Dictionary of islamic architecture

Further reading:
K.A.C.Creswell, E.M.A. Vol 1Part 2, 578–622
O.Grabar, ‘The date and meaning of Mshatta’, 
Dumbarton
Oaks Papers,
41: 243–8, 1987.
R.Hillenbrand, ‘Islamic art at the crossroads; East versus
West at Mshatta’, in 
Essays in Honour of Katharina
OttoDorn
, Malibu 1981, 63–86.
mud brick
Traditional building material in much of the Middle East,
India and North Africa. It is likely that in the past the
mud brick

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majority of buildings in an Islamic city were made of this
material. Mud brick has only recently
been superseded by
concrete as a cheap and versatile building material and is
still used in many areas.
The traditional form of a mud brick is a large flat
square slab produced by filling a wooden mould
with mud or clay of the preferred type. In some areas
the shape of the bricks is varied; thus in Djenné, West
Africa, conical bricks were used until quite recently.
Often some additional material (temper) such as
straw is added to the brick to give it increased
strength. The brick is then left to bake in the sun for
several days until it is very hard and can be used for
building. The bricks are laid in the normal manner,
with layers of mud mortar used to bind the bricks
together. When a mud-brick wall is completed it is
usually coated with a layer of water-resistant mud
plaster. In order to avoid the problems of water
erosion mud-brick buildings are often built on stone
footings or have overhanging roofs with water run-
off directed into special channels. Mud brick also
requires a certain amount of maintenance usually in
the form of annual replastering.
Mud brick has several advantages over more
modern materials: it has better thermal insulation
(warmer in winter and cooler in summer), it is
cheaper, it can be produced locally and it is
environmentally less harmful. Recently there have
been attempts to revive the use of mud brick through
special projects such as those instigated by Hassan
Fathy in Egypt.