Project Wadi Attir
Constraints to assets, waste to resources:
Integrating green technologies in a novel pilot project for drylands
I.A. Meir
International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2013 34(3-4): 154-165
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2013.858160
The semi-nomadic Bedouin of the Israeli desert have been undergoing sedentarisation which has affected both their lifestyles and their livelihoods. A multi-disciplinary team has been working on the planning and design of a sustainable farming project for a Bedouin community. A site of 40 ha located in the semi-arid Negev desert serves as a pilot project integrating green principles, practices and technologies, aimed at improving production process and economic potential through soil improvement, recycling of wastewater, solar energy and co-generation, composting of solid waste, biogas production, green buildings, and the re-introduction of indigenous species of vegetables, medicinal plants, herbs and spices that have been marginalised. With integration in mind as the main guideline, the design team aims at utilising each activity’s waste as the resource for another activity, preferably onsite, through rigorous scientific evaluation and economic cost–benefit analysis. The project is already under construction.
Keywords: alternative energy sources; desert; integration; green building; green technologies; sustainability
Design team: Isaac A. Meir, Kobi Nahon, Michal Barak, Menahem Ofir
Desert Architecture & Urban Planning
Acknowledgements
This research and project are being conducted under the coordination of Dr. M. Ben-Eli, Sustainability Laboratory director. The master plan and green building design team are headed by this author, and include Dr. S. Leu and Dr. A. Mussery (BIDR), soil enhancement; Prof. A. Gross and Dr. M. Travis (BIDR), biogas and wastewater; L.Arch. S. Heffer-Chaikin and Eng. A. Freund, landscape design and drainage; Dr. A. Bechar (Zenith Solar), solar energy, cogeneration; Eng. D. Columbus (Netafim), irrigation; Dr. S. Kimchie, composting; Dr. M. Alnabari (Mayor of Hura and Wadi Attir cooperative); Y. Nabari, M.S. Abu S’beit and A. Alhawashleh (Wadi Attir cooperative). The generous support of the Jewish National Fund, Israel Ministry of Agriculture, Israel Ministry for the Negev and the Galilee, and numerous others is kindly acknowledged.
Integrating green technologies in a novel pilot project for drylands
I.A. Meir
International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2013 34(3-4): 154-165
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2013.858160
The semi-nomadic Bedouin of the Israeli desert have been undergoing sedentarisation which has affected both their lifestyles and their livelihoods. A multi-disciplinary team has been working on the planning and design of a sustainable farming project for a Bedouin community. A site of 40 ha located in the semi-arid Negev desert serves as a pilot project integrating green principles, practices and technologies, aimed at improving production process and economic potential through soil improvement, recycling of wastewater, solar energy and co-generation, composting of solid waste, biogas production, green buildings, and the re-introduction of indigenous species of vegetables, medicinal plants, herbs and spices that have been marginalised. With integration in mind as the main guideline, the design team aims at utilising each activity’s waste as the resource for another activity, preferably onsite, through rigorous scientific evaluation and economic cost–benefit analysis. The project is already under construction.
Keywords: alternative energy sources; desert; integration; green building; green technologies; sustainability
Design team: Isaac A. Meir, Kobi Nahon, Michal Barak, Menahem Ofir
Desert Architecture & Urban Planning
Acknowledgements
This research and project are being conducted under the coordination of Dr. M. Ben-Eli, Sustainability Laboratory director. The master plan and green building design team are headed by this author, and include Dr. S. Leu and Dr. A. Mussery (BIDR), soil enhancement; Prof. A. Gross and Dr. M. Travis (BIDR), biogas and wastewater; L.Arch. S. Heffer-Chaikin and Eng. A. Freund, landscape design and drainage; Dr. A. Bechar (Zenith Solar), solar energy, cogeneration; Eng. D. Columbus (Netafim), irrigation; Dr. S. Kimchie, composting; Dr. M. Alnabari (Mayor of Hura and Wadi Attir cooperative); Y. Nabari, M.S. Abu S’beit and A. Alhawashleh (Wadi Attir cooperative). The generous support of the Jewish National Fund, Israel Ministry of Agriculture, Israel Ministry for the Negev and the Galilee, and numerous others is kindly acknowledged.
Read here recent article in Jerusalem Report:
A Bedouin eco-farm celebrates a decade of sustainability.
Visitors from abroad to Wadi Attir are often struck by a sense of incongruousness when they discover something so hi-tech and yet “artisanal,” so contemporary and yet so ancient.
By Patricia Golan, August 1, 2019
A Bedouin eco-farm celebrates a decade of sustainability.
Visitors from abroad to Wadi Attir are often struck by a sense of incongruousness when they discover something so hi-tech and yet “artisanal,” so contemporary and yet so ancient.
By Patricia Golan, August 1, 2019
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research Administration Building
This pilot project is located at the Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University’s Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, in the arid Negev Highlands of southern Israel. Originally (1990-92) designed as a multifunctional complex housing administration, library, classrooms, a cafeteria and lounge, student and visiting faculty accommodation, and a large central patio (~1500 m2 in total), it was renovated (2007) for use as the main administration building of the campus.
The local climate is characterized by wide daily and seasonal thermal fluctuations, low relative humidity during the day and clear night skies, and intense solar radiation. Prevailing winds are northwesterly and dust storms are very common.
The building integrates a number of climatic response strategies:
Excess water spills into terraced pools around which vegetation also promotes evaporative cooling, but first and foremost creates a green environment with all the positive psychological effects the sound of running water can have in a desert. The efficiency of the evaporative cooling tower system which, like the passive heating system, is fully integrated with the architectural design of the project, has been refined through a series of research studies documented in peer-reviewed journals (see list of publications).
