Will Türkiye earthquakes renew interest in Ottoman-era wooden housing?

‘Durable conventional structure’ may sound like an oxymoron. But the February 6 earthquakes that left hundreds of contemporary buildings in Türkiye and Syria in heaps of mangled metal and concrete have put the highlight again on wood-based dwellings.

Architects and constructing consultants say that wooden might be the first constructing block for earthquake-resistant homes in an space mendacity instantly atop one of the vital energetic seismic zones on this planet.

And although this is able to imply chopping bushes, they are saying, it may be achieved with out harming the atmosphere.

The highly effective earthquakes ravaged total cities and diminished metropolis blocks to rubble, leaving populations each bodily and emotionally devastated. Most have been modern dwellings manufactured from steel-reinforced concrete, which has turn into ubiquitous within the trendy building trade. Despite the anticipated resilience of such a pairing, how and why did they show so fragile? 

“Reinforced concrete is overwhelmingly used in contemporary construction techniques. However, the perception that this material will not suffer heavy damage is completely wrong,” architect and restorator Seda Ozen Bilgili tells TRT World.

“Wood, which is an important alternative, was the material of the past as well as the future.” 

Today, many engineers and designers in Türkiye acknowledge that if conventional wooden-framed buildings are appropriately put in, they could totally serve the aim of sturdiness.

Dogan Kuban, one of the vital distinguished Turkish lecturers within the historical past of structure, has emphasised in his e-book ‘Turkish hayatlı home’ – wherein he examines conventional quake-proof buildings intimately – that picket structure dates again hundreds of years and is the cultural heritage of the folks dwelling in Anatolia for hundreds of years.

According to historic information, a number of main earthquakes occurred within the Ottoman Empire within the later durations, and the wooden-framed buildings held up admirably.

“Interestingly enough, the Ottomans realised the necessity of the industrial forest at the very beginning of the 19th century, and the Ottoman Steam Timber and Joinery Factory was put into operation and was used extensively for production of prefabricated housing units,” says Bilgili.

One of the best achievements of the manufacturing facility was the Buyukada Greek Orphanage, inbuilt 1898. Considered the most important picket constructing in Europe, the orphanage remained standing even after back-to-back devastating earthquakes hit Türkiye in 1999. 

Eco-friendly supplies

In addition to its superior sturdiness and resilience, conventional picket building additionally “holds up” environmentally.

Bilgili claims that the Ottoman follow of conventional building serves as a worthy mannequin even in the present day and that each one sorts of rules to be applied by trendy states to be able to protect the ecological steadiness could also be extra advantageous. 

“The antidote to this problem is to select natural structures, adaptable to nature and reusable multiple times. Because, as in the case of the recent earthquakes in Türkiye, only a small fraction of the wastes produced by the construction materials known as reinforced concrete can be recycled,” she says.

In addition to being a menace to the atmosphere, the contaminants within the particles are detrimental to human well being, each instantly and not directly. “While removing debris from the earthquake location, asbestos, a chemical that can be discharged into the air, can be exceedingly dangerous (for humans). In addition, there is a significant risk that they will eventually mix with groundwater and drinking water,” she provides.

In combating international local weather change, forests play a big function in storing carbon. However, bushes’ capacity to soak up carbon declines as they age and attain a mature state. They finally launch extra carbon than they retailer, says Turker Dundar, Professor of Forest Industry Engineering at Istanbul University.

“When we cut down the old trees and replace them with new ones, we restart the carbon sink. In other words, when the wood is transformed into structural and industrial products, it can be made to retain carbon rather than release it into the environment. Hence, when trees are ripe for harvest, they must be properly felled within the bounds of the relevant laws,” he provides.

Several organisations and industries on a world scale have initiated important initiatives to lift consciousness for the transformative energy of picket buildings and put a highlight on the flexibility of timber constructing techniques.

During a digital convention organised by the Wood Sector Alliance for the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus in 2021, it aimed to show wooden’s sustainability as a key driver in building and dwelling for a carbon-neutral society. 

Prof. Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, a founding member of the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research, acknowledged that forests and wooden merchandise, as the first pure useful resource that may effectively take up carbon from the ambiance and retailer it within the constructed atmosphere, provide easy however revolutionary options.

“We need to create an alternative carbon sink, and wood construction is the perfect answer. We can turn timber into construction material and recycle most of the wood in the built environment. You have cascade utilisation and immediately replant the trees that you have taken away and even increase the forest area, then you have what I call the ‘Forestry-Construction Pump,” he had stated then. 

Ahmet Turer, a professor of civil engineering on the Middle East Technical University in Türkiye, emphasises that the query “why wood?” has a number of solutions, alongside its ecological advantages.

“Since it is much lighter and more durable than concrete, it can be used in highrise buildings. For example, it was tested with a ten-story CLT (cross-laminated timber) building in Japan, and no matter what magnitude of tremor they inflicted, they failed to demolish it,” he says.

Furthermore, in response to Turer, one other function of wooden that makes it sturdy and preferable within the building trade is its warmth resistance.

He says that wooden supplies a considerable diploma of fireside endurance because it burns from the skin and the inside half not uncovered to fireside might stay as sturdy as they have been earlier than the fireplace. 

“Steel, on the contrary, is an excellent heat-conducting material,” he says, including that if the temperature reaches a thousand levels, it loses its load-bearing capability.

Future cities

Pointing to many modern examples of earthquake-resistant conventional picket buildings, like universities and public buildings, Bilgili underlines that the normal constructions, already part of Turkish cultural heritage, could also be simply continued within the nation as properly.

“The ‘Simone de Beauvoir School’ was built to produce 50 percent of public buildings from natural materials in France. Also, the Municipality of Amsterdam has committed to making 20 percent of the total construction from wood material until 2025 to reduce the carbon emissions of the construction sector. In addition, the 85.4-meter wooden building Mjosa Lake Tower was built in Norway,” she provides.

In rural areas of cities, for instance, within the villages of Beykoz, Sile and Catalca in Istanbul, conventional constructing supplies may additionally be required to preserve the pure atmosphere. In areas similar to Besiktas, Sariyer, Uskudar and Beykoz, there are picket buildings until in the present day, but they don’t seem to be thought-about odd, Bilgili says.

“The architectural education that our people and citizens will get in primary school will gradually shape their preferences and lifestyles,” she says.

Source: TRTWorld and businesses