Summary
Gaza architect and author of “Ethical Implications of Experimental Design on Affected Communities in the Gaza Strip” in Light in Gaza (2022), arguing for the Architecture of the everyday against donor prototype and temporary-shelter approaches (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.104-131).
Details
- He joined Islamic Relief Palestine (IRPAL) as an emergency architect in 2006 and was architect and coordinator of its Rehabilitation of Damaged Houses Project, which by December 2011 had rehabilitated 167 houses for more than 1,200 people in Beit Lahia and Al Shouka at about $4,400 per unit (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.115-118, p.123).
- He holds that families’ attachment to reinforced concrete expresses “permanence as resistance” and that experimental mud and wooden shelters imposed by donors broke extended-family ties and were rejected as unfit for “modern” people (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.113-115).
- He records that the project excluded women from construction and offered information sessions only to men, and argues future projects must hire a female social worker and a female site engineer and prioritize women’s design contributions (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.128-129).
Related pages
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Architecture of the everyday, Gaza, Beit Lahia