Date: 2019
Client: Public Works
Area: 20000m2
Status: 2nd Place Project
Collaboration: Marwan Zouein, Khaleed Sleem, Studio Kawakeb
Cement extraction sites constitute unique settings with many opportunities, yet they raise complex questions regarding long-term recovery. Our general approach is to re-weave the geography using a system of agroforestry managed by local cooperatives. Based on a circular economy and sustainable harvesting, rehabilitation through agroforestry centers the intricate relation between plants, animals, humans and the environment.
Afforesting the existing terraced slopes, flat areas and clay pits with pine and poplar will participate in the healing of the soil. We propose a grid of 5m, to host intercropping, which benefits the local community within shorter cycles. The first crop of trees will set in motion a new industry based on the production of Cross Laminated Timber and other wood products and by-products, slowly proposing local alternatives to the use of concrete in the building industry. Waste produced along the process and available biomass are reused for compost or for the production of biofuel.
In our advocacy strategy, we aim to lobby for reclaiming common economic, social and environmental rights lost due to the private exploitation of the land. It proposes a dialogue among all stakeholders as a way to reintegrate the community in the decision-making process. It seeks to reconnect residents with the land by making visible the different cycles in the form of a calendar.
This process of gradually reduced mining, reclaiming, recovery, and planting, is set within a vision and action-plan for the next 30 Years.