Generative Sandscape: Siwa Oasis New Hab|Students

DARS Studio [Design, Architectural Robotics & Systems]: The research discusses building new communities in the desert. Siwa Oasis in Egypt was selected as the project location because of its historical background and how the Siwa inhabitants adapted with the desert using local material to build efficient architecture. Building in the desert has many challenges (environmental, physical, and philosophical). As the main cause for desertification is sand shifting, the research focuses on studying the behaviour of sand shifting to use it as the potential for building with sand as a building material.

Video editing credits: Ahmed Hesham

The design approach is to learn from the process through which nature is formed through millions of years by studying the cycle of erosion and sand shifting. The research has gone through many phases of study, simulation and generative design experiments on many levels, starting from urban through architecture to fabrication and materialization.

Render by Mohamed Mansour

During the research part and while defining the challenges that the Egyptian government faces in building new communities in the desert -as arid areas- the focus was to learn from nature and to generate the solution out of the problem, by studying the cycle of sand solidification and erosion. The procedure involved learning from Siwian people traditional building techniques and material usage to build efficient architecture in the desert.

Render by Mohamed Mansour

The urban studies on the selected site addressed the possibilities of new urban growth in Siwa. The study introduced the “Sand Travel Diagram STD” which records the movement of sand particles under the effect of wind and gravity through time intervals. The STD was applied on three topography alternatives and the result was analyzed to get to understand how the sand movement reacts to that difference.

Render by Mohamed Mansour

The design proposal involved dividing the proposed site in two zones taking in consideration the results from the ‘STD’, and drainage water simulations. The first zone is composed of sand rock hills and the second one contains the sand dunes.

-For sand rock hills (zone 1), the generative design process used ‘STD’ and drainage water simulations to simulate the effect of erosion (happening on the micro level in rocks) which is then applied on the urban fabric of zone 1.

-For sand dunes (zone 2), generative design process used ‘STD’ and sand dune field simulator to define the site boundaries and as an input for the structural analysis for the building.

Render by Mohamed Mansour