Long term monitoring, fine tuning of the various systems, and a Post-Occupancy Evaluation study have allowed improving performance of the building as a fully integrated system.
Design team: Y. Etzion, E. Erell, I.A. Meir, D. Pearlmutter
Desert Architecture & Urban Planning
Publications:
The local climate is characterized by wide daily and seasonal thermal fluctuations, low relative humidity during the day and clear night skies, and intense solar radiation. Prevailing winds are northwesterly and dust storms are very common.
The building integrates a number of climatic response strategies:
- underground and earth-bermed construction, minimizing envelope exposure to the ambient and providing thermal insulation;
- internal thermal mass (concrete and masonry structure) for heat storage, external thermal insulation (5cm rigid polystyrene) to minimize heat losses;
- an internal sunken patio acting as a greenhouse during winter; hot air from its apex (25-32°C day temperature) is pumped into the north wing offices by operating 250 Watt fans (one per office) providing the equivalent of 2500 Watt convectors, maintaining a rather stable indoor temperature (19-23°C);
- the same patio is shaded in summer by internal moveable reflective shading meshes, while openable windows allow the passive ventilation and exhausting of hot air;
- evaporative cooling through a downdraft tower enables the reduction of ambient air temperature by 12-15°C, maintaining an indoor temperature of 22-24°C (lower patio level) and 23-26°C (first floor); the evaporation of ~1 m3 of water per day provides a cooling capacity of 1000 kWh/day.
Excess water spills into terraced pools around which vegetation also promotes evaporative cooling, but first and foremost creates a green environment with all the positive psychological effects the sound of running water can have in a desert. The efficiency of the evaporative cooling tower system which, like the passive heating system, is fully integrated with the architectural design of the project, has been refined through a series of research studies documented in peer-reviewed journals (see list of publications).
Long term monitoring, fine tuning of the various systems, and a Post-Occupancy Evaluation study have allowed improving performance of the building as a fully integrated system.
Design team: Y. Etzion, E. Erell, I.A. Meir, D. Pearlmutter
Desert Architecture & Urban Planning
Publications:
- Pearlmutter D., Erell E., Etzion Y., Meir I.A., Di H. (1996) Refining the use of evaporation in an experimental down-draft cool tower, Energy and Buildings 23(3):191-197.
- Etzion, Y., D. Pearlmutter, E. Erell, I.A. Meir (1997) Adaptive Architecture: Integrating Low-energy Technologies for Climate Control in the Desert, Automation in Construction 6:417-425.
- Erell E., Pearlmutter D., Etzion Y. (2008) “A multi-stage down-draft evaporative cool tower for semi-enclosed spaces: Aerodynamic performance,” Solar Energy 82(5):420-429.
Alternative Low-EE High Performance Building Materials
A series of research projects are currently being carried out by research students Rotem Haik, Shahar Ouanunu, Yaakov Florentin and Alex Cicelsky, under the supervision of Profs. Alva Peled, Isaac (Sakis) Meir, David Pearlmutter and Erez Gal. The projects aim at making best use of bio-aggregates and waste materials of different processes (industrial, agricultural, quarrying and mining), turning them into useful building materials and elements with low Embodied Energy and high performance characteristics - structurally and thermally.
We will soon be able to upload some very interesting research results in the form of peer reviewed papers.
In the meantime, here are some photos from laboratory and fieldwork, and the recent Dean’s Award for Excellence ceremony (2019) during which Rotem Haik was awarded the Green Campus Committee's prize for his research titled "Development of innovative low energy building materials based on bio-aggregate".
We will soon be able to upload some very interesting research results in the form of peer reviewed papers.
In the meantime, here are some photos from laboratory and fieldwork, and the recent Dean’s Award for Excellence ceremony (2019) during which Rotem Haik was awarded the Green Campus Committee's prize for his research titled "Development of innovative low energy building materials based on bio-aggregate".
New Project Coming Soon
Don't Go Away!
Kassif
New Town for 100k residents in the Negev
Climate & Green Building Consulting
The project was initiated in 2013 by the Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing (MOCH). The master plan was done by a team led by Dunsky-Feuerstein Architects & Town Planners, with Nachum and Rita Dunsky as planners architects. In 2017 the detailed plan of Stage A (5,000 housing units) was initiated, with Yahel Engineering as the planning team head and coordination and Ami Shinar as the architect planner. In both plans I have been the climate and green building consultant. As a final twist, MOCH in collaboration with the Israel Ministry of Energy, have decided to investigate the possibility to turn Kassif into a nearly Zero Energy Community - nZEC.
Urban ventilation simulations: in collaboration with Dr. Tanya Saroglou
Shading/solar right simulations: in collaboration with Kobi Nahon
Urban ventilation simulations: in collaboration with Dr. Tanya Saroglou
Shading/solar right simulations: in collaboration with Kobi Nahon
Arad Urban Center Renewal
Climate & Green Building Consulting
Best Architects / Uretsky Architects; Liora Stoller Architecture and Urban Planning Ltd.; I.A. Meir climate and green building consultant
2020 Architecture Prize, AEAI – The Association of Engineers, Architects and Graduates in Technological Sciences in Israel.
www.nadlancenter.co.il/article/6577
www.ynet.co.il/architecture/article/byby1ilvs
2020 Architecture Prize, AEAI – The Association of Engineers, Architects and Graduates in Technological Sciences in Israel.
www.nadlancenter.co.il/article/6577
www.ynet.co.il/architecture/article/byby1ilvs