Image source: DeAgostini/Getty Images
This report was written in 2021
Constructed using natural materials, Yemen's high-rise buildings are remarkably sustainable and well-suited to the hot, dry desert climate of the Arab region.
Entering through Bab al-Yemen - the huge gate that gives access to the old walled city of Sanaa - was like entering another world. High-rise buildings were crowded into the narrow lanes that connected the lush fruit and vegetable gardens to the old market, where donkeys are still sold.
I saw locksmiths fixing huge metal keys that opened high wooden doors; A vendor sells prickly pears from a cart, and a baker pulls fresh bread from a glowing hole in the ground. In a small room, I saw a camel walking in tight circles and pushing a millstone to crush sesame seeds.
But despite all these scenes, the architecture completely dominated the scene.
Sanaa is filled with buildings that are unparalleled anywhere else in the world. At street level, where the mud-brick walls were separated only by large wooden doors, there was not much to see.
But when I looked up, I realized that these narrow buildings, some with only one or two rooms per floor, rose high into the sky.
While the lower floors, at street level, were windowless due to their use as animal shelters or work spaces, the ornate windows above were either covered with stained glass or with thin mashrabiya screens that protected the privacy of the women inside.
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The window frames are decorated in lime white to match the clay-colored background. A large number of homes had rooftop spaces, which were used as entertaining spaces as well as outdoor bedrooms on warm nights.
Image source: Eric-Paul-Pierre PASQUIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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When you walk down the alley, it is impossible to estimate the true height of these buildings, but when I reached the market, I saw that some of them were up to seven stories high.
I climbed to the roof of a seven-story building that had been converted into a café. The old town lay below me, but the surrounding buildings were mostly the same height as the building I was in, giving me the strange feeling of being surrounded by skyscrapers.
I felt like I was in Dubai or New York, but the difference is that these buildings were built of mud between 300 and 500 years ago. Some of these buildings in Yemen can reach about 30 meters in height, while the first modern skyscrapers in Chicago were slightly higher than that!
Yemen has many similar high-rise buildings, ranging from those in small villages to major cities, such as the famous ancient town of Shibam, which the Anglo-Italian explorer Dame Freya Stark in the 1930s called the “Manhattan of the Desert,” or the exquisitely decorated Dar Al Hajar building.
The architecture of Yemen's skyscrapers is so unique that the ancient cities of Zabid, Shibam and Sana'a have joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, dating back to at least the eighth and ninth centuries, according to Trevor Marchand, professor of social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and author of the book "The Architectural Heritage of Yemen - The Buildings That Fill My Eyes."
It is impossible to determine the exact date of construction of these buildings, since they are built of brick and need constant restoration so that they do not collapse due to erosion factors, but “medieval sources tell us that the Ghamdan Palace in Sanaa, which is said to have been built in the third century BC to be the headquarters of the rulers of the Kingdom of Sheba in Yemen, was 20 stories high and elaborately decorated,” according to Marchand.
“When we were children, we played football in the narrow alleys,” says Arwa Al-Miqdad, a peace advocate at the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation. “When we were teenagers, we drank coffee under the bright stained glass.”
As I traveled around the country, feeling amazed as I walked past these cities of skyscrapers, I wondered what made the Yemenis build these tall towers, considering the vast desert expanses of their country!
Salma Samar Al-Damlouji, an architect and author of “The Architecture and Reconstruction of Yemen,” told me that construction was in fact limited to small sites, which meant that the buildings had to be vertical.
“Towns and cities had outer walls, as well as other borders of desert,” she said. She noted that the walls and surrounding desert were not the only barriers to any urban development, but any agriculturally viable space was also viewed as too valuable to build on, so building upwards in tightly proportioned clusters was the best option.
It was also the need for protection that made Yemeni buildings cluster together instead of spreading apart from each other. Living in a desolate desert makes residents think about security factors and how to confront enemies, along with the ability to close the doors of cities at night.
Marchand explained, "One of the important factors that contributed to Yemen's history of building towers is the need to provide security against invading forces, as well as in times of tribal conflict or civil war."
The roofs are used as outdoor bedrooms, while the screens on the windows allow the breeze into the house and also let in light, but not too much heat.
“Unexposed earth is an extraordinary thermal mass,” said Ronald Rael, a professor of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in mud buildings. “It absorbs heat and releases it slowly. During the day, the walls slowly absorb the heat of the sun that falls on them. As night falls, this heat is released slowly, but the earth buildings remain at a good temperature.”
This simple natural effect made mud brick construction still popular to this day, and explains the persistence of mud architecture in Yemen.
But the strange thing is that the builders of these dwellings did not use scaffolding. Instead, builders would start with a stone foundation, often about two meters deep, then lay mud bricks on top of it, one brick overlapping two on top, and so on.
They then slowly built the upper floors, placing wooden joists to support the house during construction, and adding floors made of wood and palm materials as the building rose. Scaffolding was not commonly used until later, once the house was completed and needed renovation or restoration.
However, Damlouji says these building skills are on the verge of extinction, adding: “We are looking at buildings that can last for up to 300 years and more. Six- and seven-storey buildings made of sun-dried mud brick in a way that no contemporary architect could use today.”
Historic buildings are threatened by constant wind erosion, wars, and economic conflicts that prevent families from properly caring for their fragile homes. In 2020, UNESCO surveyed some 8,000 of these architectural marvels and renovated 78 that were on the verge of collapse.
UNESCO is doing its best to save as many buildings as possible, but it is difficult under the current circumstances.
Arwa Al-Miqdad says: “It is a horrific experience to see history reduced to rubble. This destruction is a loss for all of humanity.”
She adds: "Anywhere else, these buildings would have been turned into a museum, but in Yemen they remain homes. I cannot describe my feeling of pride that I live in a house that has been preserved by generations of ancestors - it is the thing that connects us to the past."
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