Arij Elkhhayat 
(Department of Architecture & Interior Design, Scientific College of Design, Sultanate of Oman)

 

Abstract: Humanity has a long history of utilizing underground spaces. Back deep in history people lived in caves and underground spaces while using the above tracts of land for growing their crops.
Drawing upon mankind’s experiences in the past, we can see that underground constructions are a future need. This kind of architecture has achieved the principle of containment through covering with natural soil at least three sides of the building. All examples in this study have one thing in common: The plans are hidden underground in order to correct the relation between the need to build and the necessity of protecting the environment. Hence, burying the construction helps preserving the open spaces. And consequently, analyzing causes of burying the constructions helps in reaching suggestions and recommendations over the best methods to develop those constructions and presenting new applicable models.
First chapter deals with the underground spaces as due to natural factors that led to the creation of caves or underground spaces. Soon after, man started using those spaces either for religious purposes (burying temples), or to acclimatize with the harsh conditions of weather (holes dwelling in China and Mitmata dwellings in Tunisia), or for protection against enemies (underground military bases; or Kapadochia in Anatolia for the followers of the new religion. Since most of the above mentioned reasons have lost their logical justifications in the 20th century, new needs such as energy conservation and environment preservation has given underground constructions their new lease of life. The first chapter, also touches upon some futuristic visions suggested by some planners and designers with an aim of creating a complete city underground, as they believe that living above ground would gradually be rendered difficult due to the ever mounting pollution.
Building upon the aforementioned researches, planners categorized some concepts on underground architecture which has developed in several fields like function, lighting, and depth. Due to these developments, new elements have emerged, which should be taken into consideration when studying underground constructions (this is covered in the second chapter).
Through drawing upon the historic experiences in Aleppo city (Chapter Three), and understanding the nature of the old and new solutions and their compatibility with domestic realities and conditions, and after casting a keen look at the state of the underground constructions in the city of Aleppo, some suggestions and solutions can be proposed with an aim to develop this kind of architecture and make it compatible with modern methods and available means.

 

Key words: underground facilities, environmental benefits