The proposal reminds one of ruins in its simplicity, but which tells a story of the present and the past. The structure embodies several aspects that are perceived as opposites. The primitive geometry is simple and modular, yet sculptural side by side. Walking through and around the structures it leads one from narrow dark spaces, which open up to spaces penetrated by sunlight. The rammed earth exterior and adobe bricks are in strong contrast to the plastic interior to give a feeling to the historic and traditional to the more contemporary, a place people can gather and meet to recall the past in a structure with modern elements.
A place that uses tradition and historical building techniques, with material that was a revolutionary invention but as harmful as it has been revolutionary to mother earth. Juxtaposing materials, sensibilities, buildings techniques to create feelings of reflection and awareness of our present and past by experiencing a contemporary design which is influenced by local architecture through its material, arches, mashrabiya elements and new materials like plastic that has become a symbolic material of our modern era.
The construction sector accounts for a large proportion of emissions. 39% of total energy-related Co2 emissions and 36% of final energy use according to the United Nations.
The material for the proposal is regional and local, so environmental impacts resulting from transportation and manufacturing is highly reduced by using rammed earth technique and adobe bricks. There is also a large amount of plastic waste that exist in our rivers and that eventually end up in the oceans where it’s difficult to collect. One way to clean up the mess is to intercept the plastic in rivers where 80% of plastic in oceans come from. Plastic can last thousands of year and in some cases never biodegrade, it takes huge political ambition to change to biodegradable plastic. Until then waste can be given a value and be used to create building materials. Waste that is collected nearby and most importantly in the river Nile with existing and efficient methods. Which has been used in the interior of the cylinders, the inorganic with the organic.
Humans have since ancient times constructed shelters to control the environment they were in. Through their new way of constructing shelter they have increased their adaptability to a variety of climates and spread to become a worldwide species. By the purely functional need for a controlled environment to moderate the effects of climate, mankind have changed nature to a point where we need to do the opposite, which is to protect nature from ourselves. The proposal is an attempt to connect historical and modern day building materials together and organising spaces that shelter, functions as a meeting point, dividing spaces but in some cases giving privacy that the location cultural requires. The proposal encourages to build in an ecological way, with an attempt to create a sense of identity, time and place.