The Scar City
Desert Organism
Thesis Project
Master of Science in Architecture
School of Architecture and Society
Politecnico di Milano
Countries as EGYPT must deal with its unique geographical and demographical problems to reach the equilibrium between population growth, resources and land use. Currently the Egyptian population is occupying almost five percent of the land along the Nile Valley and Delta, while the rest is . . . empty desert. Egypt’s lifeblood, the Nile, can’t feed everyone. Moreover recently it is under attack by downriver countries . . .
The thesis is oriented to the Egyptian desert through three main Issues: new cities phenomenon, Water and Energy as current and future problems, potentials and a proposal for a future development axis supported by new infrastructural settlements and preserved existing oasis.
Egypt is a harsh desert country; the Nile River remained always as a fundament for the existence. Egypt drinks, eats, cultivates from the Nile and demographically surrounds it. Damming the Nile may have catastrophic consequences, even small reduction in the amount of water arrives to Egypt could prove devastating effects. The river Nile is shared between 10 countries in the Nile Basin: Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The basin represents one of the most complex and sensitive hydrological systems in the world.
Rapid Population Growth; as many countries face emerges two types of growth formal in a shape of new cities and informal sprawls as a densification or Encroachment on agricultural land. Regarding these new cities, there are many problems but ignorance of the environmental conditions, scarcity of resources and the capability of confronting with the current and future problems are the main issues.
Re-thinking about the transformation of Energy and its revolutionary technologies occurs every day and the way of integration within societies as a cultural aspect might help us imagining the ethics of the future city. Nevertheless, ignoring it might waste the potentials of the renewable energy given social values such as independence and efficiency or else creating new monopolies. The sustainable energy farms are becoming our new landscape, rapidly occupying large areas around our cities and giving value to forgotten Desert lands; which has to be carefully considered in terms of planning. It's the time to define the role of architecture and urban planning in understanding the nature of energy and resources demand that might reshape our settlements or increase the gap in between. Once we can accept the idea of integration it can lead us finding future architectural alternatives, which might facilitate solving our current problems in a world of scarcity and deformation. The project is a provocative, complete organism based on the incorporation of renewable energy plants and new city form. A machinery urbanism that shows potentialities of emerging a micro-climate, livable condition in harsh, at the same time is a machine for water desalination and preserving the underground fossil in a form of energy farm. These new cities typologies can be the infrastructure of the future development axis - parallel to the Nile Valley - that can preserve current communities - Desert Oasis - are running out of resources.
The Realistic Utopia
Learning From Cities
Layers
Cross Section | Schematic Partial Plans
The Residential Cells
The Agricultural Cells
Physical Model
Supervisor
Arch. Prof. Remo Dorigati
Co-supervisor
Arch. Gian Luca Brunetti
Award
Politecnico di Milano : The graduation project you designed is selected as the best graduation
project of your faculty and we invite you to submit the project to Archiprix International.
the biennial event that presents the worlds' best graduation projects selected by universities and colleges teaching architecture, urban design and landscape architecture across the world.
After extensive discussion, during the course of which have been examined issues related to the landscape, urban design, architecture and restoration, the Commission determines the thesis selected to represent the School of Architecture and Society, center of Milan at the competition Archiprix International:
Title : The Scar City (Desert City)
Candidate : Haitham Nabil Mohamed Mousa
Supervisor : Prof. Remo Dorogati
Nov 2014: the project has been Nominated for the award with other 20 Projects in between 350
projects from 350 schools of architecture ( 87 Country). The winners should be selected from the nominated 21 projects on May 2015 in Madrid ETSAM.
The program :
Award and sponsor :
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