Scaffold Integrated Technological Education Center
Location: Izbat as Safih, Cairo
Code: E 1320
Team: Al Hussien Bin Ali Fawzy – Alaa Hamed Mohmmed Fawaz – Alaa Hassan Mohmmed – Hagar Gamal

Introduction

As the world is slowly reopening in the post- Covid 19, everyone is adapting to new realities. Imposing drastic adjustments to our lives, the coronavirus has introduced a new “dimension”, changing our perceptions and altering our priorities. Driven towards questioning and evaluating our environment, we are constantly reacting and anticipating a relatively unknown future. The new restrictions placed on society have been an impetus to rethink much of what we take for granted in the built environment. The way the world has adapted to this new lifestyle may forecast new dimensions following the COVID-19 outbreak. It is evident that we cannot return to the world as it was before. One of the strongest messages in the attached report is that our common humanity necessitates global solidarity. We cannot accept the levels of inequality that have been permitted to emerge on our shared country. It is particularly important that the world supports developing countries with investment in 21st century education infrastructures; this will require the mobilization of resources and support from developed countries, in particular with debt cancellation, restructuring, and new financing. The magnitude of this challenge is clearly evident with regard to the digital gap in Africa. For example, only 11% of learners in the slums have a household computer and only 18% have household internet, as compared to the 50% of learners globally who have computers at home and the 57% who have access to internet. Already we see that the disruptions brought on by the pandemic are exacerbating inequalities both within and across countries. We urgently need investment and structural change so that short-term setbacks do not grow into larger, long-lasting problems.

Problem statement

" "Schools and education in post- Covid world"
So far, data suggest that children under the age of 16 years represent about 8.5% of reported cases, with relatively few deaths compared to other age groups and usually mild disease. However, cases of critical illness have been reported. The education of more than 1.5 billion students whose learning has been hampered due to school closures has become a focal point. As the schools were not prepared to cope with Covid situation. So our statement is to create an educational building that can stand and keep children safe, during and after Covid pandemic. The project aims at creating an educational building that can stand and keep children safe, during and after Covid pandemic, specially in the most affected places from the last closure, at the educational field.

Project Objectives

Adaptability and flexibility is a key element also in the new design where it was found that most Egyptian families’ needs are changing by time and in need of more space. The solution was in creating a multi-use space on the ground floor with big storage units to store the furniture and hence the plan could be multi-used as required.

The Egyptian rural area suffers from non-healthy housing problems with extreme poverty levels; the new design intended to solve those urgent issues with promoting the social values. In response to the United Nations sustainability Goals that were integrated into the design criteria to build a cultural habitat with community and for community.

The environmental agenda was also studied to push the boundaries of regular sustainability to a new level of self-sufficiency with a view to creating a Zero-energy house producing its own water and food. The environmental approach was based upon standing on the latest technologies for self-sufficiency and renewable energy resources appropriate for our climate.

The Social Approach was achieved after a lot of interviews and meetings with various social classes in Egyptian society (Human centered design approach; dealing with users as part of the design team) to reach a design manifesto for an Egyptian contemporary model that reflects the contemporary lifestyle and the Egyptian family aspirations as well in a perfect square house framing views of Egypt.
Despite the design concept of adaptability and flexibility, all environmental calculations, energy modeling and CFD simulations were done on Giza villages, South Cairo. The 50 design criteria were derived from multi-resources that represent different Egyptian micro-cultures that are harmonizing in “a unity within diversity” relationship. This project is an ongoing scientific work that started 10 years ago and will continue to develop and many environmental calculations will be published as scientific papers.

Introduction

Human Health is the extent of an individual’s continuing physical, emotional, mental, and social ability to cope with his or her environment. In the last centuries due to human actions, there has been a lot of climatic changes, pollution, diseases that lead to the emersion of epidemics and recently the appearance of the pandemic Covid-19 that made radical changes to our lives as humans. This new reality has forced us to reconsider ourselves. In order to cope with these new changes, our thinking process, methodology, and approach had to change. Building livable cities and buildings that are capable of facing the future epidemics do not necessarily mean rebuilding new cities. We need our cities to respect nature that humanity has violated. Less crowded cities with abundant green open spaces and open buildings are important to improve the human health physically and psychologically.

