Tower Houses
For centuries the need for security has driven the fiercely tribal inhabitants of Yemen to live together in towns that can be easily defended. Although there are district regional differences, the vernacular house is a tower, built to a height of up to 30 m. Sana’a, the capital of the Yemen, has about 14,000 of these tower houses. Typically they are six stories high, made of mud bricks decorated with thick layers of whitewashed gypsum.Opening, doors, and windows in the houses are usually emphasized in white. Photo by: twiga_swala
Mud bricks are often handmade in the traditional way out of earth and straw mixed with water and then dried in the sun. Gypsum is obtained locally and is also used for shelves and decorative effects inside. Each tower has to accommodate a family, its goods, and guests, with animals, such as sheep, goats, and cattle on the first floor. The foundation are of stone to protect walls from damp. Walls get progressively thinner as the tower extends upward, and a broad staircase paved with stone links the different levels. Photo by: Jungle_Boy
Above the animals is usually a floor for storage. The fifth floor, for instance, might house the kitchen, being high enough to benefit from the ventilation that comes with height above the ground. On the top floor is the traditional mafraij, a large room with a view where guests are welcomed and the men of the family gather to drink coffee, smoke, and talk. The introducing of modern amenities is, unfortunately, proving a threat to this delicately balanced ecology of hose building. Photo by: twiga_swala
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