LAUSR

Vernacular building techniques and materials have been abandoned worldwide and particularly in the hot humid region. These techniques and materials stand for a long time and proved its efficiency in dealing with the climate. Al-Bald district in Jeddah City in Saudi Arabia is no exception. Al-Mangabi (coral stone) stone is dominated by traditional materials that have been used to construct the vernacular Jeddah's buildings, which are still standing in Historic Jeddah as great evidence of the efficiency of this material. Al-Mangabi stone is available all over the city of Jeddah usually it brought form the sea reefs directly with some traditional drought techniques. Using building materials with high thermal mass in a hot arid climate can save too much energy in cooling down the buildings. This paper analyzes the characteristics of AlMangabi stone as a construction and high thermal mass material. This is achieved through reviewing the history of using this material in Jeddah and comparing Al-Mangabi stone with the commonly available building materials used in buildings in Jeddah. Physical and numerical experiments are conducted in order to quantify the thermal effectiveness of AlMangabi stone. Results revealed the high thermal efficiency of Al-Mangabi stone is very close to a cavity wall with insulation and hence it can promote its role to be a very efficient building materials for external walls while it could be used as a cladding material to provide aesthetic features with insulation function in Jeddah’s market.