ECOnsult is an Egyptian-based architecture firm that specializes in affordable, green, and energy-efficient buildings. The firm was tasked with making a ‘natural-cooling through thoughtful design’ for Bahareya Village, an eco-friendly compound in Egypt’s western desert roughly 450 kilometers outside Cairo. The Village is home to the farming community engaged by an organic tea producer called Royal Herbs.
The founder of ECOnsult, award-winning architect Sarah El Battouty, leads the sustainable design. In a hot country like Egypt, where temperatures can reach 50°C (122°F) in the summer, a natural cooling design is greatly needed.
The team designed structures that will house around 150 workers, including farmers, engineers, administrative staff, and other agricultural workers. The buildings feature a mosque, communal spaces, a cafeteria, and medical facilities. Cacti are planted around the campus to add greenery without compromising on water efficiency.
Materials to build the structures include gravel made of recycled construction waste, concrete, and limestone, collected from a nearby limestone quarry. Limestone is ideal for cooling down structures due to its thermal properties. The stone remains cool even in peak sunlight hours, making the material a perfect candidate for cladding. Recycled concrete tiles were laid in the room due to its ability to resist heat, and rooftops were built with light reflective elements.
El Battouty observed the sunlight and natural airflow over time and found different ways to enhance shade and manipulate the breeze. For example, deeply shaded areas in darker colors help reduce temperatures by controlling the air exposed to light, and cantilever shelter is used for walkways leading to entrances.
The design also includes some techniques El Battouty learned from desert communities to cool down spaces naturally. One of these techniques includes raising the foundations of the buildings to create space between the floor, causing the rising heat from the land to reduce indoor temperatures by up to 10 degrees. “Sustainable housing has existed in indigenous communities for millennia. They include the elements in everything that they do,” El Battouty added.
In February, the design was nominated by Ashden, an organization that runs an award program for innovative solutions to fight climate change. The Ashden judges were impressed by the intelligent approach to building structures in hot environments, eradicating the need for carbon making AC systems. The design demonstrates the potential of sustainable, low technology solutions and could potentially become a model for building natural cooling structures worldwide.
This won’t be the first time ECOnsult has won an award; the firm has the highest number of Green Buildings awarded by Egyptian architects.
