TEAM: Tania Moshirian / Yishiqin Li / Gregory Barrett

The site encompasses an informal area, the zone

of Geziret, located alongside the nile within the

governate of Giza. As such, the spatial configura-

tion of the urban fabric raises numerous questions

when considering urban heat islands, with the re-

sults generated allowing for interesting, and often

unexpected, avenues of exploration.

When compared to the heat aspects of a nearby

formal area, it was the urban concentration of

Geziret which proved most worth a designed inter-

vention.

The cultural landscape of the Ashwa’eyat is a mul-

tifaceted, ever changing mix of tradition and ne-

cessity. The street, the family relationships which

inform the built shape of the residences and the

unplanned activities which occur all lend them-

selves to exploration, with urban resilience as the

end goal.

caption caption

site location

With friendly support ofGerman Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)

Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP), Cairo, Egypt

Institute for European Urban Studies (IfEU),

Faculty of Architecture & Urbanism, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Team of Bauhaus Summer School

Create opportunity to facilitate partial shift towards

skilled labour, especially within youth demographic

Facilitate youth programme expansion

Perpetuate cultural, water based traditions

Perpetuate safe, sustainable, and resilient building

techniques throughout the informal area

Cultural Landscapes and Urban Resilience

ThE PLUg In AshWA’EyAT

LEARnIng FROM gEZIRET

Teachers TeamDipl.-Ing. (FH) Philippe Schmidt M.Sc.

Eng. Mohammed Abdel Aziz M.Sc.

Dr. Conrad Philipp

Dr. Hassan ElMouelhi

Assoc. Prof. Li Qing

Arch. Ilya Belenya

Built Objectives

sPATIAL COnDITIOns

Cultural Objectives

Develop a safe and sanitary environment where people in the informal and formal settlements can benefit from. Workshops will be implemented to inform and assist the public on various issues in the area targeting health and youth programs. Guidelines will have to be put in place so when the Ashwa’eyats expand to

the site, the infrastructure and steps to follow will already be in place to create a safer environment.

COnCEPT / InTERVEnTIOn

Allow for expansion of informal area in more resil-

ient manner

Use border condition to further connections with

wider city

Negotiate connection with highway and establish-

ments in surrounding formal and informal areas.

spatial Objectives

Bauhaus Summer School 17.-28. August 2015, Institute for European Urban Studies

site

Highway

Nile

Red Areas: Prepared Foundations

Under Road Infrastructure East West Axis

reduces Heat Canyon

Initial Temporaray Work-shop buildings

Initial beginnings of Infor-mal Settlement

ITemporary Structures withdraw as Informal Area Grows

Green Areas Flourish as Informal Area Reaches Peak

1

2

3

4

Preparing the Territory

Learn + Build

Settlement Expansion

Establishing an Urban Fabric

INFORM

BUILD

ApplyLearn

E x p er ie nc e

PLU

G IN

INFRASTRUCTURE

Green roofs provide shade and remove heat from the air through evapotranspiration, reduc-ing temperatures of the roof surface and the surrounding air” (EPA, 2015). The implantation of green roofs will cool the area, improve the air quality, and reduce energy use. However, homeowners are constantly expanding the layout of their homes: These will be adaptive allowing for homeowners to build and expand their without causing any building issues.

The main focus of the infrastructure provided both to the plug in ashwa’eyats, and to the general public is the provision of fresh water. Linked to the ancient custom of Sabeen, the public inter-face of the infrastructure at the human scale is both flowing water for drinking and evaporating stations for street cooling, also humidifying the air. Here the cultural tradition of water sharing is taken to the very heart of design, both being present in the plug in ashwayet as a key system, allowing for both grey water and black water system recovery also, truly embracing the notion of purification (wudu). As pictured, a digester system exists to harness the potential of waste, whilst also providing urban green infrastructure which also assists in cooling.

The removable and affordable products such as PV (photo-voltaic) and solar thermal are crucial, generating 72 watts an hour of availa-ble energy with six hours of sunlight.The basic system can be incrementally upgraded over time to incorporate larger appliances; chareac-terised by low costLow cost and low-main-tenance. With the changing environment, PV solar is an option that can be easily removed and placed on the next level of the home.

Implementing a construction material that helps reduce heat is crucial.Softwood chips and wood processing waste are the basic raw materials for the production of the building ma-terial wood-concrete: if painted or pigmented white, a high albedo effect is created. The creation of these structures using this newly introduced area will help be a phenomenon of a new building technique. Ultimately, the end product should not only be cost- effective but also be the best material to negate heat.

There is an extreme lack of youth services and programs to educate the upcoming genera-tions and help express themselves in Cairo, Egypt. Participatory Needs Assessment in Informal Areas (PNA, 2015) by the Centre of Development Services describes the need for youth centres in the area of Giziret. The imple-mentation of an interactive street art will help young people express themselves in a safe environment. Shaded structures, water, and mist spray allow cooling.

Develop design framework for future possible

building on site

Ensure proliferation of design guidelines (also

through youth programme on site).

Create physical infrastructure foundations to sup-

port future informal construction

thermal analysis

thermal condition spatial structure hypothesis

recycling system development of urban form

guideline concept water-cooling infrastructure

waste-water and digester system

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(Li, 2015)Catalytic Communities | CatComm, (2015). Home. [online] Available at: http://catcomm.org [Accessed 28 Aug. 2015].

EcoMENA, (2015). Green Roof Potential in Arab Cities. [online] Available at: http://www.ecomena.org/green-roof-arab/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2015].

Egypt-Urban. (2013). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: http://egypt-urban.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PNA-2013-report-Giza-Governorate_Eng.

pdf [Accessed 27 Aug. 2015].

Epa.gov, (2015). Green Roofs | Heat Island Effect | US EPA. [online] Available at: http://www.epa.gov/heatisld/mitigation/greenroofs.htm [Ac-

cessed 27 Aug. 2015].

Homepower.com, (2015). Green from the Ground Up | Home Power Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.homepower.com/articles/home-

ef ciency/desi n construction/ reen round Accessed Au

li, y. (2015). Waste Water and Digestion System.

Walls of Freedom, (2015). Home. [online] Available at: http://wallsoffreedom.com [Accessed 28 Aug. 2015]

(Home Power, 2015)

(Walls of freedom, 2015)

(EcoMEAN, 2015)

(CatCOMM, 2015)