Izhar Gafni makes a bike from cardboard for $9. Engineers told Izhar Gafni that a cardboard bike was impossible. But he went ahead and made one anyway. An ardent cyclist and skilled mechanic, Gafni found a cardboard bicycle taking shape in his mind. American engineers he consulted solemnly nay-sayed, but he couldn’t let go of […]
Let’s face it, eco-friendly clothing is hard to come by in the Middle East. Desire to own the top brand names at whatever financial cost often trumps planetary-consciousness, so there’s little incentive for designers to go green. But for those who still want to look their best without hurting the earth, there is light at […]
Egypt’s hottest new environmentally-conscious designer Manar Moursi studied in two of America’s most prestigious academic institutions before founding Studio Meem – a sassy and sustainable design studio based in Cairo. Leaving the stoic traditions of Princeton University and UVA behind, Moursi is now making green waves in her home country. Despite being a fairly young […]
Istanbul’s top ten secondhand clothing shops are easily accessible from the city’s main pedestrian drag, Istiklal Avenue, highlighted in blue on the map. Until recently, Istanbul’s secondhand clothing culture had been minimal, confined to costume shops, small racks in antique stores, and “eskicis” — old men wheeling carts of used items around the streets of […]
We are suckers for a good love story, especially when it has an eco-twist. Chafiq Ennaoui and Aimee Bianca met at the Djemaa el Fna square in Marrakech, where Aimee gushed over the unique quality of artisanal Moroccan crafts. The pair soon fell in love and eventually moved to New York, where Chafiq gained a new […]
Qatar is targeting 76 Acres of LEED Certified Buildings When complete, the Msheireb regeneration project in the heart of Doha’s historical district will feature the world’s largest collection of LEED-certified buildings. Projected to cost $5.5 billion, the city’s new heart will eventually comprise 100 new buildings, all of which will target either Gold or Platinum […]
Step back, LEED. Back off, BREEAM. Easy there, Estidama: Qatar’s developing a new building standard and it’s called GSAS. Qatar’s revamped its QSAS green building rating system. Re-launched under a new name, the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) is muscling in as Middle East- North Africa’s green standard. Developed by the Gulf Organization for Research and […]
We are at the edge of one of the most important epochs in religious architecture. Architects working on mosque designs are bound by energy and resource constraints in addition to escalating temperatures and the threat of rising seas, but they are also restricted by the expectations of tradition. Which is what makes Suhail Mohammed Suleiman’s […]
Paint researchers at University of Notre Dame go green, and not just ‘cause they’re the “Fighting Irish” A team of scientists and engineers led by Professor Prashant Kamat is generating energy from solar paint. Building on recent advances in semiconductor nanocrystal research, they’ve developed a one-coat solar paint for designing quantum dot solar cells. Energy […]
The mayor of Lebanon’s capital Beirut has launched “Beirut is Amazing,” an ambitious plan to finally green up the infamous concrete city. Following dedicated activism and scores of complaints from urban planners and designers, the city recruited the private sector to help regenerate existing green spaces and to create a few more. But Horsh Beirut, […]
Kuwait is planning to build a city in the desert for 2,500 residents, and the Sabah Al-Ahmad Culture Center will be its nucleus. Albeit materially extravagant, BDP. has proposed a design that takes energy conservation very seriously. And in this relentlessly hot and humid seaside environment along the Gulf, that won’t be easy. Integrated with photovoltaic […]
Supported in part by the Egyptian German Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the ZERO award 2012 has extended their deadline for Egyptian designers eager to submit innovative green ideas to the country’s architecture, interior design, and urban planning challenges. The top entries from each category will be recognized publicly and internationally and the winners will also […]
As urban trash threatens to bury city dwellers in environmental and financial ruin, recycling materials is becoming not only a progressive design technique but also a necessary one. That doesn’t mean that an economy of materials has to be boring, mind you. Often, quite the contrary is true. By using either recycled or inexpensive materials, […]
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Masdar CEO, is the recipient of this year’s United Nations’ Champions of the Earth award. The award honours individuals whose actions and leadership have had a far-reaching positive impact on the environment, in advancing clean energy technologies to mitigate the threats of climate change. Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted renewable energy […]
It’s never difficult to pick a Moroccan building out of the crowd and this beautiful new Guelmim Technology School is no exception. Bold and red like the nearby desert, the 6,833 square meter campus design by architects Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani, and Mohamed Amine Siana comprises a contemporary twist on vernacular architecture. Hit the jump for […]