Dwellings: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Places to Live

Materials have been central to the growth and development of humans since the beginning of history. We live in a world defined by materials. Everything that surrounds us is made of materials. The field of material science and engineering has significantly contributed to the development of new materials while improving the existing ones. The development and efficient production of new materials led to the development of the modern world, which is characterized by modern infrastructures, devices, machines, and structural products. These devices or structures could not exist without new materials. This research paper will delve into exploring an item that is essential to human survival and development. The materials used for this item will be investigated. The historical development of these materials will also be explored. Lastly, the paper will propose what material improvement can be made to advance the item selected. The item chosen for this project is dwelling. 

Dwellings and their Purpose 

A dwelling is one of the items that are essential for human survival and development. A dwelling is a structure or building used to provide shelter or habitat for humans. In other words, a dwelling is a self-contained building that is used as residential accommodation. In most cases, a dwelling houses a single household. Just like food and water, a dwelling is a necessity for every human. Everyone needs to have a dwelling. 

Early Dwellings 

Dwellings have evolved over time. A number of factors, including socio-cultural, economic, and physical forces intrinsic to the environment of the inhabitants, shaped early dwelling designs. In the past, humans used caves as dwellings. Although not common, some people still use caves as dwellings. Perhaps, this is because caves are ready-made and require little or no construction. However, not all areas have caves. In areas with no caves, humans constructed shelters using the resources that were readily available to them. This includes wood, soil, and grass, among other materials. Figure 1 shows a typical example of an early dwelling. As seen in the figure, the dwelling is constructed from mud. 

Figure 1: Example of an Early Dwelling 

Source: [1]. 

Modern Dwellings 

Dwellings have changed over the last few centuries. Availability of construction materials, advances in engineering and architecture, advances in technology, government incentives, and a general rise in living standards are some of the factors that played a role in the evolution of dwellings [2]. Now, houses, bungalows, flats, and maisonettes are used as dwellings. 

Figure 2: Example of a Modern Dwelling 

Source: [1. 

Materials used in the Construction of Early Dwellings 

Wood 

Wood is, perhaps, one of the natural materials gifted to humanity [2]. Early humans have used this material to construct their dwellings due to its wide abundance and outstanding mechanical properties. Historically, in the past, humans used wood in their unprocessed form to construct their dwellings. Early dwellers used wood to form frameworks. The dwellers then covered the frameworks with grass, leaves, animal hide (skin), and smaller branches. Woods is one of the materials that are very flexible [2]. It has the ability to keep strength while bending. These outstanding mechanical properties enabled the early dwellers to use this material to form frameworks. However, wood poses a great fire risk. 

Clay Brick 

Just like wood, the soil is also one of the materials gifted to humanity. Early dwellers used soil as a construction material. More specifically, early dwellers used soil to manufacture bricks, particularly clay bricks. Clay brick is a product of a brick dough, which is a combination of clayey soil and water. Early dwellers used clay bricks in their natural forms. Early dwellers used clay bricks in ceilings. This is because the clay bricks were manageable to prepare, lighter, and easy to manufacture in different sizes. 

According to [3], bricks were used as a fundamental construction material in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Roman periods. Early dwellers preferred clay bricks to other materials, such as cow dung, to construct their dwellings because of their high compressive strength, durability, fire resistance, and thermal and sound insulation [4]. In the past, early dwellers prepared the clay bricks and left them in the sun to dry. These properties have now been improved with the advance in technology. Manufacturers are now able to manufacture fired bricks, which are more favorable than sun-dried bricks [5]. Early dwellers used clay bricks to construct walls and foundations. 

Straw 

Straw has been used as a construction material for many years. Early dwellers used straw as a roofing material. Early dwellers were faced with a lack of traditional materials and were forced to use a straw and other materials, such as animal hide (skin), as a building material. Early dwellers used this material due to its availability and excellent insulation properties [6]. This material is also easy to work with. Straw bale construction is still used in some parts of the world, particularly areas with limited resources. However, the material has been improved with the advance in technology. 

Materials used in the Construction of Early Dwellings 

Wood 

As humans developed, so has their use of wood for constructing dwellings. Today, humans still use wood to construct their dwellings. However, unlike the past, wood is now available in many different forms, which have resulted from the development of technology. The advance in technology permitted greater structural efficiency, as well as effective protection from destructive elements, such as fire and weather. Rather than raw materials, modern dwellings are constructed from processed wood. Through chemical modification, chemical impregnation, and compression using heat, material scientists and engineers have the ability to treat wood to modify its structure and thus improve its physical and mechanical properties [2]. 

