Architecture and Afghanistan Faculty Research
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Item Open Access Kabul’s old city: Implications for alternatives to “Western” housing(King Faisal University, 2009-04-16T18:36:50Z) Watts, Donald J.; wattsdThis paper presents a new methodology for analyzing and discovering the interactions of social needs and traditional building practices in vernacular Afghan houses. Beginning with identifying common socio-spatial patterns in the traditional Afghan house, this research proceeds to investigate the implications of this traditional building process for planning the housing needs of expanding Afghan cities.Item Open Access Regeneration: Discovering tradition through cross cultural design education(2009-04-08T21:56:31Z) Watts, Donald J.; wattsdThis paper analyzes the manner in which two architectural design studios, one Afghan and one American, explored designs for a new College of Architecture, Planning and Design for Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan students insisted upon a design that was both modern and also directed by Islam. They focused primarily upon the future and used traditional architectural strategies as a basis from which change could be imparted. The American students focused upon traditional Afghan architecture and sought ways to reinterpret it to fit a contemporary architectural college. The strengths and weaknesses of both studios make a case for such collaboration.Item Open Access Re-conceiving Afghan cellular architecture for the reconstruction of rural schools(Center for Environmental Design Research, University of California at Berkeley, 2009-04-08T21:56:16Z) Watts, Donald J.; Yoldas, Cenk; wattsd; Varanda, FernandoAfghanistan suffers from a quarter century of war that has resulted in a devastated infrastructure and a generation of Afghans who have lived without a local school. This paper presents an architectural design investigation that seeks ways of synthesizing traditional social-cultural and formalspatial attributes with refined material and construction capabilities becoming increasingly available worldwide. In the spirit of George Kubler's thesis of invention and variation, stabilized compressed brick construction and computer aided structural analysis are introduced as refinements within the Afghan building tradition.Item Open Access Recurring patterns in traditional Afghan settlements(2009-04-03T17:57:05Z) Watts, Donald J.; wattsdThis article investigates how traditional patterns of Afghan architecture may lend a culturally sensitive dimension to modern urban planning in Afghanistan. Case studies of traditional Afghan houses reveal common patterns of organization concerning building massing, thermal comfort, and the time and place of occupancy activities. Special attention is given to the method of growth through internal subdivision of traditional dwellings and the evidence of a limit as to minimal private open space versus enclosed space.
