Young Egyptian practice Mekano Studio has sent us its entry to the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Design Competition "Seeds Of Life" which won the team an Honorable Mention. The concept confronts the problem of garbage management in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and the consequences of such a threat. The team comprises Osama Elghanam, Karim Elnabawy, Mohamed Khamis, and Nesma Mohamed.
Project Description from the Architects:
A city piled high of trash, they call it ‘garbage city’ and it seems unstoppable. People started to get used to the situation which will lead to a huge trash covering the whole city and from another point, grabage can’t be moved outside the city.
The problem leads to another, as there is lots of diseases and polution.
The city is populated by a community of homeless people called Zabbaleen, As they coexist with the trash, so they collect, sort or resell Cairo’s waste.
Environment is dead in this place, the idea of reviving the environment and that will happen when we revive it’s elements (human - plants - Animals ) and provide them with the necessary power to live.
Power: Using the garbage as seeds buried undergorund and life comes out of it (bringing the good of the garbage out of it) and it will be used to generate Biogas, electricity and fertilize.
Human: changing the society point of view towards the homeless people by making them helpful and productive to the community and this will happen by rehabilitate their lives and then by giving them the opportunity to be a real humans, make them ready to lots of available jobs and works varing from farming, Animal Husbandry and workers to complete the life elements.
Plants: seeds of life skyscraper have lots of green slabs coming out of it, providing the tower with lots of organic elements, making the tower Self-sufficient and to reduce the polution.
Birds: Opening holes in the form of the skyscraper to put in some bird nests for some kind of birds that lives in this area.
The bad image of the city will be rotated to make the idea of the skyscraper
Story board:
1-homeless coexist with the garbage, sad society because of this problem and only one is happy with what’s happening.
2- Mr garbage, the only one happy because this authority is increasing on the lands of Egypt.
3-A homeless finds a book about our vision to the future of the garbage usage and Homeless skyscraper.
4-the idea and vision awakened the talents inside of the homeless.
5-the homeless then finished his dream to live as a real human, to seek a better life and be productive to the community.
6-After the dream came true, Life is just started to the poor homeless people (those were called zabaleen in the past)
The site of the Skyscraper
Manshyet naser, Moatam
Cairo, Egypt
The place full of wrecked homes, full of garbage and zabaleen all beside Almoatam Hill.
All images courtesy of Mekano Studio.
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