Marwa Dabaieh

• Professor and Docent in environmental and sustainable architecture
• Professor (Full) at Malmö University

Cooling is becoming an essential commodity in our modern lives. Cooling is not just important for human comfort but also essential for prolonging the shelf life and quality of almost everything from food to vaccines. The need for cooling is increasing due to the impacts of climate change. In the building sector, specifically housing, we still rely...

In recent years, the need for affordable sustainable housing has increased. At the same time, there has been a gradual rising interest in compact living. With the mounting impacts of climate change, a new way of thinking is needed to develop more resilient and climate responsive ways of living that are compact, affordable, and climate-conscious. In...

The Ph.D. research and supervision process passes through different momentums of ups and downs, demotivation, and stress. Unexpected situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and its considerable influence on daily life and their working situation and research process, put new pressures on Ph.D. students. This study aims to investigate the COVID-1...

In hot dry regions, the building envelope receives abundant solar radiation, which contributes to heat stress and indoor thermal discomfort. To mitigate overheating inside spaces, cooling is the main basic requirement during most of the year. However, due to the harsh climatic conditions, buildings fail to provide passively the required comfort con...

The need for affordable housing requires more compact living. With the increasing frequency and impact of climate change incidents, a new way of thinking is needed to live in a more resilient and climate responsive way. The idea of a Z free home began by considering these two needs. As a tiny mobile house equipped with passive and eco-cycle systems...

Climate change adaptation is rising on the agenda of cities. However, critics have argued that urban adaptation efforts largely focus on preserving economic growth while overlooking the root causes of unequal vulnerability to climate impacts, giving rise to climate injustices. In response, literature on transformational adaptation has politicized t...

In hot dry climates, employing passive cooling roofs systems can provide cooling needs with less amount of electrical energy. Furthermore, when focusing on living spaces in terms of indoor thermal comfort and energy performance issues, occupant’s interaction with the building should not be underestimated. Recent studies with occupant-based focus ha...

The Z Free Home is an eco-cycle home that is meant to represent a return to natural design solutions inspired by the passive and low environmental impact principles found in vernacular architecture. Throughout the centuries, vernacular building has exemplified climate resilience, resource efficiency and circular economic principles. The house will...

The mounting climate change crisis and the rapid urbanization of cities have pressured many practitioners, policymakers, and even private investors to develop new policies, processes, and methods for achieving more sustainable construction methods. Buildings are considered to be among the main contributors to harmful environmental impacts, resource...

With climate change severe events, more and more vulnerable populations suffer from extreme heat waves. This paper presents a hands-on experimental idea for testing vernacular passive cooling strategies using traditional Shisha clay funnels for the Egyptian hot dry climate. Several clay funnels were investigated in terms of shape, size and form. Th...

Research on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pressing in order to understand its implications and risks in different urban areas. It is especially critical for those who face high degrees of urban inequality in the context of an uneven state presence. This paper is an explorative and investigative study which uses Cairo as a case. The fo...

With the rise in frequency of severe climate change events, more and more vulnerable populations are suffering from extreme heat waves. This paper explains a hands-on experimental approach to testing vernacular passive cooling strategies using traditional Shisha clay funnels for the hot and dry Egyptian climate. Several clay funnels were investigat...

Internal and external migration from vernacular settlements is not a new phenomenon. However, the scale and scope increased when forced migration is becoming exacerbated due to both armed conflicts and climate change. Political tensions are one of the most common threats to vernacular dwellings in conflict areas. Not only do destruction and vandali...

Purpose Over the last eight years, the Middle East has experienced a series of high profile conflicts which have resulted in over 5.6 million Syrians forced to migrate to neighbouring countries within the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region or to Europe. That have exerted huge pressure on hosting countries trying to accommodate refugees in d...

This study presents a comparison of the life cycle carbon emission (LCCO2) and embodied energy calculation between two kinds of bricks, sun-dried and fired clay, as means of evaluating the energy and climate impact of each brick type and the economics of production. Focus is paid to the differences across the whole production chain between sun-drie...

With the increasing number of migrants and refugees, there is a need for energy-efficient and low impact temporary housing that can accommodate millions of displaced peoples worldwide. This study describes a design proposal for a premium passive refugee house that uses three main passive heating and cooling solutions (Earth Air Heat Exchanger, Trom...

Post-conflict reconstruction is a major topic in war-torn cities in the Middle East and North Africa region. Rather than being limited to re-establishing pre-conflict conditions, new formats of urban settings may be adopted, both for the design and quality of urban space, as well as for the design and building process. This article proposes a combi...

The 6Zs target refers to the concept of a minus carbon and plus energy eco-cycle refugee house. A 37 m ² house was designed and constructed in a participatory manner in the City of Lund, Sweden. The 6Zs include: zero emissions, zero energy, zero waste, zero cost, zero indoor air pollutants and zero impact on the environment after the shelter is dem...