Problem Definition

The world as we know it will never be the same again. This pandemic has led to many changes in people's lives. Hence the challenge was to redesign our building environment to cope with the challenges imposed by the pandemic and enhance our urban and architecture. This will help raise awareness among people specially in Egypt about the benefits of healthy houses.

Vision

Our vision is to create a project to be a turning point in Egypt that includes different activities that can be practiced comfortably and to achieve flexibility within small spaces in coronavirus era.

Aim

The aim of our project design is to create environments that stimulate the mind in order to provide pleasure, creativity, relaxation and enjoyment.

Typology Selection

Residential architecture was most affected by the pandemic. During quarantine, people had to practice most of their activities in their homes. The home is now an office, school, restaurant, gym, playroom, isolation and more. Hence, homes have acquired more focus and importance .So it was more challenging to redesign residential spaces in order to accommodate all these different activities and to make them flexible and adaptable to the changing reality as COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic.

The site

Determination of the reasons of site selection and putting social and environmental studies into consideration while developing the project.

Coronavirus Spread

The coronavirus was like a nature blast, a red card given by earth, warning that we have crossed the line. The virus has spread so fast that within few months the whole world was infected and it was announced as a pandemic. And until this moment the pandemic still exists and we all have witnessed how this pandemic changed this world that we know, how it affected our lives, our routines, our activities. It forced us to stay at home and to stay apart, challenged us physically and emotionally. The pandemic obliged us to stick to certain protocols and rules. And needless to say, the most affected places were over crowded cities whose people had lack of awareness. Consequently, the virus had affected both Urban and Architectural fields, made it obvious that our urban and architectural designs need drastic changes in order to cope with the reality and be able to fulfill people’s novel requirements. Also it will have a long term effect on the typology of the future projects and select the site location best for them.

Site Selection

The criteria on which the site was selected was the extent of the Coronavirus Spread, the availability of building materials, the type of users, the place identity, and its connectivity. Therefore, we chose Cairo as it was Egypt’s most infected cities and because being the largest in population, thus it needs a new prototype design that responds to the new health and climate challenges. Inside Cairo we chose Helwan because it was Cairo’s most infected areas and due to factories air pollution and the spread of respiratory diseases, there is a need for new design strategies that put in mind air purification and treatments to decrease pollution. Also Helwan has good connectivity with most of the city due to the presence of a metro line. It is strongly connected to the Nile Corniche and the presence of sand (material to be used in construction).

Site location

The site lies on Omar Ibn Abd El-Aziz main road in Helwan District branched from the Nile Corniche close to Rokn Farouk. This site is surrounded by a lot of services such as hospitals, schools, restaurants, cafes, and clubs. Beside the site lies a Plant nursery that covers a large area which gives a view to the project and helps purify the air around it.

Importance of healthy houses

Since home has become a place for many activities, it has become essential to design it in a way to increase humans’ productivity and efficiency. Having a cluttered home can make you feel tired and sluggish, thus improving home environment will have positive effects on our physical health and mental wellness. The goal is to come to a design criterion that will help us achieve physical, mental, and social wellbeing through passive designs:

• Physical & Mental:
  • Flexibility, Adaptability, Shared Living Spaces
  • Isolated workspaces (temporary)
  • Exercise Space (Gym)
  • Mobile Partitions (Prefab, Modular Units…)
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Visible & Accessible Green Spaces/Elements (Biophilic Design)
  • Indoor Materials (Natural, Hygienic)
  • Solid Waste Management
  • Buffer Spaces (Sterilization)
• Social:
  • Outdoor Group Activities
  • Gathering Spaces
  • Mixed use

Project concept

“Home is people’s immunity.”
Our project is an alive shift simulating immune system layers of defense.

