Aal Mujammal, Saudi Arabia

Aal Mujammal is a small town in the Asir Mountains in south western Saudi Arabia. It's fairly non descript but I chanced upon it and found it has some nice examples of traditional architecture. Many of the buildings reminded me of Yemen.

Tall circular buildings are used as watch towers on the higher slopes but ones like this on the plains serve as grain stores.

The houses have stone 'fins' built into the adobe walls. They dissipate heat in the summer months and I guess help throw rain away from the mud walls in the winter.

Some of the houses rely on thick walls as insulation. This one has an attached yard for the domestic animals. Goats are wildly kept for meat and milk.

The decorations on the houses are also much more colourful that the austere areas further north.

I also like the way the natural materials that are used for construction melt back into the landscape as the buildings decay.