![]() When Elgewely offered her an opportunity to do comparison studies of the house of Sheikh Isa and other structures in the South Asia region, Zulfiqar jumped at the chance and sees ways to apply what she has learned. As a Muslim, Zulfiqar is inspired by Islamic architecture and hopes to implement elements into her own designs in the future. ![]() Sarah Zulfiqar, an undergraduate student in interior design, was drawn to this project because of her culture. “People are comfortable with using a lot of AC and probably don’t want to go back to all the different sustainability things they had in the 1800s, but if you implemented it with a little bit of technology, it could be amazing.” In Texas, it’s hot all the time so looking at the sustainability aspects of this project has been really interesting,” Wilson said. “Our culture was very ‘Texas’ in that you never really thought about different cultures and how they dealt with heat. Instead of visualizing it in your head, now you’re able to stand right there in the building,” said Wilson.įor Wilson, this experience has expanded her cultural knowledge and shown her similarities between the Middle East and her own home in Texas. “It really helps you learn about the project in a different way. Wilson said working with virtual reality and the other software programs was a first for her, an experience that has had a meaningful impact on her education. She compiled the group's research into one file, organizing the information and images around each of the four courtyards in the structure. I can move around and see the actual scale, the height for everything,” said Ali.Įmily Wilson, also a graduate student in architecture, joined the project later than the others. Researching and creating 3D models of the house of Sheikh Isa has broadened his understanding of Middle Eastern architecture, but adding the virtual reality element brought that knowledge to life for Ali. “We can get the main idea from the past and try to develop it and apply new technology.”Īli has worked with Elgewely since the project’s beginning in 2022. ![]() “This can help us find a connection between tradition and modern architecture,” said Mohamed Ali, a graduate student in architecture. Cutting-edge software allowed the group to understand and analyze the temperature variations in different parts of the house to evaluate the cooling structures, such as the wind catching tower, courtyards, and thick, mud brick walls. The virtual environment Elgewely and her team created enables students to study how the Sheikh Isa house was oriented, what materials were used to construct the walls, and which features were designed for cooling. The paper, “Sustainable Traditional Arab Dwellings in VR: The Educational Virtual Model of Sheikh Isa House, Bahrain,” received the Best Paper Award, prestigious recognition for the project’s innovative contributions to the field. “I reached out to the international research team who was working on the 3D documentation of the house, and they provided 3D scans that we used to create the virtual environment, which allowed students to explore the house, move from one space to another, and understand many aspects not only of the architecture, but the culture,” said Elgewely.Įlgewely presented the team’s research at the Cultural Heritage and New Technologies Conference in Vienna, Austria, in November. Her team has created a 3D virtual reality experience that brings this Middle Eastern structure to Blacksburg, allowing students to explore the design from Burruss Hall. Elgewely worked in Bahrain prior to joining Virginia Tech's faculty and was drawn to the historic building. The house of Sheikh Isa in Bahrain was constructed in the 1800s with architectural features designed to resist the hot, arid climate of the Middle East and Persian Gulf region. Cranking up the air conditioning is not a sustainable response, so architects and other designers are searching for more effective and less energy-consuming approaches to combat the heat.Īn interdisciplinary team under the direction of Eiman Elgewely, assistant professor of interior design in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, is looking to the past for solutions. ![]() The United States experienced record high temperatures in 2023. ![]()
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