ISSN 1829-4200 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF NUACA 2017. VOLUME III (66) UDC 728 (394.1) ARCHITECTURE Mazen Ibrahim Said SUSTAINABILITY OF THE OLD DAMASCENE HOUSE The Old City of Damascus holds the key of the importance of its function in sustainability and how it affects the inhabitants and the environment of the city through its main element the Old Damascene House which is characterized by its own unique design, it works as a heat insulation during all seasons and saves water. The Old Damascene House is one of the most important achievements of Arabian architectural transformations in Damascus which has spread social and cultural values throughout its long history. Through these houses, the city has acquired an urban texture characterized by beauty and richness in its architectural style, its spaces and its aesthetic sense as a result of many social, economic, intellectual and environmental factors. Keywords: sustainability, Old Damascene House, Arabic House, Damascene Architecture, Old Damascus City, Inner-courtyard, Fountain Pool, Iwan, Mashrabiya Introduction "Old Damascus" is the name of the old part of the city of Damascus, which is the oldest inhabited city in the world and also the oldest capital in history, it is located within the walls of Damascus historical city, represented by its buildings and monuments that date back to several centuries, and also characterized by its streets and roads that walked by saints, kings, leaders, scientists and the great makers of history (fig. 1) [1, 2] . On 1979 the Old City of Damascus recorded in the World Heritage List of The UNESCO [1, 3]. Fig. 1. Old Antique map of Old Damascus by Braun and Hogenberg, 1575 AD 80 Research Problem Despite the fact that the old architectural style in the city of Damascus is used in the Old Damascene House which has many benefits from the local environmental characteristics in terms of energy and social intimacy and heritage, however it's not used in modern urban expansion. Methodology Analytical Descriptive Approach. History approach. The Old City of Damascus Old Damascus is located near the city center of Damascus district of Marjah, it is characterized by a famous style which is the unique Damascene architecture, the city has a lot of mosques, churches, schools and historical shrines, palaces and streets paved with stones and lanes enchanted by the fragrance of history, it also has the famous Damascene castle and the Roman wall, this special kind of architecture began in Damascus on 1036 AD [4]. The city texture is created by inner-courtyards of all buildings within Old Damascus (fig.2). Fig. 2. Old Damascus Map While the old part makes up only about 5% of the current area of the city, it includes most of the effects of the city of Damascus, the inhabitants are a mixture of Muslims, Christians and few Jews, who contributed to various fields in the old city. 81 The Old Damascene House The Old Damascene House is one of the most important architectural element in the city of Damascus, which has produced social, cultural values throughout its long history. It is one of the features of Arabic Architecture with its unique qualities acquired during centuries of cultural prosperity. This house, through its rooms and architectural style, has unique advantages in aesthetics and functional distribution [5, 6]. The old Damascene house is called "Al Bayt Al Arabi" and it’s translated to "Arabic House" it is an authentic example of the beauty of the Arabic House, which is closed from the outside, and opened to the inside. It features an interior spacious courtyard that is surrounded by the rooms, the house consists of two floors that overlook at the courtyard which is filled with plants and flowers and at the center of it there is the fountain pool. The house is built from stone and its upper walls made of clay and wood and the roof is made of wood and soil, which has proved acceptable resistance and great potential for adding annexes and distribution in decoration and ornaments [7]. In Old Damascus neighborhoods it was common to use of balconies that overlook at lanes and alleys from the top with large windows, as well as the widespread use of air spaces of public properties by building extensions of the upper floor on the arches above the roads and alleys and lanes, and the first to draw attention to in the old Damascene neighborhoods, are those high walls and decorative windows, and wooden doors, which were not limited by the age of limitation, but the majestic, where the old houses leaning on each other, as if narrated the relations of the Sham people authentic and beautiful and intimate. This house model is suited for the wet continental territory of Shami region, the house works like an insulation, cutting off any heat in the summer and managing to keep cold and moisture in the winter, it works as a resort for summer and winter at the same time. The house was designed in a way that allows the entry of sunlight which comes from three sides as the sun rotates, especially in Iwan, which has sunlight during the day [8]. The construction of the Damascene House was done in a geometrical way, considered in terms of the environmental, climatic and economic aspects, in order to achieve its inhabitants' health, social and psychological security and to meet their functional and social needs. That what is now known as the sustainable environment was achieved by Syrians architects using wood and stones in environment-friendly building materials [9]. Analysis of designing elements of the Old Damascene Architecture in order to deal with the environmental conditions: The Damascene House is divided into two or three sections, the reception of the male guests. It is called "Salamlek" and the living section is called the "Haramlek" which is special for women, and it’s connected to the kitchen directly, the third section is called "Khadamlek" which is dedicated for the servants, and it is usually used in palaces like Al-Azm Palace. The rooms on the ground floor are above the level of the courtyard in order to avoid cold air streams that seep out of low places across the rooms and serve as air bumpers [5]. The upper floor is allocated for bedrooms and all rooms overlook at the courtyard. Mostly all houses follow the same plan scheme (fig. 3). 82 Fig. 3. Old Damascene House plan (Ground Floor) If we look at the pattern of the buildings built by the Syrian ancestors, we will find that there is a set of properties illustrated by the Old Damascene House, those characteristics are a collection of architectural solutions (elements), and they are: - Inner courtyard "Ard Al-diyar": A huge expanse open to the sky and in the middle containing the fountain pool "Bahra" decorated and embellished, surrounded by trees and household plants of ancient Levantine Jasmine Lovell, mulberry trees, bitter orange and the like, which they provided the functional and aesthetic characteristics to help soften the atmosphere and refresh it as well as take advantage of fruits, flowers and leaves (fig. 4). This courtyard is thermally regulated, where it contains the cold air during the night and spread it during the day to different parts of the house despite the hot air stream which passes over the courtyard. There are numbers of contemporary architects who have used the inner courtyard in their designs as a kind of fashion without a thorough understanding of its function and usefulness [8]. The process of natural conditioning begins with the inner courtyard, which is the lung of the building, [5, 6] it has been shown that this courtyard, despite its openness to space, achieves full and exclusive protection from the external climate and its thermal effect, air and wind, noise and pollution. The external air carrying heat and dust, hovering over the patio without leaking into the depth, this is because there are no ports that help to move this air current and pull it to the outside. 83 Fig. 4. Inner-courtyard and fountain pool - The fountain pool "Al Bahra": It’s the heart of the Old Damascene House, it exists in every house, as it regulates the temperature of the house. In some houses water pours from the top through a large opening wall that goes through an extension system of fresh water that ends up in the fountain pool. Thus the visitor finds a mirror that reflects itself, the sound of the water and the wet atmosphere it creates, making it as an air conditioner (fig. 4). - Iwan: A rectangular space or hall, it's vaulted and walled on three sides, with one end entirely open, it's used to spend lovely evenings enjoying the trees, flowers and fountain (fig. 5) [8, 10] . - Vestibule: A narrow corridor and somewhat dark and it’s walked by visitors till they reach the courtyard, usually the visitors shout aloud mantra: "Yallah! Yallah!" to alert the residents of the house that they're entering [10, 11]. - Mandaloun: It’s a small window opened in the wall, connected with the house next door completely, so that the lady of the house can speak with her neighbor to share their foods and talk. - Mashrabiya: It's an oriel window, enclosed with carved wood lattice work, and it is one-sided visibility which allows the residents to see the street without being seen by anyone from outside (fig. 6). It is one of the architectural elements that characterizes the old Arabic buildings, [11] the most important function is cooling a flask of water by putting it near the holes of this window, and the fresh air cools the flask.