Immune building

The immune system in human beings defends our bodies through a series of defenses. Our designing approach uses the same technique to make home the people’s immune. When we start looking at the building as a human being, we will start considering that it also has immune system that decides how it will resist diseases or control viruses and infections. Just like the immune system of the human, the building immune system has three main layers of defense; barriers, innate, and adaptive layers. The 1st defensive layer is represented in barriers. This layer, as the human skin, is the first layer to face exterior environment so this is the most important layer. In buildings, these barriers could be building skin and building lung. To enhance this layer screens, louvers, and purifying tiles “breathing walls” are used in the building facades, as well as green elements in the core walls. A courtyard was added as the lung for the building units to help purify the air entering the spaces. The 2nd layer is the innate layer, it is for the passive systems to be added to the interior environments to enhance building immunity. This could be achieved by improving air quality and thermal comfort, providing natural ventilation and lighting, encouraging physical activity within the interior spaces. And due to the current circumstances of the pandemic, it has been also important to consider buffer zones for sterilization and to rethink indoor materials to be more hygienic and easy to clean. The 3rd layer is the adaptive layer, which could be represented as the addition of smart systems and technological add-ons. Due to cost management restrictions, we will focus on the use of the first two layers of defense “barriers & Innate layer” in our building.

Form generation

Based on our concept, our main keywords are breathe, shifting, layers and cells which were used to form the residential units in a distinct form. First we used a modular cells 3.6m*3.6m to make residential units with different layouts achieving connectivity through a courtyard. Then we added the main cores and entrances. And as we went up the levels we started shifting and layering the units around the courtyard and core to form open green spaces. Finally, all that includes external defensive layers (breathing walls, core green elements and louvers) and enhance the indoor layer of defense( wind catchers and cross ventilation).

Interior spaces flexibility

Interior spaces are designed to maintain several different activities during the day. As parts of the living room space can be turned into isolation part, other can be closed and opened into a work space. Multipurpose furniture are introduced in the interior design in order to provide additional spaces in small residential units.

Project materials

We use CSEB material as the building material in the external walls. It simulates human skin by purifying the air. This is a double skin for the building which reduces the thermal loads. CSEB are natural materials, it is soil, raw or stabilized, which is slightly moistened, poured into a steel press (with or without stabilizer) and then compressed either with a manual or motorized press. It is a mixture of clay, silt (very fine sand), sand, and occasionally larger aggregates such as gravel or stones. (Minke, 2006). Compressed earth blocks are most of the times stabilized; hence they are called Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB). The stabilization of the soil allowed us to build higher with thinner walls, which have better compressive strength and water resistance. And they are stabilized with cement or lime.

We used this material due to the following:

• It balances indoor air humidity and with appropriate thicknesses it has the ability to store heat due to its thermal mass, which is quiet, a good property especially for desert climates.
• A local material
• A bio-degradable material
• Energy efficiency and eco-friendly: The energy consumption in a m3 can be from 5 to 15 times less than a m3 of fired bricks. The pollution emission will also be 2.4 to 7.8 times less than fired bricks.
• Cost efficiency It’s produced locally, with a natural resource and semi-skilled labor. In Auroville, a finished m3 of CSEB masonry is always cheaper than fired bricks: between 15 to 20% less than country fired bricks.

In the exterior walls we used light colors to make the thermal loads on the building less. The materials used in interior spaces do not keep pollutants on top of them for long periods of time; thus suiting the corona conditions. Using natural colors and materials gives a comfortable feeling. The addition of indoor plants improves the air quality and the psychology of inhabitants.

