The research discusses building new communities in the desert. Siwa Oasis in Egypt was selected as the project location because of its historical background and how the Siwa inhabitants adapted with the desert using local material to build efficient architecture. Building in the desert has many challenges (environmental, physical, and philosophical). As the main cause for desertification is sand shifting, the research focuses on studying the behavior of sand shifting to use it as the potential for building with sand as a building material.
Project Name: Generative Sandscape
By: Hossam Badr
School Name: Dessau International Architecture
Studio Name: DARS studio [Design, Architectural Robotics & Systems]
Advisors: Sina Mostafavi, Manuel Kretzer
The design approach is to learn from the process through which nature is formed through millions of years by studying the cycle of erosion and sand shifting. The process involves diving deep into the level of particles that have been moved away by the action of natural geological agents such as flowing water, blowing winds, and falling under the influence of gravity.
The Proposal to be presented here is a different way of rethink the Egyptian desert communities’ building methods and the materials used for construction. A huge part of the construction systems today still relies on traditional manufacturing techniques and methods of implementation.
New alternatives can contribute to a new way of creating architecture a way more effective a manner. Rethinking the approach to varying structuring methods is of paramount importance in our time. Recently, computing devices have proven an increasing power in allowing for a digital fabrication approach that has out-ranged our possibility of traditional physical fabrication.
