College of Engineering

A Master thesis was discussed in Department of Architecture Engineering / College of Engineering at University of Mosul entitled “The Role of Design Criteria for Selecting Building Materials of Exterior Envelop of Architecture Structures”, submitted by (Bara’a Emadulden Mohamed Ali Mustafa), Supervised By Dr. Hafedh Abed Yahya On Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

The study identified five primary design criteria affecting the process of selecting building materials: physical, socio-cultural, environmental, economic, and technical. The general research problem highlighted a knowledge gap regarding the connection between design criteria and functional patterns of architecture structures, prioritizing them in different contexts (heritage and modern). The specific research problem focused on the lack of knowledge concerning the impact of socio-cultural design criteria on material selection within different contexts (heritage and modern).

The research objective was to determine the weights of each design criteria based on its importance in diverse functional patterns of architecture structures within different contexts. Additionally, the research aimed to establish the individual connections of socio-cultural design criteria with the selection of building materials for religious buildings (mosques) in both heritage and modern contexts. To achieve these objectives, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to determine the weights of the main design criteria influencing material selection. Subsequently, a survey questionnaire was conducted for socio-cultural terms to assess their importance and impact on the material selection process for religious buildings (mosques) in Mosul, in both heritage and modern aspects.

The practical study results indicated that design criteria vary with the functional pattern and the building’s surrounding context. In the heritage context, socio-cultural design criteria play a prominent role in the material selection process, while in the modern context, economic and technical criteria are influential in the decision-making process. It was found that religious buildings are highly associated with socio-cultural design criteria. The importance of these criteria and their terms also varied with the surrounding context. The community identity, as a cultural design criterion, achieved the highest correlation in the heritage context, while material aesthetics received the highest correlation in the modern context. Regarding the cultural background of the recipients, the research concluded that age is the only factor within the sample that influences the choice of building materials. Additionally, in terms of the design criteria terms, material form was identified as the most influential factor in the selection process, while material color achieved the lowest correlation in both contexts.