CLASS MODULE & CONFIGURATION:

• 12 STUDENTS PER CLASS
• 7 CLASSES IN THE PROTOTYPE
• THAT ACCOMODATE UP TO 62 STUDENTS
• EACH EDUCATIONAL FLOOR CONTAINS TWO CLASSES

DECONTAMINATION CHAMBERS ARE ADDED IN EACH FLOOR IN EVERY THRESHOLD , SO THAT EVERY TIME SOMONE ENTERS OR LEAVES GET VACCINATED. MOROVER, THE LOOP CIRCULATION IS ADDED IN THE CONCEPT TO KEEP MOVING AROUND THE MASSES AND AVOID COLLISION OF PIERS

Design process:

-The design began by distributing the desks in an arrangement that provides a wide field of view for each student, which is called: “Horseshoe arrangement” where students are never seated behind each other often obstructing their view, and all students have a clear and unobstructed view of the “ Central Board” of the classroom.

-After Applying the 2-meter distance between desks on the 90m2 area available (the recommended space from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention l) the number of desks was significantly low (7 desks) compared to a minimum of 21 desks before the start of the pandemic, which doesn't fit to the high numbers of students that already go to the crowded classrooms of schools in Cairo.

- We couldn't use any horizontal space in front of the desks to maintain the visual field of each student, so we began to think vertically, the space we aren't using on the walls.

- Through arranging the desks on a First and a Second level of the same classroom and maintaining the same 2 m distance between every 2 desks on the same level, we managed to reach 22 desks in the classroom.

-The two levels of desks are elevated in a way that makes the First level 1.00 meter high and the Second 2.20 meters high, and the reason behind these heights is to maintain a comfortable eye angle for students which is ranged between 17 degree for first level and 28 degree for the second level.

-Reaching the units : the students could reach the desks on the ground level directly from the ground floor, upper desks are reached through a Stair located right to the door of the classroom, leading to a back corridor on level +1.60 m, the corridor funcions as a middle level between the first and second levels of desks, for when there is a unit on +1.00 level there is a small stair leading downwards, and right beside it a unit on level +2.20 with a small stair leading upwards.
-The units and stairs continue altering this way till the end of the corridor, where there is another stair leading to the Ground level to make the circulation a one way only for the Safety and prevention of disease spread.
-The space under the back corridor and stairs has been used as storage spaces, and some spaces contain green elements to help maintain a healthy and green learning environment.
-The colors used within the units are chosen to enhance concentration and improve the learning process for students. Green walls encourage students to focus, yellow walls convey early learning excitement, and red walls inspire vigilance, excitement and creativity.
-On the outside scale, the classrooms were arranged so that the entrance of each class was on the other side of the class beside it, to distribute the flow of students from only one corridor to two separate corridors, and each classroom had a separate courtyard, to prevent crowding of students in one courtyard.

Factors considered:

• Water Fountain: Within the central area of our project there is a fountain which is surrounded by all the elements and acts as a cooling element.
• Program: Our program consists of 90m2 units that make up the entire building and divided into its different functions; cafeteria, public and private units, entrance and printing station, toilets and sanitary rooms.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Good Health and Well- being
• Affordable and Clean Technology
• Sustainable Cities and Communities

We chose these sustainable development goals as the project should focus on the health and well-being of the users, use clean energy to protect its environment and adopt sustainable techniques.

Inspiration :

Our choice of site of course played a huge role in our precedents and inspirations where we tried to find the balance between modernity and traditional design techniques to blend in.

Units :

We took inspirations from the Islamic architecture in the form of mashrabiyat while imitating the effect of Mal’qaf or wind catcher on the roof of the unit to allow natural ventilation. The units are all oriented towards the views of the mosques.

Building :

We used the concept of the 4 Iwans as used in AL-Sultan Hassan Mosque to emphasize important spaces in the building such as the entrance, service units and special rooms. The building form comes from the shifting of each unit more than its previous one in order to provide all the spaces with views of the landmarks.

Energy and Sustainability :

The site wasn’t the only factor that affected our design as we all know it’s no longer a choice for your building to conserve energy, be sustainable and employ techniques to prevent the spread of viral diseases, especially with the recent events and how Covid-19 took many lives and threatened much more not to mention how everyone had to put their daily lives on hold for fear of contracting it.

