A Research on Sustainability of Traditional Buildings by Re-Using The Local Earthen Materials

Abstract

It is very important to research renewable energy sources for energy production because ofhigh energy consumption and global warming phenomena. The tendency of using thebuilding materials produced with low energy consumption and respect to environmentalconservation has been increasing all over the world. In this context, earthen buildingmaterials which are produced by the raw materials taken from the nature and formed byhuman, can be seen as ecologic and renewable building material. Secondly, earth is atraditional building material, it has been used from past to present with different usagetechniques. This material is very important not only for today's ecological demands butalso for cultural sustainability. In this study, earthen building materials were researched inorder to consider sustainable materials by presenting the advantages and disadvantages.And also, a case study conducted on the earthen building materials of rural area in Bilecikwas presented. It was aimed to make a contribution to increase using the earthen buildingmaterials in our country with the view of environmental conservation and culturalsustainability. For this purpose, an experimental programme was planned to determine theproperties and deterioration reasons of original earthen materials used in traditionalbuildings and also, to research the re-use possibilities of the originals. As a result of all theexperiments, it was seen that the earthen materials can be easily re-used and theperformance of the earthen materials can be improved by adding slaked lime %20 and %30ratios and by obtaining the effective drying conditions.