Supervisor

Abdelrahman Ali Taha……For the great people that they were….. 1 1Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to all people far and near who have contributed in the making of this study in any way, be it with academic input, moral support or encouragement. Many thanks are due to my supervisor Assistant Professor Sindre Langaas for super supervision, constructive criticism, understanding and patience. I would also like to thank KTH for making this possible. I am very grateful to Jan Erik, EESI program Director and to Kicki the # 1 program secretary who has truly been there rain or shine. I am especially indebted to Dr. Seif Al-Din Al-Sadig for his support and advice and also for introducing me to SEDIC (Sudan Engineering and Digital Information Centre) who took me in unconditionally and helped me realise my research objectives sparing no amount of data, advice, and knowledge. Thanks to the two outstanding Engineers at SEDIC, Jamal Awad Al-Karim and Salwa Al-Tahir, Without them achievements would have been very difficult. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Head of the Architectural Department, University of Khartoum, Dr Muhammed Yagoub Shaddad for encouraging my academic pursuits and for helping me in many ways. I also thank Eng. Awad Al