Units :

This inspired our design for the airflow inside the unit where cross ventilation wasn’t an option as it promotes the spread of viral infections, instead air is collected through the wind catcher above passing by a mesh layer containing a disinfectant and then through a divided and then pushed by the effect of air pressure to the bottom of the unit where it is then pushed outside through the space underneath each unit. In public rooms every person is in booth-like spaces separated by patterned partitions, while in private units a spacing of at least a meter and a half is maintained in most places with the mezzanine level, so people don’t all have to sit together. The louvres installed on the opening is controlled by the user to open and close to certain degrees to manage the air intake into the unit. Other solutions to conserve energy inside the unit include the allowance of natural light into the space.

Finally, the design proposal provided optimal solutions to the challenges posed by COVID-19, through the design process starting from the construction phase using prefabricated materials to the design phase and operating systems which promote health and safety of users.

Why Education?

Since Corona virus has hit Egypt hard, the most negatively impacted field was Education as classes were closed and learning platforms were conducted online. The network of Egypt wasn’t well prepared for this, and the scientific material wasn’t properly conducted, interaction between students and teachers was missing which is a very influencing factor in educational process, unlike other fields:

• Commercial: Economic status was in a remarkable growth
• Residential: was discussed in many platforms & already extracted many solutions and alternatives for it.
• Entertainment & sports: This field found its alternatives, people replaced many activities by cycling and running and this made them dispense with sport clubs, gymnasiums & playgrounds
• Administration: this was conducted online, but not very negatively affected like education (no scientific material needed to transfer)

Chosen site:

we’ve chosen a very deteriorated site (poverty wise & education), in Egypt: Assiut - Sohag According to a study, the most 5 poor governorates in Egypt (Assiut, Sohag, Bani-Suef, Beheira & Cairo). Being in upper Egypt, facing worse atmospheric conditions makes the site more challenging & interesting to make an intelligent and flexible design there.

Chosen land:

So, the chosen site is Sohag. The educational crisis is getting worse by default. It’s more deteriorated due to COVID-19 concerns & regulations. So we chose our activity typology and developed it to basic education stage: Primary & Preparatory school. Capacity: 200 student Total surface area: Services: totally inclusive & fully independent

Concept:

The Nile is the river of knowledge that feeds Egyptians’ brains. Since the River Nile has been always the source of wealth to Egypt, so the angle of Delta with the horizon is inspired in our project as a symbol of (Gate of knowledge).
It was the symbol of Richness, since it’s the longest river in the world. It symbolizes the Lotus flower that is the symbol of regeneration of life in Ancient Egypt, and so it will be Education for forever

Materials:

Rice straw is from the local waste material that is potentially ready to be recycled as a building material (blocks: 20cm*10cm*6cm) and building sheets. It has many advantages:

Palm Fronds:

Recycling process through the reuse of palms waste, without shape transformation (low tech - low budget), high tensile strength that can be used as rebar, (It’s a full function)

Land potentials & context: (Green lands)

Another layer of separation and isolation physically by (green line) that in addition to purifying air for better quality of life, health and wellbeing, It acts like Buffer zone between air flows of different cluster units.(6)

Environmental & Climatic status:

Low tech, high efficient systems:
Gravel pocket in the floor to cool down prevailing winds and by the effect of pressure and openings at different levels, creates natural cross ventilation in the space. Palm fronds shed (heat insulative) and removable according to hours of day and overall temperature. On extra hot days, It’s installed to keep sun away from soil (prevent evaporation of droplets), so that coming air passes by moist and cool down surface temperature. On normal days and hours, it’s removed for better agriculture process with sun “Photosynthesis” Low tech and budget but highly effective water treatment system underground (Gray water) for irrigation uses only. A store for the agriculture products in the landscape too.

