This Just In!

Workspaces OCI Lab Conversations
#1

Hey everyone,

My name is Mohab. I’m an architect and an occasional artist and I’m almost 25 years old.
Things that make me tick:

  1. Art
  2. Philosophy
  3. A good novel
  4. A good movie
  5. An interesting workshop

My last job included working with the local community, follow-ups and evaluation, documentation and research work, publication editing, and, last but not least, travelling to Germany for 7 months. What I’m always looking for is something worth doing and doing something that leaves a mark.

I’m looking for the kind of work that doesn’t follow the norm, I want to work in different environments and on projects that really matter and for causes that truly require our attention.

Finally, I hope to get to know all of you and start something new and interesting here.

Till then, all the best.
Mohab

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#2

Hey Moheb ! Welcome to Edgeryders Platform :slight_smile: I am Zmorda from Tunisia , I am working as a consultant engineer. So you are mainly interested in the fellowship program? @mohabessam

#3

hey @mohabessam welcome to our little part of the internet :smiley:

can you tell us more about your work, what kind of community work did you do ? where ? and what did you do in Germany ?

I think you will find a lot of interesting stuff happening here and probably will find your place.

#4

Hey Hazem,

My last experience was in Ezbet Abu Qarn; an informal settlement near one of Cairo’s historic attractions; The Religious Complex.

The organization I was in, was concerned with the urban and social upgrading of the area. We tackled that through three main pillars; Health, Profession, & Education.

Subsequently, we carried some interesting workshops there such as; upgrading the elementary school’s playground using different techniques including clay and Earth Architecture, total renovation of one of the alleys, and last but not least, my favorite workshop of all; the Mud Oven Workshop.

We worked with two Portuguese architects to build a mud oven for two families (urban project) in under 6 days. And it worked.
A year later, I was asked to write an academic publication on the Oven workshop, and was invited to Stuttgart University in Germany to do such publication, which is currently awaiting reviewing for publishing.

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#5

Is there a large need for mud ovens?

#6

Hey John,

Actually what we discovered during the preparation phase of the workshop, was that some families already build their own ovens. However, they build it on-top of their roofs, which meant that each oven belonged to only one family; a private oven.

Moreover, building the same oven was an annual task due to the damage the rain water causes to it. Lastly, although the community fulfilled their need for such ovens (by building them), they didn’t have the proper know-how, which resulted in poorly-structured, temporally-standing ovens with poor efficiency.

However, when we found out all that we were thrilled, firstly, because we properly understood the community’s needs to some extent; and secondly, because what we were going to do wouldn’t be regarded as an outsider intervention, which was essential for the continuation of the oven after we leave.

Our prototype, was firstly, an urban installment, which ensured that more than one family could use it, secondly, was well-structured, insulated from below, sheltered from above, and respected some laws of fluid mechanics which increased its efficiency.

It’s been roughly two years since the completion of the oven, and till this day it’s working efficiently.

Open village workshop - Cairo
#7

Hey Zmorda,

I apologize for not replying sooner as I had to attend today’s meeting first (in Cairo) to fully understand how things work here.

Now that I’ve attended the meeting, I can safely say "yes, I’m interested, a lot, in the fellowship program and I really hope I get the chance to work on a project with you guys.

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#8

hey @mohabessam was really nice meeting you. check out Madyan facebook page, as I told you the website is still under-construction and one of the team will tell its story her soon.
pinging @Abdelwahab and @amrmabdelaal

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