Round City selects five designs submitted to Tamayouz Design Challenge that have sustainable features.
Tamayouz Excellence Award, an international awards programme, recently organised a design challenge that prompted architects and designers to create their ideal lockdown spaces. Following two guidelines that required the spaces to measure at 25 square metres and to meet the general restrictions of social distancing and living in lockdown, the designs submitted offered an array of concepts and architectural thinking, and many reimagined the future in unexpected ways.
The challenge recognised five winners, selected through a week-long public vote, as well as five winners selected by Coventry University’s School of Art and Design. Round City also recently listed five projects submitted to the challenge that blend the outdoors and indoors.
Here, Round City selects five projects (listed in no particular order) that focus on sustainability.
Indigo Earth Home by Tasneem Zraikat
For Indigo Earth Home, the designer attempts to create a minimal, peaceful space that maximises the uses of natural, local materials and combines earth architecture with animal fibre innovation. The sustainable elements of the project include the SuperAdobe sandbag building technology that is applied to the main dome (the sandbags are filled with earth, as well as wool collected from local sheep that would otherwise be discarded); its rammed earth construction; its use of clay brickwork that is mixed with wool; and the dyed felt wool mixed with locally grown indigo used for the cladding of the dome.
CO19-PRODUCT by Abdullah Majed Bin Saedan
In this design, architect Abdullah Majed Bin Saedan uses recycled materials for the structure of the lockdown space. Able to be placed anywhere, this design hopes to alleviate the mental and emotional pressures of being in self-isolation by allowing users to explore the beauty of nature. The design also hopes to maintain a full life cycle by being reused as a work or leisure space following the Covid 19 pandemic.
Bulwark by Bhavani Lakshmi M and Sowmiya Subbulakshmi T.
In Bulwark, the designers aim to create a temporary quarantine house that caters to the guidelines of social distancing and high hygiene standards, while also maintaining the psychological health of the inhabitants. The project uses recycled shipping containers that can be easily installed anywhere in the world. Bulwark, wrote the designers, can also be instrumental in being a “work-play-relax module medical cluster”, as the entrance and terrace are designed to be disinfection zones.
Movable Reed-Tents by Zainab Faiz and Hawraa Essam
In this project, the designers draw inspiration from ancient building techniques by using locally-sourced reed as the sole construction material. The reed material is used for the project’s pillars as well as for the fabric woven between the pillars. The tents can be folded up with simple levers, and placed wherever suits the users’ preferences, from gardens to rooftops.
#Solitainer by Bassel Omara
In #Solitainer, architect Bassel Omara creates a lockdown space using a 2X20-foot-recycled shipping container, which is aligned with a shift to embrace “dynamic flow and create pockets for natural breathing”. The sustainable solution provides all of the necessary spaces, including a place to sleep, work, cook and entertain. The module can also be expanded as needed by joining together multiple shipping containers.