A Nature-Inspired School

Biophilic design, or incorporating elements of nature into the learning environment, has been proved to have a positive influence on students’ well-being, as well as boosting productivity and academic achievement. This project covers the issue of insufficient spatial design support, which is part of the combined “COVID-19” pandemic, and sets the direction for the environmental improvement of school facilities. The design aims to find the clues to creating an optimized environment for children in nature, which is a key factor that generally promotes children’s physical, cognitive, and social development. Using natural elements enable the children to enjoy various sensory experiences related to nature and provide design recommendations for other schools that may wish to incorporate biophilic elements into educational design.

Concept Deformation

Milankovitch orbital variations

This biophilic learning environment was built up on an area of 90-square-metere classroom, which was designed to illustrate how you can infuse your learning spaces with nature.
Within the classroom, three distinct zones support different modes of learning, with mobility and flexibility being key. The materials within each zone were carefully chosen to encourage focus, learning, and well-being by mimicking natural environments and making connections to the natural world.

The project Components :

• 2 Classrooms
• Library
• Green Terrace
• Administration Offices
• Outdoor Classroom
• Outdoor Classroom
• Outdoor Kitchen

Project Features :
Biophilic Design Consideration

• Access to and views of nature
• Improved air quality and ventilation
• Natural materials and calming colors.
• Natural lighting.
  

  Sun shading devices, orientation and window to wall ratios were considered in the building design in order to optimize daylight and to sync with human circadian rhythms, thereby optimizing occupant wellbeing and productivity.

• Improved acoustics.
• Organic Forms
• Color
  

  Use color to evoke emotion. For example, blues bring in the hues of water and sky and have been shown to produce a calming effect, yellow brings to mind sunshine and elicits feelings of joy and happiness, greens bring in the calming effects of plant life, and the spiritual of red is energy, creation and passion.

Construction System

• we propose a mold that can be assembled to the CINVA RAM machine
• with this mold we can make a self-assembling brick.
• this brick would not need mortar for the joints. It would also have capabilities for structural reinforcements.
• this brick would not need mortar for the joints. It would also have capabilities for structural reinforcements.

Using Perforated Brick Material

The scope of Perforated Brick Façade architecture extends beyond privacy or aesthetics. We explore the various advantages of using Perforated Brick Façade for biophilic learning environment in Egypt

• Natural Cooling With Air Flow
• Gateway for Sunlight
• مFilter For Light – Shifting Daylight And Changing Colors
• Regulates Air Flow
• Helps To Block Sound

Site

The site for this project is located in the New Capital, 45km east of Cairo. The reason this site was chosen is that the New Capital is built with a sustainable and innovative vision. Moreover the New Capital considered the new different technological approaches used to construct and built sustainable monumental buildings which serve the concept of this project. The developments made in New Capital include a wide range of technologies and smart architecture, which makes the proposed clinic design a perfect addition to it.

Concept

The main concept of this project is to design a clinic expressing “ORDER IN CHAOS”. Where a linear modular unit design represents the order which faces the uncontrolled chaos caused by Covid-19

The aim of the project:

The aim of this projects is derived by searching for a method to eliminate the spread of airborne virus inside the clinics and medical facilities and to minimize its negative effects. Applying one way circulation is a well-known effective solution to reduce the human contacts and infection spread.
Moreover, combining both technology and aesthetic architectural design were the main scope of this project. These took place by joining between new innovative technologies such as (green air conditioner system, cold water tubes, thermal cameras and air filters) and imbed it with the architectural form of one way circulation building, in addition to the Timber wood screen facades which combine between aesthetic appearance and provide natural cross ventilation to the indoor space.
Modern style was used to design the form of the project. The colors used in this project are a mixture of white and brown, theses colors never goes out of fashion. White color was chosen because it represents the clearness, freshness and purity which give hope for patients and sick people, while the brown color represents the nature as well as the stability, reliability and dependability.

