Daylight in Buildings

The Hidden Gems in SIWA (Salt Crystals)

Students

Kassem Youssef

Teachers

Ahmed youssef

School

Misr International University

Country

Egypt

The Hidden Gems in SIWA (Salt Crystals)
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Project Description

Main Problem Siwa Oasis , located in Egypt is a hidden GEM in the dessert. This Place is full with natural materials that were previously in hundred of years used for building construction and daily product usage. However these days with lack of knowledge and awareness of its beauty, the locals tends to use in homogeneous materials transported from far away for fast ease construction like concrete and steel. This has great impact on the air quality , soil pollution, deforestation of local knowledge and heritage. Project Objectives A quote by Architect Hassan Fathi “God has created in every environment the materials that can conquer its problems, the brilliance of an architect lies in his dealing with the materials he has, because they are the materials that combat the cruelty of the environment”. My aim in this project is to motivate locals to understand the positive aspects in their local materials and construction where they deserted long time ago and for what? Their answer is simply ( It is old stuff and we want to look like the big cities buildings ) “Lack of awareness” This will help in reducing the negative load on our environment and enhance better indoor experience with using local environment. Firstly, the materials that used in the built environment should be a recyclable and a easy to use material that don’t need much machines to be built. Secondly, is where the material is located the because the more the material is a local material and is near the site the more is better. Lastly, is depend mostly on the architect and how he/she thinks ,which is how to design a space that meets the need of the user with the best quality of life in order to have a better human experience. Also, we aren’t going to focus only on the environmental aspect yet, we are focusing also on the social and economical aspect in order to meet the triple bottom line. Social: Occupants and building users can be more productive and comfortable if the indoor environment is carefully designed and illuminated. Environmental: Manufacturing on site materials that makes them using less transportation facilities which decreases co2 emissions. Economical: Enhancing the market from building their own materials and no need to export materials from outside.