Maison des étoiles, Amal Biladi

Given the difficult access to villages affected by the earthquake, high cost of material and labor, and lack of basic infrastructure (such as sewage), individual self-construction by survivors has proven a hazardous and pricey task. With the NGO Amal Biladi, we decided to join forces and transfer knowledge we learned while building the prototype house in Talaat N’yacoub, with the goal to build first what is most needed by the local population in the village of Tajgalte, hit hard by the 2023 earthquake: a community center for youth and children. Indeed, since most children and youth still live in temporary tents wityh their families, they do not have proper spaces to study, nor to gather. In a second step, we aim to build 6 new sustainable houses for survivor widows. These houses will share the following amenities ot bring cost down: include PV panels, a grey waste water treatment system, underground rainwater collection reservoir and organic waste bio-digester producing methane. 

For our first project in Tajgalte, the youth and children community enter, which will start construction in the Fall 2024, is composed of 4 distinct blocs: two multi-purpose classrooms, an office/ bedroom for the Amal Biladi staff and compost toilets.

The buildings’ interlocking earth bricks construction system will be improved to lower cost, to increase thermal efficiency and to better answer users’ needs. For instance, the interlocking bricks shape will be simplified and they will made wider (20 cm), cork panels will be used for roof insulation, less steel bars will be needed, some roofs will be made accessible etc... We have fund raised already for 25% of the buildings cost and count on donations to be able to complete construction. You can donate to the NGO Amal Biladi here.

The volunteer design and engineering team is composed of Aziza Chaouni Projects, Amal El Abdi, Amine Maachi Haddou, Soufiane El Khazouli and Zouhir Farah.