Abstract

     Construction with clay and mud bricks is still the traditional building system that exists in Hadhramout valley since hundreds of years until today. and due to the development and change of people's needs over time, building systems have changed to keep pace with these desires. The aim of this research is also to comparing the development of building structural systems of mud construction and to study the changes in its safety factors.
     Building surveys were done and all structural building components were studied, and the safety factors were studied in two different methods for each part of the mud bearing walls. The results confirmed that the increasing stress on the walls of mud buildings, and a huge reduction in the safety factor in the modern architectural designs of mud buildings is due to the large area of rooms and the cancellation of the interior columns.
     This means that the mud material in building has become tremendously stressed, causing the phenomenon of rapid onset of cracks and collapse of modern mud buildings. Therefore, we recommend to develop a local mud-hay building code in Arabic language; which will maintain the sustainability of the outstanding local mud construction system.