light from the past (velux competition)

Light from the past

Using daylight for heritage revitalization

velux 2018, our participation

As a springing point, Mansoura -our city- which is located at the delta, north Egypt overlooked the immortal Nile was established in 1219, it took its name from the Arabic word “NASR” which means victory in English. So, it is well known as the victorious city. Because of its magnificent location in the middle of the delta, it became a significant commercial city. Over years, a lot of foreigners have lived in Mansoura, hence, they left many historical buildings which shape rich heritage with miscellaneous architectural styles. However unfortunately, these historical buildings suffered from neglecting due to many reasons; the lack of awareness, the lack of resources….etc. as a result inhabitance don't know these valuable building so they turned into abandoned and destroyed buildings .Moreover, in 2013, a significant terrorist attack occurred and resulted in many victims and also damaged the main historical theater building which was a main landmark in the city center.

Hence, we aim to shed more light on the historical buildings to raise the public awareness about its value and motivate them to revitalize these buildings by using daylight.

We used a transparent technique with simple structure which has different appearances in the day. As in the morning, it shades on people walked in the streets to urge them to watch the damaged historical buildings and know more about its influence on their life, whereas in the evening, this technique completes the original image of the historical building by using light (daylight) stored by transparent solar panels and reuse it in the evening. To conclude, we could say that in the morning, people could watch and be affected by the shade of the damaged present of these valuable historical buildings. Whereas in the evening, they could watch the past of these buildings by using stored daylight.

Transparent solar panels

(TLSC) transparent luminescent solar concentrator. It's transparent photovoltaic cell- The TLSC consists of organic salts that absorb specific non-visible wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared light, which then luminesce as another wavelength of infrared light (also non-visible). This emitted infrared light is directed to the edge of the plastic cell, where thin strips of conventional photovoltaic solar cell convert the light into electricity.

We applied this technique on the most destroyed building in the city (Mansoura historical theater) an ancient building built in 1870 In the era of Elkhadio Ismail which destroyed in 2013 and still destroying.

Moreover, this technique could be used in many historical buildings in Mansoura which suffer from neglecting like Villa el- mhalawy and Alexander Palace which was built in 1920 and was known as the Red Palace due to its red walls. In addition, this palace is an iconic building that distinguishes the area of al-Mokhtalat as It was built using the Gothic style often used to build churches. Whereas, villa el mhalawy which is an iconic building built in 1929 in front of the Nile was in fire twice so has turned into a garbage dump due to the neglecting.

Alexander Palace: