Eco friendly houses of Syria

Syria has more to offer then just Fattoush & Bashsr al Asad. Using completely natural local materials, Syrian bedouins have been making Eco friendly houses that look like giant like Beehives. These Eco friendly houses have thick walls which helps naturally cool the interior by keeping out the sun, and acting as a thick insulation for the heat to permeate. The walls are made from mud bricks, stacked in a giant circle. The circles of these Eco friendly houses are close in to a conical shape and capped off by a dome.

Beehive Eco friendly houses can be found in the thick of hot deserts and cities all over Syria. Most of these Eco friendly houses are found in rural farming communities, but there are even villages located in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, which has been continually inhabited since the 6th millennium BC. The Aleppo beehive Eco friendly houses are used for both storage and residences.

The interior and exterior walls of these Eco friendly houses are packed with straw and mud. Built in the arid desert, the mud walls dry to a hard and durable finish.

The top of the beehive Eco friendly houses dwellings have an oculus – a hole that provides light to the interior and sucks hot air up and out. Even though there is a hole at the top of these Eco friendly houses, the conical shape keeps the interior dry during the rare rainy season. The shape also enables rain to quickly drain off of the façade, meaning minimal mud erosion on the exterior of these Eco friendly houses.

The interiors of the beehive Eco friendly houses are very dark, as most are built without windows. Although inconvenient, this protects residents from the harsh desert winds, and blocks out the sun. With these natural heat-beating factors in place, the interior of these Eco friendly houses remains around 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit, while the outside desert can blaze up to a blistery 140 degrees!

These Eco friendly beehive houses have been keeping desert dwellers across the Middle East sustainably cool and comfortable for centuries, and continue to do so even now.