Façade Design

Exterior walls in zones A will have a series of horizontal and vertical wooden louvers rather than solid walls. The louvers have wider spaces in between at the top and at the bottom, this promotes cross ventilation and improves air flow. This enhances natural ventilation and provides a cool, shaded environment

• Green wall Cooling system
  A new technology for integrating green walls with air conditions for absorbing the moisture in the room and add a passive cooling system.
• Cooling Tubes
  Cooling tubes consists of a series of rectangular panels that run through the walls and floors of a unit. The panels contain tubes that have chilled water circulating inside. This technology is able to cool an area down significantly. As heat naturally moves from hotter surfaces to colder ones through radiation, when a person stands beside or above the panel, their body heat moves towards the cold panels. The cooling tubes do not increase the humidity levels inside the space. This technology has been tested and published in 2020 by Oxford University and it will be efficient in hot-arid climate countries such as Egypt (Rysanek, n.d).

Design considerations

• Using natural wood as it is a natural antibacterial and antimicrobial material, which allows it to remove potential pollutants that land on its surface.
• Cooling water pipes: It consists of a series of rectangular panels that pass cold water through the floors of the unit. It is able to cool an area dramatically without increasing the humidity levels inside the space.
• Cross ventilation slots: slots are designed in the facades at patient waiting areas to allow cross ventilation. Since the hot air is lighter than the cold air, the openings on it will allow the hot air to escape while the cold air generated from the cold water pipes installed in the floor of the room will remain inside the room providing a comfortable environment for patients.
• Green wall cooling system: A new technology to combine green walls with air conditioning to absorb room moisture and add a sustainable cooling system.
• Thermal cameras: This camera detects the patient's temperature before entering the clinic. If the patient's temperature is less than 37.5 °C, the gate is opened and he is allowed to enter. If the temperature is higher than 37.5°C, the door is not opened and the patient is asked to enter through a different gate to prevent transmission.
• Sprayers equipped with sensors: All entrances to the unit are equipped with sprinklers that contain alcohol and work with a remote sensor. This adds an extra layer of protection for individuals entering or exiting the unit.
• Rapid air purification units: Rapid air purification units will be installed inside the unit in order to purify the air regularly inside rooms and corridors. They ensure that the air is replaced and purified every 15 minutes.
• Plastic Covers on Toilet Seats: An electric eye purifier which is used to automatically rotate the plastic covers on the toilet seats.

Planet X is a project that aims to provide touristic farms in which the main activity of the tenant would be land cultivation and animal breeding, together with recreational, entertaining, and connecting-with-nature activities. However, the most important goal of such communities is the absolute isolation from infection risks which will be done in a healthy environment that has its inhabitants communicating in a distant safe way.

Location:

The proposal assumes an isolated desert area which is yet close to the existing infrastructure as well as the agriculture-friendly water sources. It has been hypothesized that the eastern plateau of the western Egyptian desert which has been chosen by Dr. Elbaz is the most suitable place to begin with. There is already a road connecting this place (Fayoum Link Road), together with some other lateral axes on which the Development Passage is dependent.

Design :

Separate hotel suites starting from the path to each suite. Each lodging has its own courtyard which is suitable for animal breeding, as well as overlooking a farm that is cultivated by the tenant for the sake of achieving sustainability. Irregular modules were used to symbolize the idea of an outbreak destroying all regularities, as well as illustrating that post-covid architecture is not the same as pre-covid one. Despite the complexity of the project, the design of a single unit is fairly simple and easy to implement. Each group of units is having a shared square to allow human interaction in the context of social distancing imposed by the pandemic. Cinema and matches are of a great importance, that is why all the units are overlooking a shared cinema screen that allow guests to watch movies and sports events together while staying at home.

Building material:

Compressed earth from site with a combination of loam and water, compressed on-site using metallic wrenches. One goal of our project is an educational/awareness one; we chose to include some brick-concrete buildings to allow having contractors, technicians, and builders who shall witness the success of the compressed bricks idea for the sake of eventually generalizing it. Change starts from convincing contractors and technicians, as one is the enemy of what they do not know. Therefore, awareness and education will be among the goals of the construction process in our project.