Modern dwellings are still constructed from both raw wood and processed. Wood-polymer composites (WPC) are widely used today. WPC is a class of wood made from a combination of wood and polymers [2]. WPC resembles natural wood but has improved properties. This is because the properties of WPC are a combination of wood and polymer material. WPC has improved hardness, abrasion resistance, compressive strength, bending strength, dimensional stability, and resistance to biological degradation, among many other improved properties [2]. These improved properties justify the use of WPC in constructing modern dwellings. Modern dwellers use WPC to construct frames, roofs, stairs, doors, and windows. 

Stone Bricks 

With the advance in technology, modern dwellers have replaced clay bricks with stone bricks, because of their improved physical and mechanical properties. Stone bricks are less porous, stronger, better thermal and sound insulators, and are more resistant to weathering, among other properties compared to clay bricks. In addition, stone bricks are available in basalt, quartzite, limestone, sandstone, and granite. These materials have different mechanical properties. Modern dwellers prefer natural stone bricks to concrete and many other construction materials because they are much stronger. Stone bricks are mostly used to constructs walls, floors, arches and cornices, and retaining walls. 

Modern dwellers have also adopted composite masonry to reduce the cost of construction and to make their dwellings more durable. This is because composites provide materials of better quality, as well as good workmanship in the faces. Composite masonries that are widely used today include stone facing with brick backing and brick facing with concrete backing. 

Slate 

Although straw bale construction is still used in some settings, this material has been widely replaced by slate. The roofs of modern dwelling are constructed mostly using slate. This material is considered one of the highest quality and most durable roofing materials on the market [7]. However, this material is fragile, very expensive, and difficult to install. However, this roofing material has some huge upsides. Slate is durable, resistant to fire, weathering resistant, and environmentally friendly [7]. With the advance of technology, mechanical and physical properties have been improved through slate composites. An example of a slate composite is synthetic slate shingle, which is more durable than ordinary slate. Synthetic slate shingles are manufactured with virgin rubber or plastic. In some cases, mineral dust and cellulose fibers are incorporated during the manufacturing process. 

Improving Modern Dwellings 

Modern dwellings can be improved in several ways. With regard to sustainability, modern dwellings should use ecologically friendly and recycled construction materials. In addition, modern dwellings should include environmentally-sensitive planning. To make modern dwellings healthy and sustainable, dwellers should consider adding the following features when constructing their dwelling. These features include engineered lumber, recycled decking material, eco-flooring, and eco-cabinets. Eco-flooring refers to the use of wood floors that are sustainably harvested and reclaimed. The use of sustainable materials will help minimize the environmental impact of buildings. 

References 

[1] Inhabitat Staff, “Why our ancestors built round houses and why it still makes sense to build round structures today,” https://inhabitat.com/why-our-ancestors-built-round-houses-and-why-it-still-makes-sense-to-build-round-structures-today/ 

[2] P. Tesinova, Advances in Composite Materials: Analysis of Natural and Man-Made Materials . BoD–Books on Demand, 2011. 

[3] F. Fernandes, P. Lourenço, & F. Castro, “Ancient clay bricks: manufacture and properties,” Materials, Technologies and Practice in Historic Heritage Structures  (pp. 29-48). Springer, Dordrecht, 2010. 

[4] N Dalkılıç, & A. Nabikoğlu, “Traditional manufacturing of clay brick used in the historical buildings of Diyarbakir (Turkey),”  Frontiers of Architectural Research ,  6 (3), 346-359, 2017. 

[5] A. Shakir, & A. Mohammed, “Manufacturing of Bricks in the Past, in the Present and in the Future: A state of the Art Review,”  International Journal of Advances in Applied Sciences ,  2 (3), 145-156, 2013. 

[6] C. Petcu, H. Petran, V. Vasile, & M. Toderasc, “Materials from renewable sources as thermal insulation for nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB)”  Conference on Sustainable Energy  (pp. 159-167). Springer, Cham, 2017. 

[7] V. Cárdenes, P. Jean, W. Jörn, L. David, L. Aurora, and C. Veerle, "Roofing slate standards: A critical review."  Construction and Building Materials  115: 93-104, 2016.