Earth, straw, reeds and wood are the main natural building materials in many parts of the world. These materials have several positive properties including thermal resilience, climatic adaptive performance, and a lower-impact on the environment, which have been tested and proven in vernacular architecture over the years. In contemporary practice th...

Remote desert communities are often the most vulnerable to temperature extremes, as lack of access to reliable electricity prevents the use of active cooling or heating. Hence, there is a need to investigate how the building envelope itself can be used to passively regulate indoor environments. Readily available vernacular building materials in suc...

Climate change brings new burdens to people working outdoors. Migrant populations working at brick kilns in India are one such group facing dangerously overheated working conditions. Many migrate to the kilns from rural areas under bonded labor conditions. We argue that solutions need to go beyond industry-oriented technology-based solutions and fo...

Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Vision 2030 calls for renewable energy plans and the adoption of a sustainable development approach. Given the government’s gradual removal of energy subsidies for local citizens and the current energy crises, the study in hand aims to detect potential investment zones for free fossil fuel energy production...

Sustainability and environmental illiteracy is still common in architectural curricula for undergraduate education. This may lead to further generations of architects who are unequipped for global sustainability goals. This paper discusses a living lab teaching experience which investigates the roles of learning through doing and hands-on building...

Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Vision 2030 calls for renewable energy plans and the adoption of a sustainable development approach. Given the government’s gradual removal of energy subsidies for local citizens and the current energy crises, the study in hand aims to detect potential investment zones for free fossil fuel energy production...

During the summer of 2015, India was hit by a scorching heat wave that melted pavements in Delhi and caused thousands of deaths, mainly among the most marginalized populations. One such group facing growing heat risks from both occupational and meteorological causes are migrant brick kiln workers. This study evaluates both current heat risks and th...

Worldwide measures towards reducing energy use and CO2 emissions has become of a prime concern to mitigate the current and to adapt with the future climate change symptoms. Fifty percent of carbon emissions in Egypt result from the residential sector due to the existing energy inefficient building stock. The Egyptian national development targets to...

Green building rating systems are voluntary tools intended to promote sustainable building process through approaching several environmental issues that include sustainable design parameters related to the construction site and others related to its surrounding context. Decision making software support tools and methods are needed to guide practiti...

We live in a world that contains a wide variety of spectacular vernacular building, and it is at risk. Although many people are aware that the vernacular is suffering everywhere, evidence of how this treasured heritage is cared for often demonstrates little understanding of its true value. Egypt is a country with some of the finest examples of dese...

Vernacular buildings in Egypt express a variety of passive low-tech approaches in design and construction to achieve human comfort and fulfil inhabitants’ requirements. They have been devised to suit living in regions where local inhabitants had to invent various passive building strategies to live under severe local climatic conditions without dep...

In the coming years, it is anticipated that if we continue with the same pace of energy consumption, communities will continue to face three major challenges; a mounting increase in energy demands, pollution, and global warming. On a local scale, Egypt is experiencing one of its most serious energy crises in decades. The energy consumed in indoor c...

Since ancient times, reeds have been used as a low-tech building material in several construction purposes. Reed is a natural building materials that possess many useful benefits in contemporary building practices. Reeds grow around lakes, swamps and other water canals and have no environmental impact if dismantled after construction as they are bi...

Global climate change has enormous impacts on urban areas in the developing world. The known and growing effects of climate change, like increased temperatures and increased incidence of severe storms, is evident. This winter, 2015, extreme cold waves and snow storms hit the Middle East region. Death rates in Syrian refugee camps were significant d...

: Mediterranean vernacular architecture was developed not only with respect to environmental and climatic factors but also with respect to culture, traditional construction materials and morphology. Despite the far distance between Portugal and Egypt, it was possible to find similar vernacular strategies under the influence of the Mediterranean cli...

Today’s architecture swarms with concepts of energy and resource efficient buildings. In contrast, vernacular buildings are characterized by low-tech climatic responsive strategies and by their inhabitants’ resource and energy savings practices during construction and operation of their dwellings. That makes vernacular buildings highly relevant to...

Current practice of sustainable design encompasses a range of green strategies. Modern passive design concepts have learned to build upon climate responsive methodology that was found in and inspired from vernacular and traditional buildings. With the present energy crises in Egypt there is a current focus on the development of climate sensitive de...

Vernacular architecture is suffering all over the world and Egypt is one of the countries where the desert vernacular is facing a great risk of disappearance. The aim of the research is to introduce a methodological approach applying participatory action research (PAR) as a tool to help save the future of the currently deteriorating desert vernacul...

Housing demand for the low/moderate-income majority in global south creates potential and need for several housing types. Currently, one-sixth of the world's population lives in urban slums in emerging and developing countries. In addition net growth of 2.6 billion in world population between now and 2050 is projected to occur in these cities. The...