Infrastructure as urban common
This project, which I worked on alongside my colleagues Anas Al-Khatib and Ratib Bakri as a graduation project, is part of a research cluster at Birzeit University titled “infrastructures as urban commons. It sheds light on the Palestinian landscape’s complexity, electrical shortages, and environmental infractions that have been utilized as collective punishment tools in Gaza since Israel’s blockade of Gaza began in 2007. The project investigates the deformation of Wadi Gaza, a valley in the heart of the Gaza Strip, as well as the possibilities for countering Israeli policies. Within a power generation system that dismantles the Wadis’ dumpsites and sewage system and feeds it back into the system. Seeking to liberate the Palestinians’ every- day practices.
The proposed architecture typology is based on people participating in the construction of their environment, which is integrated into their daily lives and practices. The know-how gained from Gazans’ earlier attempts to adapt their lives to power cuts by utilizing power alternatives such as UPS batteries (vehicle batteries). These experiments reflect the innovative people’s practices. This typology enhances people’s participation by sharing their objectives and sympathies and establishing a psychological togetherness.
Sewage-to-Energy Classrooms is a modular system that serves as yet another design solution for damaged infrastructure communities in the Wadi Gaza context. The system is intended for a wide range of emergency scenarios, from natural disasters to social conflicts. The form of these shelters, based on triangular geometry, become adaptable and easy to construct as it is based on the 3S system: scenario, site, scale and timeline.
ewage sludge as an energy production source forms an opportunity for Gaza to reduce the huge amounts of sewages’ waste “90,000 cubic meters of sewage are dumped into the sea each day” as mentioned in a report by UNRWA. and to gain bio-energy to support the energy sector. According to calculations, 1 kg of sludge can produce 30 MJ which equals 8.3 Kwh. Anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis are the most promising procedures that can be applied to the conversion of sewage sludge to energy. The outputs of these two processes vary according to the method used. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an anaerobe-based biological process that is capable of convert- ing biodegradable substances in the absence of molecular oxygen to biogas.
