Community Centre
Graduation Project , Architecture Department 2013
"Design is not just how it looks like, but design is how it works & helps"
by Steve Jobs . After spending the last 5 years studying architecture, urban planning and landscape at the architecture department of Alexandria university . Thoughts started coming up couple of years ago asking how an A0 design board can be useful for the community ?
The project is a proposal for the Egyptilization of the term "Community Center"
which was known before as the social services and facilities around the mosques during the Arabs rule of Egypt , creating an opportunity towards a sustainable development for the society by an adaptive reuse to the existing potentials that fits their contemporary demands and requirements .
Basically, the aim of the project was how to take the advantage of the existing potentials such as 90 years old train station, the social coherence of the community as an Egyptian , Alexandrian , Middle Eastern , Arabian community and all the other ethical values to create a social , cultural , commercial and recreational hub by the understanding of the social rules & human behavior at Kafr Ashry district part of Minet El-Basal area which is considered as a low-economy neighborhood around Alexandria Port ... Creating a community centers means creating a second home for the society where people from a massive range of ages , backgrounds and interests can interact learn , pray , play , support OR be supported .
The project program was developed by the local community itself through 35 interviews and 4 open meetings , with a new treatment to the urban spaces also the diverse program of the project by taking the advantage of the Mediterranean weather of Alexandria in providing massive urban space beside the rehabilitation of the abandoned train station .
