The Electrical Shanshool to Revive Al-Shanasheel in the Traditional Urban Scene in Hot Dry Areas

Abstract

One of the functions of Al-Shanasheel was to cool the air, but they could not compete with the Evaporative coolers, As Al-Shanasheel were a sign of luxury and wealth in Arab societies and were only built in homes of wealthy families, they are more expensive than the evaporative coolers, depending on the level of the decoration and the sculpting used to create them aesthetically, where People replaced them with evaporative coolers for their low cost, and higher cooling efficiency. One of the reasons for the disappearance of Al-Shanasheel is the absence of the functional need for them, in exchange for the high cost of construction. The diminished role of Al-Shanasheel in the contemporary urban scene, although they are one of the most famous elements of the traditional architecture in Iraq in particular and their disappearance as architectural elements of the traditional urban scene, because of its inefficiency in air cooling. The reason for the failure of the environmental efficiency of Al-Shanasheel is because there are no attempts to raise their environmental efficiency and replace them with electrical evaporative coolers. That is the research problem. So the research aimed to revive Al-Shanasheel as environmental and aesthetic elements in the urban scene by creating "The Electric Shanshool" to revive them in the urban scene. The research assumed the possibility of raising the efficiency of Al-Shanasheel in cooling the air by developing the way they work, by exploiting contemporary technologies and thus the possibility of returning them to the urban scene as dual-function elements (aesthetically and environmentally). The research has made it possible to revitalize the environmental function of Al-Shanasheel, by presenting an innovative model of electric Shanshool that cools the air of the room with the same efficiency of evaporative air cooler, while preserving the beauty of Al-Shanshool as an aesthetic and heritage element in the facades of the traditional urban scene. The manufacture, production and invention of The Electric Shanshool will contribute to achieve many of the goals adopted by many organizations. Preserving the urban, cultural and humanitarian heritage (such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, ALECSO, ISESCO, DoCoMo Mo of Iraq (especially for capacity building for the reconstruction of Mosul’s cultural heritage in Iraq after the mass destructions of the war)), since Al- Shanshool represents an important element in asserting the identity of the heritage of a lot of cities, and needs to be revived as it no longer meets the requirements of the present time.