Conservation of Architectural Heritage : A Culmination of Selected Research Papers from the Second International Conference on Conservation of Architectural Heritage (CAH-2), Egypt 2018

History is one of the main aspects that shapes a country’s culture and leaves its traces on the built environment in the form of an architectural heritage. Such a heritage records the existence of humans, their past endeavours and in doing so preserves their cultures and traditions for future generations and contributes to the formation of their identities by acting as an inspiration for their architectural achievements. From this perspective, conservation of architectural heritage becomes important to both current and future architectural endeavours.

This book discusses several topics of great importance and relevance to the conservation of worldwide architectural heritage. From historic cities and cultural landscapes to some of the largest archaeological sites in the world, conserving such a legacy is a challenging task that requires commitment, effort and international cooperation that this book proves possible.

The book has an abundance of information that undoubtedly covers major areas in the field of architecture heritage. It discusses the challenges faced in the field and demonstrates the importance of such an undertaking to individuals, communities, and cities’ identity all over the world. It also highlights the role of individuals and organizations in the precise and complex process of conserving architectural heritage.

Dean Hawkes (Cardiff University, UK)

Professor Dean Hawkes is a British architect and an award-winning academic. His career combines practice, teaching and research. He has received a number of awards for both academic and professional work, with the most recent one being the RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2010. In 2002 he was awarded the Leverhulme Emeritus Research Fellowship to study “The Environmental Function of Architecture”. He has had several books published, including “The Environmental Tradition: Studies in the Architecture of Environment and the Selective Environment: An Approach to Environmentally Responsive Architecture”. In addition, he has published a number of essays on architecture with contributions to many journals, including the Architects’ Journal and the Architectural Review.

Hocine Bougdah (University for the Creative Arts, UK)

Professor Hocine Bougdah has over 25 years of experience in the field of Architectural Technology and Environment. Professor Bougdah’s teaching and research interests are focused on the technological, ecological and human aspects of architectural design. His research interests cover topics such as sustainable design, innovative low-tech, low-energy, low-impact buildings, the spatial experience of users and the issues of culture, urbanization and globalization. He is currently working on a number of research projects on the following topics, ultra-low energy housing, communication and workflow in the design process, immateriality in architecture (exploration of the user's spatial experience, climate change adaptation through community-driven Initiatives in the global South, and the relationship between culture and space in the post-colonial architecture of Algeria. 

Federica Rosso (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

Dr. Federica Rosso currently holds a position as postdoctoral researcher at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. During her Ph.D. thesis, she spent an academic year as visiting research scholar at the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering of New York University Tandon School of Engineering in USA. She won, together with other Italian researchers, an award for Italy at the 4th International Conference on Countermeasures to Urban Heat Island in Singapore, 2016. She has published more than 10 papers and book chapters in the field of architecture, her most recent work being a book chapter called “A Cost-Effective Human-Based Energy-Retrofitting Approach” and an article titled “New cool concrete for building envelopes and urban paving: Optics-energy and thermal assessment in dynamic conditions”. Her main research interests include energy efficiency, sustainable architecture, sustainable development, solar and green buildings, energy conservation and construction technology, as well as innovative materials and construction elements for buildings and urban environment. 

Nicola Cavalagli (Universita degli Studi di Perugia, Italy)

Professor Nicola Cavalagli has more than 10 years of experience in the field of civil and architecture engineering. Professor Cavalagli aim to design, validate and promote responsive systems and solutions for effective resilience of CH against climate change effects. This is considered to be a mandatory premise holistic, multidisciplinary approach through the involvement of different expertise’s including end-users, industry/SMEs, scientists, conservators/restorers and social experts, decision, and policy makers. Professor Cavalagli’s research interest includes Civil Engineering, Architecture Engineering, Finite Element Method, and Computation Mechanics. 

Mahmoud Yousef M. Ghoneem (Helwan University, Egypt)

Professor Mahmoud Ghoneem has more than16 years of Academic and profession experience in the field of Architecture, landscape and Urban Design. In addition to that he participated in different projects, such as Hotels & Resorts, Commercial, Residential & Recreational and other Miscellaneous projects in Egypt & the Middle East. He has a proficient knowledge of architectural design and its applications. Moreover, he has Strong analytical skills with ability to identify, implement and follow-up opportunities for efficiency. He had many Diplomas concerning about Environmental Engineering (AUC, 2011) and Urban Management for climate change (IHS, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2014) and participate in many international conferences and workshops. Professor Ghoneem has more than 13 publications in the field of Urban Design and Architecture.

Chaham Alalouch (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman)

Dr. Chaham Alalouch is an architect, researcher and educator with a background in urbanism. He is concerned about how to improve people’s quality of life through sustainable built environment. He believes that the built environment (building and cities) is made for people and it should be designed and constructed as such. Dr. Chaham’s research was recognized for excellence. His Ph.D. was awarded the MacFarlane Prize by Heriot-Watt University in the UK, and one of his peer-reviewed journal papers was awarded the Highly Commended Award at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence, UK. He has authored and co-authored more than 20 articles, technical reports and a book covering a wide range of topics related to this broad area of interest such as healthcare building design, privacy, spatial experience of space users, space syntax, restorative environments, stakeholder’s involvement in the design process, and passive and sustainable design and construction. He is also a member of Oman eco-house project and currently undertaking research in architectural pedagogy and “livability” of eco-architecture. Dr. Chaham held invited talks and keynote speeches at several international conferences. He also acts as a reviewer for a range of reputable journals, and as a scientific responsible for a number of international design schools, demonstrating academic leadership. He is currently teaching and researching at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, having previously researched and taught at universities in the UK and Syria. There, he also worked in several architectural consultancy firms and in two European commission-funded projects, namely STRABON (Multilingual and Multimedia Information System for Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage and Tourism) and HERCOMANES (Heritage Conservation and Management in Egypt and Syria).

Nabil Mohareb (Beirut Arab University, Lebanon)

Dr. Nabil Mohareb is an Associate Professor with over 18 years of academic experience. He has worked for a number of distinguished universities in three different countries, with the most recent one is Beirut Arab University, Lebanon. With more than 8 years as the head of faculty branch, Dr. Mohareb has a number of published papers where his research focuses on the relationship between architecture and urbanism. He is also interested in social behavioral activities, the reciprocal effect of both spatial and economic variables in urban spaces, and their interrelationship with architectural design.