Sand Brick House

Instead of building unaffordable apartments for newlyweds in concrete towers, why not extend horizontally towards the huge virgin desert?
This sand brick house, built with locally available materials (sand, gypsum) with low-tech techniques capable of being applied on site (brick press) is thought as an alternative to the costly social housing solutions offered by the government to young couples wanting to settle. A house capable of being edified with a tight budget and growing gradually with the needs of its inhabitants sounded like a more sustainable and economically viable solution. For this end, a flexible modular structural system has been developed to allows for vertical extension.
On the long term, a natural cooling system proved to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly: in fact, in this project, traditional elements of ventilation of old Cairo have been reinterpreted and given a modern expression (new concept for the wind tower, courtyard, screens…). Furthermore, this project seeks to re-establish lost relationships between interior and exterior space that once existed in traditional houses. Special attention was given to preserving the intimacy of the dwelling: a sequence of transitions has been set between the outer public space and inner intimate space, and the living space has been extended without intrusion of privacy.
Finally, in the face of the bareness, the intimidating immensity of the desert, one needs to find ways to recall life in this dead territory. So I tried to use color, water, and vegetation in a recurrent way, and create vistas for visual dialogue of the dwellings. Will these be enough to counter the hostile feeling of emptiness? Surely the challenge overshadows the means, but bringing life in a desert is a dream worth living and fighting for.