a more critical and nuanced analysis of the built environment and its influence on past communities (Yeoh 2003; Segaud 2010; Nitschke and Lorenzon 2020). Studies have highlighted the role of the ruling elite and power structures to convey messages and control social interactions (Moore 2003; Parker Pearson and Richards 1994). More recently, scholars have started to emphasize the longevity of built structures across changing imperial landscapes and their repurposing in those later landscapes (Hamilakis 2007; Olivier 2011; Bille and Sørensen 2016). These wider developments in the field have helped overcome the idea that imperial architecture was connected only to elites, and they favor comparisons between different forms of “imperial” architecture across space and time to highlight the relationship between power and the built environment (Ball 2001; Kolb 2005, 2020; Segaud 2010).Imperial architecture can be defined as specific structural manifestations that facilitate “the maintenance of an empire, including its edges and its infrastructure, and recall … the source of [an empire's] authority” (Leach 2016: 1). This definition is shared by the authors of this issue with the caveat that the types of imperial buildings are not confined to certain functions or geographies. Buildings associated with the word “imperial” are often considered to be monumental by definition, that is, “designed to be recognized, expressed by their scale or elaboration, even though their meanings may not be understood by all members of a society” (Moore 1996: 92; see also Thomas 2007: 2–11 for a detailed discussion of the term “monumental”) (Fig. 2). Aside from the more obvious palaces (see Kertai, this issue), fortification walls, and city gates (see Lorenzon, this issue), architecture associated with religious gatherings (for synagogues, see Bonnie, this issue), and symbols of imperial administration (for libraries, see Lopez Garcia and Bueno Guardia, this issue) can also be included in this category, among many other types of buildings.The social identities of the members of the communities who designed, built, and inhabited these buildings are multifaced and complex but can be understood by the way they were embedded in their social fabric (i.e., Assyrian vs. Aramean; skilled vs. unskilled labor; Jewish vs. Christian). As such, imperial architecture in all its forms is often at the heart of archaeological discussions of community identities—whether social, cultural, or religious—as any individual had more than one identity, which overlapped and/or contrasted with each other. This issue of JEMAHS presents a series of case studies from different areas of the eastern Mediterranean that reassess the role of imperial architecture among a variety of communities. The studies highlight recent developments in the discussion of this topic, ranging in time from Neo-Assyrian to Roman to Islamic and featuring sites in Italy, Greece, Anatolia, the Levant, and Iraq.The built environment is a paradigmatic reflection of a community's identity: it is a material and tangible representation of a people's culture and the setting of social engagements with each other. As such, architecture has often been used as a tool by the polities within empires to convey specific messages of power and cultural narratives (Moore 1996; Grossman 2004; Russell 2016; see also, more generally, Markus 1993; Dale and Burrell 2005). The contributions in this issue use different methods to explore how imperial architecture affected the wider sociocultural context of distinct communities by shaping social interactions and perpetuating political messages as a proxy between designers, beneficiaries, and potential users.As the analysis of imperial architecture often focuses on elite expressions and considers these as representative of the experience and point of view of all members of society, it is essential to include narratives built on different, previously excluded, fields of expertise in order to arrive at a more inclusive understanding of the relationship between identity and the building process (Wescoat and Ousterhout 2012; Buchli 2013; Van Oyen 2015; Stern 2018). These approaches enable scholars and architectural practitioners to dissect a building form's basic components and to answer questions regarding the social context of the production, use, and experience of architecture (Kramer 1982; Rapoport 1990; Gates 2011; Harmanşah 2015). In addition, the exploitation of specific designs and architectural styles may also represent adaptation strategies for a particular natural environment (Anastasio, Gilento, and Parenti 2016; Lorenzon et al. 2020).The four articles in this issue provide evidence of the ways in which these approaches integrate with an empire's need to control the messages conveyed through architecture by its forms and durability, as well as the persistence of building techniques and shapes. Using the case study of the Assyrian capital of Dur-Sharruken established under Sargon II (722–705 BCE), David Kertai explores the problems and politics of the founding of a new city to assess the role of architecture in establishing royal identities and the nature of innovation and tradition within the Assyrian empire. By using royal inscriptions and archaeological data, this article critically assesses the relationship between power, the urban environment, and the landscape.Marta Lorenzon explores the Iron Age city gates of Sa'mal/Zincirli, Carchemish, Til Barsip/Tell Ahmar, and Melid/Arslantepe from the perspective of design and materiality, thereby emphasizing the variety of urban landscapes exercised and experienced by the elite, the builders, and urban communities. The Syro-Anatolian case studies she provides illustrate how city gates as public architecture forged and maintained identities, first as a proxy for the ruling elite and then as part of the imperial program during the Iron Age. The contribution also explores the agency of the builders in the creation of built spaces during the early Iron Age.By combining literary and archaeological evidence to discuss a multitude of examples in Rome, Greece, and Anatolia, Antonio Lopez Garcia and Miriam Bueno Guardia explore the question of the spread and functioning of libraries within the Roman Empire and specifically their significance within the provincial communities of Anatolia. They emphasize in their discussion of the evidence the multifunctionality of these buildings, including as spaces for meetings, administration, and religion, while also arguing that it remains unclear to what extent the libraries found in the eastern provinces were accessible to the general public.Finally, using several synagogue sites as examples, Rick Bonnie explores to what extent the synagogues of late antique Galilee continued to live on after their time of initial use and how people built new relationships with these buildings during the early Islamic period and beyond, whether as synagogues, as sites for new functions, or as ruins. The article explores the remains of several synagogue sites in eastern Galilee using archaeological data, medieval Muslim and Jewish traveler accounts, and early modern depictions of the ruins.In closing, we sincerely thank the journal editors Ann Killebrew and Sandra Scham for encouraging us and guiding us through the publication process for this special issue. We would also like to thank Gabriele Faßbeck for her excellent work as a copy editor on these contributions.

