Building with Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture

Afghan and Persian domes

In Afghanistan, a technique for building

domes without formwork has been used

for centuries. With this technique, bell-

shaped flat domes are produced to cover

square rooms by constructing reclining arch-

es which are set at angles of ca. 30° to the

horizontal. Illustrations 14.54, 14.55and

14.56show the construction process of a

dome (over a 4 x 4 m room), which can be

built in half a day by five to six people.

With this technique, the adobe blocks form-

ing the arch should touch at their lower

edges, and wedges should be inserted

into the upper gaps (see 14.56). Since this

method allows the arch action to come into

effect before the mortar has dried, labourers

can even stand on the dome while it is

under construction.

Different models were built at the BRL in

order to show that a wide variety of archi-

tectural forms can be covered with this

technique, and that it can also be combined

with the Nubian dome technique (14.57

to 14.60).

In 14. 61a variation of the Afghan dome

technique is shown. In former times this

was often used in Persia and is therefore

called the Persian dome technique. Here,

reclining arches are started from all four

corners of the base. In this example vaulted

wind catchers have been integrated into

the dome.

125 Designs of building elements

14.54 to 14.56 Construc-
tion of an Afghan dome
14.57 to 14.48 Model
of dome shape deriving
from the Nubian and
Afghan techniques (BRL)

14.58 14.57

14.54 14.55

14.56