I would love to spread the concept and practice of ecologically sound housing in Egypt. 

Description

The Dream

I would like to be involved in building ecological housing all from local material, no concrete or harmful chemicals, based on Hassan Fathy’s design. I would like to further enhance the design by using biogeometric principles which can also be used to select the location of the house. The house would have a dome shape. It would be warm in winter and cool in summer. The houses will not have any electricity installed. Water will be used from a well perhaps. Drainage will be self contained, that is, the house will have its own self sufficient drainage system which will be fed as fertilizers (after treatment) to the surrounding garden or plants.

I would like to build one such model house perhaps in may farm. I would then like to build a similar one in the farm of someone else. As people start witnessing and experiencing such houses built in farms, they would ask for building similar houses in their own farms. The concept would slowly spread about and such ecological houses would start to gradually grow in number.

Documenting

I would like to have everything documented, the combination of Hassan Fathy’s design with the use of biogeometric concepts and tools, using local materials for building, and making the house electricity free and with its own drainage system. This documentation will help others be able to build such ecological houses in their farms (or perhaps some may even try it not in farms, but in small areas with a garden around the house perhaps).

Case Studies

Besides the detailed documentation of the design and the step-by-step instruction given on how to build it, a case study or documentary can also be made in which real stories of people building and having (and living in) such houses are told with photo illustrations of such life inside and outside the houses .stories of office-centric people whom transitioned into such types of housing in a farm with all the challenges they have met to make such a transition and with all the positive elements such change has made in their lives in addition to the things they also miss in their previous office-life and some of the current negative things they now have in their current otherwise pleasant ecological farm life (in order to give a balanced realistic view) which would make things more credible and believable to others whom read such real stories. It will help reduce their fears of transitioning themselves, give them a realistic view so that they can determine by themselves if such ecological way of life was for them or not. It would also make it clear that there is a price to pay for such calm and pleasant ecological way of life. This may make even more people go for it after seeing such realism in relating such stories and knowing exactly what price they would be paying or what negative elements may be existing in such ecological life style. Knowing the drawback can help one take a decision to go for it despite the presence of such drawback if the positive elements are worth it, while being in the dark about the negative elements may bring about a sensation of fear and inaction to pursue such a transition.

Farms

I can be going to farms and building such ecological houses myself and working with my own hands with others to build.

We can make it as a form of cooperative building process, where each person who assists in the building process gets credit by collecting enough credit through helping in building enough ecological houses, a person earns a total of credits that allows him to get people to build his own house for him. Each person just pays the cost of the materials, but not the labor work.

City

Such ecological hosing may even extend to reach parts of the city. Even the great majority of city housing which would still remain in traditional concrete may benefit from some of the elements of ecological houses such as materials used, shape and design, use of biogeometry or even no-electricity! Traditional housing could be influenced by such ecological housing movement spreading in Egypt.

Implementation

Obstacles

• I have no experience in building ecological houses.
• Resistance from people due to it being a new concept.
• Funding. 

First Step

• Experience an ecological house by entering it, spending some time in it and perhaps also photographing it.
  

Progress

• Read a little about dome shaped houses based on the Hassan Fathy design.