The efficiency or otherwise of an organization and the competitive operations of getting thing done in the way and manner in which they were designed for the achievement of a set objective cannot be achieved without effective capacity development. Human capital development gives hope for the transformation of our institutional and individual components as well as the society in general from what it was to what it should be. The human capital is hereby entrusted with more challenging responsibilities and in it lies the centrality of the process of development, its capacity must be built on constant basis. This paper used survey research as a grand design, examined the human quality response to capacity building techniques in Nigeria, and used questionnaire to extract response from the respondents. The result of the analysis reveals that, the process of human capital development and capacity building in Nigeria faces allot of challenges ranging from institutional to environmental ones among others and concludes that improvement of human capital as a strategy of improving service quality or delivery of same, requires very solid institutional, statutory and economic base(s). It is therefore recommended that stewardship function and improved management support system should be incorporated in the activities of organizations through which human capital development, effective capacity building will combine to expedite positive adjustment in the character of services delivered as well as nature of clients and stakeholders satisfaction.

Les recherches de l’auteur sur les portes de la citadelle de Damas offrent un exemple pour l’approche du projet architectural par l’étude archéologique fine des élévations et de la chronologie relative des états d’un des monuments majeurs de l’architecture militaire du Proche-Orient médiéval. Construite à la fin du XIe siècle, modifiée à de nombreuses reprises et enfin rebâtie entièrement par l’ajout d’une nouvelle enceinte plus large sous le souverain ayyoubide Al-’Adil, la citadelle, résidence princière et forteresse de grande envergure, permet d’étudier en détail les techniques et l’organisation de la construction et d’approfondir la connaissance de l’évolution de la conception de la fortification islamique du temps des croisades.

Tabique constructions can be found almost everywhere in Portugal. In fact, it is one of the most used traditional building techniques using raw materials, such as earth and wood, particularly for interior partition walls. A tabique constructive element can be described as a timber structure, more or less complex and robust, filled and plastered in both sides by a composite earth based material. Tras-osMontes e Alto Douro region is the northeast region of Portugal where the tabique heritage is very vast/the most significant. Tabique can be found in any kind of constructions, from the very simple rural dwellings to more important buildings and constructions, such as castles, villas, etc. Many of the existing tabique constructions present an advanced stage of deterioration, partially justified by the maintenance knowledge and practice that has been lost over time about these techniques and their rehabilitation procedures, due to the fast introduction of new materials in the construction. Considering this, research work has been developed with the main objectives of studying the building process of tabique construction elements, typifying dimensions of tabique walls and its components, and characterizing constitutive materials. Within this research project, it was intended to create a knowledge basis that can guide and stimulate future rehabilitation actions in this field. At the first stage, this study was developed at one of the six council associations of the Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro region, namely the Alto Tâmega. A selected group of constructions, representative of the existing heritage in the region, were detailed studied. The results of their characterization can help to recuperate/recover the practice knowledge concerning this traditional eco-construction technique, supporting the rehabilitation of the existing construction heritage, but also its eventual application in new construction.